State of Affairs

by Marie Force

  “He was well liked among his peers?”

  “Very much so. It was impossible not to like him. His death messed up a lot of lives. Many of us were never the same after.”

  “What do you remember about his cousin D’Andre around the time Calvin died?”

  “We tried to stay far away from him and his scumbag friends.”

  “Calvin stayed away from him too?”

  She hesitated only slightly, but Sam noticed. “He was so torn. He knew what D’Andre was up to, but they’d been raised like brothers by two very close brothers who died within months of each other. Cal and D’Andre shared a bond, even if they were as different as two boys could be.”

  “So Calvin saw him?”

  “Once in a while. It certainly wasn’t like it’d been when they were younger and were together every day. They were on two very different paths. Calvin never gave up on trying to get D’Andre to see that he was going nowhere fast with his crap, but D’Andre didn’t listen until he went to prison and found Jesus.”

  Sam took copious notes. “Lenore showed me photos of both boys from around that time, and I couldn’t help but note their resemblance to each other.”

  Clarissa nodded. “People thought they were twins when they were younger. No one could believe they were first cousins and not brothers. Calvin used to say they were brothers from another mother.”

  “Do you think it’s possible that Calvin was mistaken for D’Andre the day he was killed?”

  “I’ve thought of that. Of course I have. But the one thing I can’t get past was that D’Andre hadn’t shown his face around Lenore’s for a long time by then. He knew she didn’t approve of his lifestyle, and he went out of his way to avoid her for that reason. Anyone who was watching him would have to know that was the last place he’d ever be.”

  “Is it possible that someone was looking to send a message to D’Andre by killing his cousin?”

  “That’s far more likely than someone mistaking Calvin for D’Andre at Calvin’s house. Do you think Calvin was killed because of D’Andre?”

  “Part of me thinks it’s too simple to say his cousin was in trouble, so of course it’s related. I’ve been doing this long enough to know to look beyond the obvious. Which is why I’m wondering if there was anything else from around that time that stands out to you. Even the smallest thing can make a difference.”

  “The only thing that stands out is that Cal was in a fight for the first time in his life two weeks before.”

  Sam felt a tingle in her backbone, which was always a good sign that she was on to something. Her tingles rarely steered her wrong. “What was that about?”

  “There was this girl at school who people liked to pick on. We never knew what it was about her that made her a target. She was a really nice girl. This one guy, he decided to play like he was interested in her. He asked her out, made her feel special, treated her nice, and then she found out it was all a big joke. He and his friends were making fun of her the whole time. Calvin was so mad. So, so mad. I told him to stay out of it, but one day at lunch, he was in line behind the guy, and he told him he was a douchebag for treating her that way.”

  “What did he say to that?”

  “That Calvin needed to watch his mouth. Calvin told him he needed to get some manners, and it escalated from there. Next thing we knew, they were on the floor punching each other. Two teachers pulled them apart. Calvin got suspended for two days for fighting. It was the first time he’d ever been in any kind of trouble. The other kid got expelled because it was, like, his sixth offense that year.”

  “Did it escalate beyond that?”

  “Lots of chirping, but that was it as far as I knew.”

  “Would Calvin have told you if it went beyond that?”

  She thought about that for a second. “Maybe not. I was pissed with him for fighting in the first place. I was worried about him doing anything to mess up his chances to go to college. That was all he talked about—when he got to college.”

  “Do you remember the name of the guy he fought?”

  “Javier Lopez.”

  Sam felt like she’d been hit by a taser. No way was this a coincidence. Besides, she didn’t believe in coincidences. “This has been incredibly helpful. Thank you for taking the time.”

  “I should be thanking you. We’ve been hoping someone would take another look at Cal’s case for years.”

  “I’m sorry again that it took so long. That never should’ve happened. I’ll let you know what I find out.”

  “I’d appreciate it.”

  “You have a lovely home and family, Clarissa. I’d have to believe that Calvin would be proud of you.”

  “I hope so,” she said softly.

  “I’ll be in touch.”

  As Sam got back in her car, she noticed Clarissa standing in the doorway, holding her littlest one. Her heart ached for the people who’d loved Calvin and suffered over his death for so long without the answers they deserved.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  After pulling away from Clarissa’s house, Sam called Captain Malone.

  “Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”

  “So, Calvin Worthington…”

  “What about him?”

  “Cap…” Sam was seized by regret and anger and sadness all at the same time. “I think I might have an idea of what happened. It’s not solid yet, but Stahl… He totally dropped the ball and left these people twisting in the wind all this time. When that gets out…”

  “I know,” he said with a sigh. “More bad press for the department.”

  “Right. Which is the last thing we need with Feds up in our grill. I’ve spent a half day on it, and I think I know what went down. A half day. I’m so fucking furious right now that these lovely people were forced to wait this long for answers.”

  “I’m right there with you. I’m ashamed to say I barely remember the case.”

  “I remember it vividly. I was in Patrol and took the initial call. I’ve never forgotten Lenore or her terrible grief, and I’m pissed at myself that I didn’t circle back to this one the first second I was in command.”

  “I get why you feel that way, but like I said before, the last two years have been insane for you professionally and personally.”

  “I feel sick about this.” She took a winding path to Capitol Hill, dodging the worst of the midday traffic.

  “We all do the best we can.”

  “No, we don’t all do the best we can. Most of us do, but the few who don’t make us all look like shit. Stahl barely bothered with the most rudimentary investigation. I want to take another look at all his cases from the time he first became a detective. If there’re others like this one, I want to know.”

  “That’d be a monumental task.”

  “That absolutely has to be done. I don’t care what it takes or how long, but we’re going to look at every one of his case files. We probably ought to do Conklin’s too.”

  “Jesus, Sam.”

  “I’m so pissed with myself. I knew full well that Stahl didn’t do everything he could with the Worthington case. That was the first time I tangled with him, when I sought him out to see what was being done, because I couldn’t forget Lenore’s awful grief. He told me to stay in my lane and mind my own business. What was I supposed to do with that? I was a Patrol officer, and he was a detective on his way to sergeant.”

  “You couldn’t do anything.”

  “No, that’s actually not true. I could’ve gone to my dad and asked him to look into it.”

  “And what kind of trouble would that have caused you?”

  “All the trouble,” Sam said, sighing. She hadn’t gone to her dad because she’d known exactly what kind of shit storm that would’ve created for her—and her dad. “I’m really spun up about this, on multiple levels.”

  “I can tell, and with good reason. Let’s sit down and figure out a plan after things calm down for you.”

  “We’re doing this. I don’t care if I ha
ve to do it on my own time. We’re doing a full review of all their cases, and we’re going to own the results.”

  “You’ll need to loop the chief in on this plan of yours.”

  “I will.” Sam had no doubt her beloved uncle Joe would feel the same way she did. There was nothing good cops hated more than bad cops. “It probably goes far beyond the two of them.”

  “Maybe so, but in the grand scheme of things, I think it’s a small percentage.”

  “That’s cold comfort to someone like Lenore Worthington, who’s had to wait fifteen years to find out what happened to her son.”

  “Yeah, you’re right.”

  “We can’t move on from this like we don’t know it’s a huge problem, Cap. Please tell me you agree with me.”

  “I do, but we have to find a way to do this without making things worse for the chief and the rest of us. We can’t go at it like bulls in a china shop.”

  “I guess I’m the bull in this scenario.”

  “You said that, not me.”

  Sam laughed. “I hear you. And I appreciate what you’re saying. It’s just so upsetting to realize how many corners have been cut in places where they shouldn’t have been.”

  “I wish we had a full team of cops who approached the job like you do, but the fact is we’re a massive department full of flawed human beings. Some more so than others. We’ll fix what we can and find a way to live with what we can’t do anything about.”

  “I guess I can do that.”

  “I’ll talk to the chief, and we’ll sit down about this after you get done moving into the White House.”

  “You just had to say that, didn’t you?”

  He sputtered with laughter. “Are you or are you not about to move into the White House?”

  “Don’t remind me.”

  “You know who’d totally love this so much?”

  “I was thinking that earlier. He’d be busting his buttons.” She blinked furiously to contain the sudden rush of tears. “I’m so sad he won’t be able to visit us there.”

  “He’ll be there. He’ll be right in the middle of it. You know that.”

  “Yeah, I do. All right, I need to go talk to a former criminal who found Jesus in prison and is now a pastor at a Baptist church.”

  “That’s a mouthful. Is he tied to Worthington?”

  “His look-alike cousin, who was in all the trouble at the time Calvin was killed.”

  “Are you thinking mistaken identity?”

  “I was until Calvin’s girlfriend gave me another thread to pull. Javier Lopez, who’s in our custody with the Carter murder?”

  “What about him?”

  “He had fisticuffs with Calvin two weeks before he died, and it apparently escalated. Of course, none of this was in Stahl’s reports because he never bothered to talk to the girlfriend or the cousin.”

  “I hate that son of a bitch for so many reasons, but if this turns out to be the tip of an iceberg with his cases…”

  “I’d bet my badge on the iceberg.”

  His deep sigh said it all. “I’ll talk to the chief. I’ll let you know.”

  “Just a reminder that I’m leaving at four on Wednesday to do the viewing at the Capitol, and I’m out all day Thursday for the funeral and flight to South fucking Dakota. I guess I’m moving on Friday. I’m already in a pissed-off mood about this week, and it’s just getting started.”

  “Are you flying on Air Force One?”

  “I guess.”

  “That’s so freaking cool.”

  “You wanna go in my place?”

  “I’d do it in a minute. I’ve always wanted to ride on Air Force One.”

  “We’ll see what we can do to make that happen.”

  “That’d be amazing. I guess I’ll see you when I see you, and when I see you, I’ll steer clear.”

  “Good idea. Later.”

  Sam’s stomach ached after the conversation about icebergs. It made her sick to think about cops cutting corners and victims of violent crime suffering as a result. She parked in the lot outside the church, approached the attached office and stepped inside to encounter one of her favorite things—a receptionist. This one was an older woman with a sweet, accommodating face. As she showed her badge, Sam hoped she was actually accommodating.

  The woman’s face went flat with shock. “You… You’re… Oh my heavens!”

  “Hi there, I’m Lieutenant Holland with the Metro PD, looking for D’Andre Worthington. Is he available?”

  “He… I… You’re the first lady!”

  For fuck’s sake. “I am. Is Pastor Worthington available?”

  “He…” She stood so quickly she managed to upend her office chair, which crashed to the floor with a loud bang that brought the man Sam was looking for from an adjoining office to see what’d happened. D’Andre wore a dark suit with a white dress shirt and no tie. Even years later, Sam could see his startling resemblance to his late cousin.

  “Are you all right?” He tended to his receptionist before he noticed Sam standing there. Then he did a double take when he too recognized her.

  She introduced herself to him and asked for a minute of his time.

  D’Andre hesitated, for only a second, but he hesitated, nonetheless. “Sure. Come on back.” He led her into his office, where the walls were lined with books and the desk stacked with papers. “Pardon the mess. Happens when I’m writing my sermons.”

  “Not to worry. My office is always a disaster.”

  “You’ll have to pardon me for being somewhat stunned to have the first lady drop by to see me.”

  “I’m not here as the first lady. I’m here as the commander of the MPD’s Homicide division.”

  “You’re here about Calvin.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Why now after all this time?”

  “Because Lenore reminded me recently that we had unfinished business when it came to your cousin.”

  “The MPD never took much interest in what happened to my cousin,” he said with an edge of bitterness to his tone that she could certainly understand.

  “You’re absolutely right, and I apologize for that. I was the Patrol officer who responded the night Calvin was killed. I’ve never forgotten Lenore or him.”

  “So what can I do for you, other than confirm that yes, I was in a lot of trouble around that time, but I certainly didn’t kill the cousin I loved like a brother.”

  “Did people think you’d killed him?”

  “There were rumors that I’d had something to do with it, or that it was related to me in some way, but I’ve never heard anything solid that would tie it back to me or my friends at the time. I loved him. I would’ve thrown myself in front of that bullet to save him.”

  “Did you know Javier Lopez?”

  D’Andre’s eyes went wide. “What about him?”

  “I’m asking if you knew him.”

  “I went to school with him. Cal and I both did. He was in the grade between Cal and me.”

  “What was your impression of him?”

  “He was an asshole bully, always picking on people who couldn’t defend themselves. You know the type. No one liked him, but everyone was afraid of him.” He chuckled softly. “Except Cal, of course. He got right up in Javier’s face and told him he was a douche for what he’d done to this girl—her name was Maisy—by acting like he was into her when he was just making fun of her.”

  “So you knew about their fight?”

  “Everyone knew about it. People thought Cal was a badass for confronting him.”

  “What did Javier think?”

  “I don’t really know. I stayed away from him. I was no choirboy and made a lot of mistakes that I genuinely regret, but that guy was seriously bad news. From the time he was a little kid, he was just a nasty son of a bitch, and I don’t say those words lightly in this house of God. It’s the truth.”

  “Did you ever consider that he was behind Cal’s murder?”

  “I think most people
figured he had something to do with it.”

  Sam couldn’t bear to hear that. Most people thought Javier was probably involved, but somehow the police had never even talked to him about the case. She handed D’Andre her card. “If there’s anything else you think might be relevant, please give me a call.”

  “I really hope you can get some answers for Lenore and Ayana. They’ve waited long enough.”

  “I couldn’t agree more. Thanks for your time.”

  In the car, she used the Bluetooth to call Freddie.

  “Hey,” he said. “Where are you?”

  “On the way back to HQ. You?”

  “I’m there after learning my baby has a blown head gasket, and there’s no point to getting her fixed.”

  “I’m very sorry for your loss.”

  “Yeah, yeah, I’m sure you are.”

  “I’m truly sorry you’re sad about it.”

  “Thank you.”

  “I won’t, however, miss the backfiring that made me feel like I was under attack.”

  “There it is,” he said, laughing.

  “Do me a favor and ask one of the Millers to meet me at HQ in twenty minutes, if possible. Get Javier Lopez into an interview room and ask Green to get me a list of Lopez’s known associates from fifteen years ago. I just need two or three names.”

  “Will do. What’s going on?”

  “I think I’ve got the Worthington case put together.”

  “Seriously? Already?”

  “Yes, and it was revoltingly easy, actually. Our good friend Stahl didn’t do even the most rudimentary investigation. If he had, Lenore and her family wouldn’t have had to wait fifteen years for justice for Calvin.”

  “That’s disgusting.”

  “Truly. I told Malone I’m going back to look at every one Stahl’s open cases to find out what other corners he cut. But first, I want to wrap this up for Lenore.”

  His deep sigh said it all. “We’ll be ready when you get here.”

  She ended the call and pushed the accelerator, eager to get to HQ and get this case sewn up for Lenore and Calvin. Sam couldn’t change the past, but she could correct a terrible wrong by making an arrest in Calvin’s case. Now she just had to figure out how she was going to play it with Javier.