Jess and Mike put aside their disagreements long enough to join forces to search for Caroline Stark. Jess believed Caroline with all her heart. She wanted to bring her star witness in from the cold and offer her protection. She also needed to reassure the prosecutor that Caroline could be relied upon to testify. Mike had a different agenda. He wanted to find Caroline so he could question her more aggressively about the night of the murder. He thought he could uncover discrepancies that would implicate her in the crime. Jess didn’t like that idea, but she wasn’t going to argue about it now. The important thing was to find Caroline, and quickly. For that, she needed Mike’s help.
Jess delegated the technical side of the search to Mike. He’d serve subpoenas on the wireless companies to ping Caroline’s cell phone regularly and monitor her sister’s and daughter’s phones. If Caroline used her phone, or if Hannah or Lynn communicated with her at a different number, they’d be able to track her down. Meanwhile, Jess would search for Caroline in the real world, starting with her sister’s house.
It was getting dark as Jess pulled up to Lynn and Joe Lombardo’s house on a quiet street in Massapequa. Jess remembered Caroline saying that Lynn had inherited their childhood home. The house was modest, with an older BMW sedan and a newish Ford pickup in the driveway. Lynn’s husband supposedly owned a trucking business, and it looked like they did okay for themselves. But nothing lavish, and not anywhere close to the lifestyle that Caroline and Jason had enjoyed. Apparently, Caroline didn’t believe in sharing the wealth.
The doorbell echoed inside the house and set a dog to barking. Lynn came to the door eventually, opening it a crack, keeping the chain on. Jess flashed her badge.
“Mrs. Lombardo, I’m Lieutenant Jessica Messina with the New York State Police. We spoke on the phone yesterday. I’m investigating the murder charge against Aidan Callahan. Can I come in and—”
“Hold on. I can’t hear you with the dog,” Lynn said, and shut the door.
The dog, which sounded big and mean, was barking wildly. Jess heard Lynn yelling for Joe to come take it away. She pressed her ear against the door. The barking stopped suddenly, and she heard Joe Lombardo ask his wife who was at the door.
“You better not talk to any cops,” he said.
Jess heard that quite clearly, as well as Lynn’s reply—
“What am I, stupid?”
Huh.
A second later, the door opened wide, and Lynn stood there with a smile on her face.
“Sorry about that, Officer. You were saying?”
The smell of spaghetti sauce wafted from the depths of the house. It was dinnertime already, and Jess hadn’t eaten since breakfast. She wished this encounter would go smoothly, that she could find her witness with a minimum of fuss, that the case would fall into place and she could eat a good dinner and get a decent night’s sleep. But that wasn’t going to happen; she could see it just by looking at Caroline’s sister. Lynn was armored for battle. Her smile was fake. She was shiny and untouchable, in capri slacks, a fancy blouse, high-heeled mules, with lots of jewelry and her hair carefully lacquered. Lynn’s style was Real Housewife, while Caroline’s was ladylike. Jess would have said they were nothing alike. But there was a toughness to Lynn that Jess had seen echoes of in Caroline. She remembered how dry-eyed Caroline had been during their interview. She didn’t want to believe that Caroline was the third man. But she was starting to wonder.
“Could I come in to ask you a few questions?” Jess said.
“Sorry, it’s not a good time.”
“This won’t take long.”
“I said no. We’re dealing with a tragedy here. My niece is with us. She’s distraught. I have to take care of her. Your questions can wait.”
Lynn pulled the doorknob, but Jess got her body in sideways, preventing her from closing the door.
“Mrs. Lombardo, I’m very sympathetic, but unfortunately it can’t wait. I’m worried about your sister’s safety. And beyond that, we can’t pursue the case against Aidan Callahan without her. I’m sure you don’t want him getting released for lack of evidence. If I could have a few minutes of your time to discuss Mrs. Stark’s whereabouts, it would be a big help.”
“I’m not telling you where she is. Didn’t I say that when you called yesterday? Caroline doesn’t want you to find her. She doesn’t trust you to protect her.”
“There are a lot of things we can do to protect a witness. If I could speak to her on the phone, I could reassure her about her safety.”
“Be my guest. Call her.”
“I have called. I tried many times, left messages, texted her. She won’t answer. I was hoping maybe you could convince her to speak with me.”
“Why would I do that? If Caroline doesn’t want to talk to you, that’s her business. She’s scared. She just lost her husband. Go away and leave her alone. Leave me alone. I don’t want you on my property. Unless you have a warrant, you need to go.”
She moved to close the door again, and this time, Jess let her. But Lynn’s behavior was odd enough to qualify as suspicious. Occasionally—rarely—the victim’s loved ones refused to cooperate in a murder investigation, but that was in a specific kind of case. The kind where the grief-stricken husband initially reports his wife missing, but when the police uncover discrepancies in his account of events, he suddenly stops talking. Maybe even flees the jurisdiction, like O.J. in the white Bronco. This case had nothing in common with that scenario. Caroline Stark was an innocent victim. She’d been stalked by Aidan Callahan, and then he’d been allowed to attack her in the police station. Caroline had a reason to hide. It didn’t make her guilty. It didn’t. Mike Castro was wrong. Jess would keep telling herself that until she had hard evidence to the contrary.
Jess walked down the driveway toward the curb, where she’d parked, then stopped short, instantly on high alert. A shadow had flicked by the car as she came toward it, then disappeared. Somebody was there, on the other side of the car, hunkering down, waiting for her. Joe Lombardo maybe? Jess’s hand flew to the gun at her waist. Adrenaline buzzed in her veins as she maneuvered around the vehicle, ready to defend herself.