Farnsworth shook his head. “It’s not allowed here, as you know.”
“I want to request a special exception. This is the type of case that’s solved by this technology.”
“I understand, but the city council, mayor and U.S. Attorney have been united in their opposition to it.”
“I’d like to formally appeal to them for an exception in this case. How do I go about doing that?”
Farnsworth considered the question. “Put it in writing and include as many details of each related assault as you can. If you show the mayor and U.S. Attorney what this guy is doing to these women, it may help to sway them that we need to try something outside the box to find him.”
“I’ll get right on that.”
“No promises,” he added. “It’ll be a tough sell. The mayor has been adamantly opposed to using FDS in criminal investigations. She spearheaded the bill that outlawed it when she was first on the city council.”
“I understand the objections and agree with them in most cases. This isn’t most cases. We’ve got a sexual predator who’s escalated to murder. If we don’t find a way to stop him, he’ll kill again.”
“You’re preaching to the choir, Lieutenant. Get busy making a case to take to city hall.”
Sam nodded, thankful for once to be on desk duty so she could personally oversee this project. “I hear you. We’ll make sure there’s no way she can say no. Will you come with me to meet with her?”
“Do I hafta?” the chief asked.
Sam laughed at the look of agony that accompanied the question. “Yes, you hafta.”
“Fine.”
“At least the FBI report isn’t going to skewer you on the BBQ.”
“There is that. While you’re here, I want to talk about the other homicide cold cases.”
“I planned to ask Detective Green to do a formal review and triage for us. We’ll work our way through them between other priorities.”
“U.S. Attorney Tom Forrester is asking for a formal review of all the convictions associated with Stahl’s cases as well.”
Sam blew out a deep breath. “That could get very ugly.”
“It’s already ugly,” Malone said. “It could get uglier.”
“Ask Detective Green to keep us informed on what he finds.”
Sam hobbled to the door. “You got it.”
“Lieutenant.”
Sam turned back to the chief. “Yes, sir?”
“It’s so good to have you back. We missed you around here.”
“Aw, thanks. It’s good to be back.”
As she made her way slowly back to the pit, she came face-to-face with the last person in the world she wanted to see—Detective Ramsey.
“Well, if it isn’t Little Miss Thing. You must be thrilled to see me back after all you did to get me fired.”
Sam kept walking as if he hadn’t said a word, but she picked up the pace to get away from him as fast as possible.
“Love the cane,” he called after her, “but a broomstick would’ve been more appropriate.”
Sam wanted to ask how his divorce was going, but since she couldn’t kick his ass if it came to that, she kept her mouth shut and let him spew his garbage.
“Better get used to having me back,” Ramsey said, “because I’m here to stay.”
“What’s he saying?” Freddie asked when she came into the pit.
“I wasn’t listening.”
Freddie laughed. “I can’t believe we have to put up with him again.”
Sam shrugged. “Whatever. I’ll ignore him until he goes away for good after he’s found guilty of vandalizing my office. He can’t help himself.” She turned to Detective Green. “Can I have a word, please?”
Cameron jumped up. “Sure.”
Sam went into the office. “Close the door.”
He shut the door and took a seat. “What’s up?”
“I’d like to put you in charge of reviewing Stahl’s homicide cases.”
“The cold ones?”
“All of them.”
“Whoa.”
“The U.S. Attorney wants to look at every conviction that came from Stahl’s investigations. Not to mention, we’ve got defense attorneys filing for reviews of old cases.”
“That could be a big deal.”
“It’s already a big deal.”
“Yeah, I suppose it is. I’ll dive right in. Can I have help?”
“Jeannie and Matt can help you. I’ll partner up Cruz and Gonzo until I’m back to full steam.”
“I assume we’re doing this in addition to active cases?”
“You assume correctly.”
“Got it.”
“I’ll let the others know the plan. Appreciate you taking the lead on this.”
“Thanks for asking me.”
“Keep me in the loop on anything you find.”
“Yep, will do.”
“On another front, how are things with Gigi?”
His entire demeanor softened as he smiled. “Things are great. Never been better, in fact.”
“Happy to hear it. She’s doing all right?”
“I think so, but you should ask her. She’s very anxious to get back to full duty.”
“I’ll talk to her. Sometimes we say we’re fine when we’re not because we want back in the game so badly. I’ve been guilty of that myself—and probably will be again with this damned hip thing.”
“She’s much better than she was, but there’s still a fragileness to her that wasn’t there before. And she’d hate me for saying that.”
“I’d never repeat it, but I hear what you’re saying. Jeannie was like that for a few months after she was assaulted. As cops, we live under the assumption that we can take care of ourselves in all situations. It’s a shock to the system to realize that’s not always true.”
“I hadn’t thought of it quite like that, but you’re right.”
“I usually am.”
“God, I walked right into that, didn’t I?”
Sam flashed him a big grin. “That was a softball. Thanks for the insight. I’ll talk to her, too, and I won’t mention that I spoke to you.”
“That’d be appreciated. I’m walking a fine line in this new relationship between wanting to support her and wanting to protect her.”
“She’s lucky to have you.”
“I’m the lucky one, Lieutenant. Thanks for giving me a nudge in her direction when I needed it.”
“I do what I can for my people.”
Smiling, he stood. “Glad to be one of your people. I’ll keep you posted on the Stahl situation.”
As he was walking out, Gonzo came in. “What was that about?”
“I put him in charge of reviewing Stahl’s cold cases and convictions.”
“I would’ve done that.”
“I know, but I need you to be my legs in the field for a few more weeks. And that sounded weirder than I intended it to.”
Gonzo laughed. “I understood what you meant. What’re we doing about this rapist-murderer?”
“We’re writing a detailed justification for FDS that we’ll take to the mayor. Can you do the part about the two prior assaults? I’ll do Olsen and Woo.”
“I’ll do it right now.”
“Thanks.”
Sam spent the next several hours summarizing the report on Audrey Olsen’s rape and murder, focusing on the more brutal elements of the attack. While the perpetrator covered her mouth with his hand, he raped and sodomized her before strangling her.
If that one sentence wasn’t enough to convince the mayor to let them use FDS, Sam wasn’t sure anything would be.
She stood and went to the door. “Before we take this to the mayor, I want to talk to the two women who survived,” Sam said to Gonzo.
“They’ve already been thoroughly interviewed,” Gonzo said.
“Not by me.”
The next day, Sam asked Kaitlyn Oliver to come to her, since Kaitlyn lived in a third-floor walk-up in Foggy Bottom, and Sam couldn’t do stairs yet.
“I appreciate you coming in,” she said when Kaitlyn was seated at the conference room table with a bottle of water in front of her. They had turned the murder board around so Kaitlyn wouldn’t have to see the details of the Olsen and Woo cases.
Sam had asked Jeannie to join her, hoping Kaitlyn might be more comfortable speaking to two women. Not to mention Jeannie had survived a similar attack. “This is Detective Jeannie McBride.”
“I wish we were meeting under different circumstances,” Jeannie said.
Kaitlyn nodded. “Me, too.”
Sam noted that Kaitlyn’s hands trembled as she wrapped them around the bottle. “We’re sorry to have to put you through this again, but we just want to be sure that we have all the information.”
“I don’t mind. If it helps to catch him, I’ll do whatever you need.”
“Can you take us through it from the beginning?” Sam asked gently.
“Yeah, sure. I was, um, out for a walk in the snow. I’m one of the few people who grew up here who loves the snow. I can’t get enough of it. Although… It’ll never look the same to me again after this.” She swiped at a tear as if it made her angry. “I was distracted, had my face turned up to the snow, breathing in the cold air and just enjoying it so much. He got me from behind and had me deep into the trees in a matter of seconds. I hit the ground hard, facedown.” She rubbed at a spot on her cheek where a faint bruise remained from the attack two weeks ago. “Everything I’d learned about self-defense was worthless. He had me completely immobilized in a matter of seconds.”
Sam reached over to open the bottle of water. “Take a sip.”
Kaitlyn drank from the bottle and used the tissue Jeannie handed her to wipe her eyes. “Sorry.”
“Please don’t be,” Jeannie said. “I still cry every time I think about it happening to me.”
Kaitlyn seemed startled to hear that.
“And trust me, I know how to defend myself, too.”
The young woman drew in a deep breath and released it slowly. “That’s the part I wrestle with. I knew what to do, but when it was happening, I was just frozen with fear.”
“Anyone would be,” Sam said.
“It’s just… It’s hard to talk about it.”
“We understand, and we’re so sorry to put you through it—again,” Jeannie said. “But since he’s since committed two homicides, the case is now ours. We just want to be sure we have every detail we need.”
“I can’t stop thinking about the girls he killed,” Kaitlyn said softly as she wiped away tears. “That could’ve been me.”
“Take all the time you need,” Sam said, forcing herself to be patient with the traumatized young woman.
“He covered my mouth with one hand and pulled my pants off with the other. He tore my underwear and jammed the fabric in my mouth. I started to hyperventilate because I couldn’t breathe.” She took another deep breath. “He raped me while keeping his hand over my face the whole time. I remember being so cold and not being able to breathe. And that it hurt—a lot. I thought it would never end.”
“Do you have any idea how long it lasted?” Sam asked. That was one thing she hadn’t seen notated in the reports.
“I’ve gone over it in my mind a thousand times, and I just don’t know how long it was. It felt like an hour at the time, but it was probably more like ten or fifteen minutes. Long enough for him to rape me twice.”
Which led Sam to believe the man they were looking for was young and recovered quickly—or that he’d taken medication.
“Did you see him at any point?”
“No, he was behind me the entire time. I was facedown on the ground.”
“Did he say anything?”
“Not a word.”
“Tell us how you got away from him.”
“I struggled the whole time, kicking and fighting him. At one point, I connected with something, and he grunted and loosened his hold on me. Just for a second, but that was all I needed. I jumped up, pulled the fabric out of my mouth and stumbled away, screaming for help. I was in a state of panic, sure he’d come after me, but he didn’t. Two joggers came to my rescue and called the police. One of them was female, and I recall her helping me get my pants back on while the guy she was with looked away.”
Sam wanted to know where the perp had gone while all that was happening. How had he managed to sneak off with people around? Someone had to have seen something. She made a note to bring in the couple who’d assisted Kaitlyn for another interview.
“Is there anything else you remember? Even something as random as a scent or what color his coat was or anything at all that stood out.”
“I can’t think of anything.”
“Did he have gloves on?”
“He did.”
“Was there any scent you recall from when his glove was over your face?”
She shook her head. “No.”
Sam pushed her business card across the table. “If anything else comes to mind, please call me.”
Kaitlyn took the card. “I’m sorry I can’t give you more to work with.”
“We have more than we had before. Thank you for coming in and reliving it once again.”
“It was really cool to meet you,” Kaitlyn said with a sad smile. “My friends and I are big fans.”
“Thank you.”
Jeannie walked her out, and when she returned to the pit, Sam called her into the office.
“Shut the door.”
“What’s up?”
“I know that had to be hard for you to sit through.”
Jeannie shrugged. “I’m okay.”
“You’re sure?”
“Brings it all back, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. What’s next?”
“I’d like to speak to the couple who assisted Kaitlyn.”
“I’ll call and ask them to come in.”
“Call the other victim, too. Moira. If I’m going to make a compelling case for FDS, I should speak to everyone involved.”
She started for the door. “I’ll make the calls.”
“Jeannie.”
She turned back. “Yes?”
“If this gets to be too much, please say so. I can have Erica help me.”
“I’ve got it, but thanks.”
As Sam watched her go, she vowed to keep a close eye on her friend and colleague. This case was striking too close to home for her.