Jess put on her power pantsuit for the team meeting at the prosecutor’s office. She reminded herself to speak in a low register and not to fiddle with hair. People were always telling her that she looked too young to be a lieutenant, and Vernon Mays already wasn’t satisfied with her work. She needed to appear mature and professional while delivering the bad news. Not only had Jess failed to locate Caroline Stark, but new evidence she and Mike had developed suggested that their star witness might be implicated in her husband’s murder. It was really just a maybe. Jess still had faith in Caroline. She was hoping for good news from the crime scene team to shore up Caroline’s credibility. Like Aidan Callahan’s fingerprints on the murder weapon, or the recovery of Jason Stark’s body with some forensic tell that Callahan was the murderer.
As Jess got off the elevator and marched toward the conference room, Mike Castro stepped forward to intercept her.
“You have a golf game after the meeting?” she said, looking him up and down.
He’d taken the opposite sartorial approach from Jess, dressing down in khakis and a polo shirt. Guys could get away with that, and people still paid attention when they talked.
“Give me a break. I worked late last night and went out early this morning to serve a subpoena. This was the best I could do,” he said.
“Just kidding.”
Vernon Mays walked by with Phil Nadler, the head of the crime scene team.
“You two joining us?” Mays said.
“Two minutes, boss,” Mike said.
Mike waited until the others were out of earshot before speaking.
“Listen, I hit pay dirt, but you won’t like it. Bad news about Caroline.”
Jess blanched. “Is she all right?”
“I didn’t find her dead if that’s what you mean. I didn’t find her at all. Her phone is off, and she removed the SIM card. Not only isn’t she using it to make calls. It’s not accessing data or pinging cell towers or anything. She’s off the grid, and deliberately.”
“That is bad news. But why do you think it’s deliberate?”
“Because. There’s something worse.”
“Ugh, go ahead. Tell me.”
“When I couldn’t track her using her phone, I started analyzing the numbers she called for leads. The number she called the most in the days leading up to the murder? An insurance company. Two days before the murder, a new insurance policy was taken out on Jason Stark’s life in the amount of five million dollars, with Caroline as the sole beneficiary.”
Jess kicked the wall. “Two days. Two days?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Mike, two days. That looks like she killed him for money.”
“Yeah. No kidding.”
“Aw, shit. I really believed everything she told me. Hey, you don’t think this could be a coincidence, do you?”
“Seriously? You can’t be that naïve, right?” Mike said.
“Two days means she’s involved.”
“Uh, yeah.”
“I can’t believe she’d do it.”
“Why not? The husband cheated. She’s got a new guy. They get the insurance money and run off together. It’s classic.”
“I remember something. When Aidan grabbed Caroline in the police station, he asked her if she killed Jason.”
“Why would he have to ask? He was there,” Mike said.
“I don’t know,” she said, shaking her head. “But it suggests she was involved, right? We have to tell the team about the insurance policy. It’s too big to keep it quiet. Mays will hate this.”
“Or else he’ll love it. More publicity.”
In the conference room, Vernon Mays asked everyone to introduce themselves. There were more people present than Jess had expected, including officers from the crime scene team, an assistant prosecutor, and a federal prosecutor and an FBI agent. Jess had no idea why those last two were here, since there was no federal angle to the case that she knew of.
“We’re going to start with a report from our colleagues from the feds,” Mays said. “Assistant U.S. Attorney Vargas and Special Agent O’Reilly are working a Russian mob case that has a surprising connection to our murder. Their investigation is ongoing, so what they say doesn’t leave this room.”
He turned to the AUSA.
“Melanie, the floor is yours. I understand you have a PowerPoint?”
“Thank you, Vern. Good morning, everybody. Yes, one moment.”
The AUSA stood up and walked to the lectern. She was early forties and confident, with sleek, dark hair, wearing a tailored dress and high-heeled leather boots—the sort of professional woman Jess wanted to be when she grew up. She put an organizational chart with photographs up on the screen. The heading read, KUNETSOV ORGANIZATION, NEW YORK CELL. Jess’s gaze was immediately drawn to a photograph of a dark-haired woman in the second row. The woman wore heavy eyeliner, and the label under her picture read, GALINA MOROZOVA. Galina. The Russian mistress. Jess’s eyes followed an arrow that led sideways from Galina’s photograph to a picture of a handsome, dark-haired man. She looked at the name printed underneath that picture, and gasped.
Mike caught Jess’s eye and shrugged. “What’s the point of this?”
“It’s Jason Stark,” Jess mouthed, pointing at the screen.
“When I saw the reports of your murder case in the papers, I immediately reached out to Vern,” AUSA Vargas said. “For the past two years, we’ve been investigating an organized cell of undocumented Russian nationals operating in the U.S. and Canada, led by a man named Victor Kunetsov. The Kunetsov organization primarily focuses on human and weapons trafficking. However, like all criminal organizations with substantial illegal proceeds, money laundering is a major part of their operation. Jason Stark, your murder victim, was one of our targets. We believe he laundered over fifty million dollars of the organization’s money through his hedge fund, working with this woman, Galina Morozova.”
Mike whistled. Jess raised her hand.
“Yes, Lieutenant,” the AUSA said.
“Caroline Stark told us that her husband had a Russian mistress named Galina. Is it possible that this was simply a romantic relationship?”
“It may also have been romantic, but we’re certain about the money laundering. Peter Mertz, who’s the head of the hedge fund that Jason Stark worked for, reported Stark to the SEC several months ago when he discovered substantial irregularities in the accounts Stark handled. The SEC brought in a forensic accountant, who made the connection to our case through a complex series of transactions that I won’t go into here. I assure you, the evidence against Jason Stark is very strong. Plus, there’s more. We surveilled him.”
The prosecutor clicked through a series of surveillance photographs. The man in the pictures was tall and handsome, with silvering dark hair and a chiseled face—far better-looking than Jess had imagined Jason Stark to be, based on Caroline’s descriptions of a marriage gone dead and sour. Then again, Caroline had not been entirely truthful, had she?
“These are surveillance photographs of Jason Stark with Galina Morozova on three separate occasions in the past month,” the prosecutor said, clicking through slides.
She stopped at a slide that showed Jason Stark getting into a blue Audi on a busy Midtown Manhattan street.
“I draw your attention to this photograph of Galina picking Jason up outside his office in Manhattan. On that day, we followed the two of them to an important meeting at an auto parts store in Queens, which you see here, and again here. Jason and Galina walked through the store to a small parking lot in the rear between the building and the garage. In that parking lot, they met with the top enforcer for the organization. We don’t have great photos from the meeting because our operative was stationed down the street and would not have been able to access the rear parking lot except on foot. But he observed Mikhail Volodin exit the auto parts store not long after Stark and Galina left the place. Here’s a photo of Volodin exiting, and here’s his mug shot where you get a good look at him. Not someone you’d want to run across in a dark alley.”
The mug shot on the screen showed a hulking bodybuilder type with a shaved head and a long, puckered scar on one cheek.
“We suspect Volodin of involvement in upwards of twenty homicides. We believe the purpose of the meeting at the warehouse was for Volodin to threaten Jason Stark’s life. Your victim stole money from the wrong people. Stark skimmed several million dollars of the Kunetsov organization’s money when it passed through the hedge fund. We intercepted phone calls between Galina Morozova and her boss indicating that they were threatening to kill him if he didn’t pay it back.”
Jess raised her hand again. “Wait, I’m confused. Are you saying these mobsters were involved in Jason Stark’s murder?”
“That possibility is exactly why we’re here. Right now, I can’t prove that the Russians killed Jason Stark, but it would certainly be consistent with their MO to whack somebody who crossed them. And Jason Stark crossed them. I’d like to hear your evidence. If your evidence is weak, or could support my Russians doing this, I’d propose adding this murder to my conspiracy and racketeering case.”
“Whoa, whoa, wait a minute,” Vernon Mays said. “You want to take over?”
“Jason Stark’s murder would become part of the Kunetsov case. I’d cross-designate you as a federal officer, Vern, so you could still handle the murder.”
“Work with the feds. Okay, I like that,” he said, nodding.
“Wait a minute,” Jess said. “This can’t be right. We have eyewitness testimony that Aidan Callahan murdered Jason Stark, and forensic evidence to back it up. So, Stark’s murder can’t be connected to your case.”
“Unless Callahan worked for the Russians,” Vargas said.
“He’s a bartender in Glenhampton who was sleeping with Stark’s wife,” Jess said. “He has no connection to the Russian mob.”
“That you know of. But take a look at this.”
She clicked to the next photograph. It showed Aidan Callahan’s truck several car lengths behind the blue Audi that carried Jason Stark and the Russian woman.
“This photo was taken by one of our surveillance agents on the day that Jason Stark and Galina Morozova met with the enforcer at the auto parts store. We ran the plate. The red truck you see here is registered to Aidan Callahan. He followed them to the meeting. It’s possible that he attended the meeting. Here’s a photograph of a man walking down the alley on the side of the auto parts store heading in the direction of the rear parking lot. We think this is Callahan, but we can’t confirm it.”
She put up another slide showing a man walking away from the camera, taken from a distance. The man’s face wasn’t visible, but based on height and hair color, it could very well be Aidan Callahan.
“This is the only photo we have of him,” the prosecutor said. “We went back through all our surveillance material, and he doesn’t show up in anything else relating to our case. We can’t prove he worked for our Russians. But it is suspicious that he showed up at this meeting. Now, I’d like to hear about your evidence. What’s your proof that Callahan was the shooter?”
“Our case hinges on a detailed witness statement from Mrs. Stark,” Jess said. “She admits to having an affair with Aidan Callahan. When she ended it, she says he started stalking her and her family. That’s why Callahan followed Jason Stark. It has nothing to do with any Russians. Caroline Stark claims that Callahan later broke into their home and shot and killed her husband. She saw it happen. Callahan was arrested in that same red truck. The truck was full of blood, and he was wearing blood-soaked clothing. A silver handgun was retrieved from the vehicle.”
“We now have forensic test results on the blood and the gun,” Vernon Mays said. “Phil, can you summarize?”
Phil Nadler was a storied crime scene investigator with a craggy face and salt-and-pepper hair, who’d worked some of the best-known homicide cases in recent history. A rumor was going around that he planned to retire any day now and start raking in the cash as an expert witness. Jess was excited to have this opportunity to see him in action.
“Afraid I forgot my PowerPoint,” Phil said, drawing chuckles around the table. “But I do have some pictures to pass around, with extra copies for the feds if you’d like to take home a party favor. Okay, Callahan’s truck, interior and exterior views. Notice the substantial amount of blood on the front upholstery. Photographs of Callahan wearing blood-soaked clothing, and the blood on his hands. Photographs of a silver-gray handgun, a Beretta APX RDO with bloody fingerprints. And photographs of a man’s jacket and a blanket both recovered from a cave where we believe Callahan may have dumped Stark’s body. The body has not yet been recovered. We believe it may have been swept out to sea by the storm surge from Hurricane Oswald. The good news is, we no longer need the body to prove the murder. The blood on the seat of the truck and on Callahan’s clothing belongs to Jason Stark. We were able to develop a DNA profile for Stark based on a lock of hair taken from his daughter Hannah. That sample is one step removed, however. It’s reliable. But I’d prefer a direct sample from Jason Stark for trial. We could get that from his hairbrush, razor, whatever. We searched the beach house based on Caroline Stark’s consent. Unfortunately, Jason didn’t spend time there, and we were unable to obtain a hair sample that we could confirm as his. We’d like to search their apartment, if his wife would give permission. But I’ve been told Caroline Stark is no longer cooperating with the investigation.”
Everybody turned to look at Jess.
“Is that true?” AUSA Vargas asked.
Jess felt her face flush.
“She was physically assaulted by Aidan Callahan at the Glenhampton police station. He broke loose while being transported. After that attack, Caroline turned off her phone and stopped responding to my calls or texts. She claims she fears for her life and doesn’t trust the authorities to protect her. Which could be the explanation for why she went AWOL. But—”
Jess took a deep breath. Her hands were clenched into fists. She made an effort to uncurl them and speak calmly.
“Deputy Castro and I have developed new information that causes us to doubt Caroline Stark’s version of events. This information may—and I stress, this is preliminary—it may implicate Caroline Stark as a coconspirator with Aidan Callahan in her husband’s murder.”
There were some indrawn breaths around the table.
“This is news to me,” Vernon Mays said. “When were you planning on telling me this, Lieutenant?”
“At this meeting, sir.”
Mays was about to yell at Jess in front of everyone, but to her intense relief, Phil Nadler interrupted.
“I have evidence that undercuts Caroline’s story also. Honestly, I dismissed it, but it could be read to say she’s lying.”
Phil hadn’t brought his damaging evidence forward before, either. Jess was off the hook.
“Everybody wants to ruin my case today,” Vern said. “Go ahead, Phil. What have you got.”
“We went through Caroline’s very lengthy witness statement and compared it to forensics at the crime scene, looking to corroborate. A few things don’t add up. There was a lot less blood in the house than would be expected if an adult male was shot and bled out, even accounting for cleanup. There was some blood. But the blood belonged to Caroline Stark, not Jason. And that brings me to the forensic evidence most damaging to Caroline’s credibility. The wound to her hand, which she claims she got by grabbing the knife away from Callahan, is extremely shallow. It’s also on her left hand, and she’s right-handed.”
“What are you getting at?” Mays said.
“I believe that the knife wound to Caroline’s hand was self-inflicted.”
Jess drew back in shock. Hearing about the insurance policy, Jess had begun to accept that Caroline might be lying. That in fact she was probably lying. But to stage the crime scene, to fake an injury? That would mean Caroline had engaged in a carefully orchestrated, premeditated murder and cover-up. How could Jess have been so wrong about her?
“Lieutenant Messina, do you have anything further?”
Jess struggled to gather her thoughts.
“Um, yes. Okay. First, sir, the Starks’ next-door neighbor, Mrs. Francine Eberhardt, who admittedly is elderly and was viewing the scene through the rain caused by the hurricane, says she saw three people leaving the Starks’ house at or around the time of the murder. Specifically, she saw two people dragging a third. One theory is, that was Caroline Stark and Aidan Callahan dragging Jason Stark’s body. Another theory is that Chief Thomas Callahan helped his brother dispose of the body, and he’s the third individual that the neighbor saw.”
“I strongly disagree with that,” Mike said. “It was Caroline.”
“There is some troubling evidence against Chief Callahan, who’s our suspect’s brother, which I will report through channels whether or not it impacts this case, sir,” Jess said.
“The neighbor didn’t say who it was? Just that she saw a third person?” Mays asked.
“She couldn’t see clearly,” Jess said.
“Could be anyone then. Might even be one of your Russians, Melanie. We simply don’t know.”
“Sir, there’s something else. Something that does directly implicate Mrs. Stark,” Jess said.
“Go on.”
“Deputy Castro learned that Caroline Stark took out a five-million-dollar insurance policy on her husband two days before his murder. She is the sole beneficiary of that policy.”
The room fell silent at that. Every eye was on Jess.
“Well,” Mays said, “that’s a problem. No jury would believe that’s a coincidence. I don’t see how we use her as a witness now.”
Jess’s stomach sank. “Shouldn’t we at least ask Caroline about the insurance policy? Give her a chance to defend herself?”
“Ask her? You can’t find her, Lieutenant. And this has got to be why. She knows she’s guilty and she’s on the lam. At any rate, she’s now made herself useless as a witness. Callahan’s lawyer would wipe the floor with her over that, and we’d be forced to disclose it.”
Mays rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Maybe the way to salvage this case is to go after her. Make Caroline Stark the centerpiece. Phil, do you see any forensic evidence implicating Caroline?”
“I do. Her fingerprints are on the murder weapon,” Phil said.
Mays pounded the table. “Beautiful.”
“But, so are Callahan’s. And Callahan’s fingerprints are bloody, which means he had blood on his hands when he touched the gun,” Phil said.
“How does that make sense?” Mays asked. “Wouldn’t the blood come after he shot Jason Stark?”
“Two possibilities. Either Caroline shot Jason, and Aidan handled the gun afterwards, during the cleanup. Or Aidan shot Jason without leaving prints, and picked up the gun with blood on his hands afterwards. As I’m sure you all know, it’s possible to touch something and not leave a print if your hands are perfectly clean and dry.”
“About the gun?” Jess said.
Heads swung back her way.
“Caroline claims that the murder weapon belonged to Aidan Callahan. She saw it in his apartment and she handled it there. That could explain why her prints are on the gun.”
“She could be lying,” Mays said.
“She could be,” Jess conceded. “And there’s evidence that she is. Hannah Stark contradicts her mother. Hannah says the Beretta recovered from the truck matches the general description of a gun carried by her father. She saw it in his briefcase.”
“We have information on the source of the gun,” Phil said, shuffling through some papers in a folder in front of him. “This is based on a query of the serial number to the ATF database. Okay, here it is. This firearm was originally purchased online three years ago in a batch of twenty firearms bought by a company that runs gun shows. No record of what happened after that, until six months ago, when the gun was reported stolen by its then-owner, a Joseph Lombardo of Massapequa, New York.”
Jess sat up straight in her chair.
“Joseph Lombardo is Caroline Stark’s brother-in-law,” she said. “He’s married to her sister, Lynn, with whom she’s very close. Lynn knows where Caroline is, but she’s not talking.”
Mays leaned back in his chair and steepled his fingers. “What does this mean? You think Caroline stole the gun from her brother-in-law?”
“No,” Jess said. “I bet Joe Lombardo gave the gun to Jason Stark. Gave it to him willingly. From what the AUSA said, Jason knew he was in trouble. That’s consistent with something Hannah Stark told me. She said that in the months leading up to the murder, her parents seemed upset and worried, like something was wrong. About that time, her father started carrying the gun. Jason needed a gun to defend himself against the Russians. Joe Lombardo gave him his gun, but maybe he knew that his brother-in-law was dirty. He didn’t want to be implicated if the gun was ever used in a shooting. So, he reported the gun stolen. And he was right to do that, because it was used in a shooting. It was used to kill Jason himself—somehow.”
“Yes, but how, and by whom?” Mays said. “There are too many loose ends in our case. I’m uncomfortable. We need a witness who can reliably tell us what really happened. Somebody who was there.”
“Caroline, obviously, once we locate her,” Jess said.
“I said reliably. Caroline has no credibility. After the insurance policy? With her prints on the gun? Come on. She’s toast. What about Aidan?” Mays said.
“Aidan?” Jess said.
“Why not? We flip him, get him to testify against her. Maybe he’s the shooter, but she’s the better target. Betrayed her own husband for five million dollars and the love of a younger man? It’s classic.”
“What makes you think he’d flip on her?” Jess asked.
Jess doubted it, personally. She’d seen the desperation in Aidan’s eyes as he grabbed for Caroline in the station house. There was at least one thing Caroline hadn’t lied about. Aidan Callahan was obsessed with her nearly to the point of insanity. Jess didn’t believe he would talk.
“What’s the alternative?” Mays said. “Callahan rots in jail while she lives it up on the insurance money? He’ll flip, I guarantee it. I say we get a warrant for Caroline Stark’s arrest. Put her in handcuffs, do a nice little perp walk into the courthouse. Oh, yeah. I’m liking this.”