The Night Shift(37)

“I think it was an anonymous tip, but I honestly don’t remember.”

“So, you get these tips,” Keller says, “and you all immediately think Whitaker’s the perp?”

“We also got a print on the back door to the break room, compared it to Whitaker’s, and it matched. You gotta understand, we had nothing to go on, so we brought him in. If I could go back in time, you know, twenty-twenty hindsight, I would’ve waited to make the arrest. Particularly since that dirtbag lawyer got him out for insufficient evidence. I mean, we found the knife right after he was released. But by then, Whitaker was long gone.”

Keller looks out at the water, which is murky and choppy. “After you found the knife, the investigation seemed to slow down. The file kind of winds up.”

Grosso nods. “The county prosecutor at the time was getting a lot of heat because we’d made the arrest too soon, that Whitaker got out, so he was eager to close the investigation. Declare some type of win, that we’d identified the perp. He assumed they’d scoop up Whitaker soon enough and all would be forgiven. Didn’t quite work out that way for him—or for any of us.”

Keller realizes that Grosso’s decision to retire young wasn’t completely voluntary. The county cleaned house after the Whitaker debacle.

“But it was for the best. I was burned out on the job, got a good government pension. I can fish whenever I want, so it all worked out.” He says this like he almost believes it.

“Were you okay with the investigation being shut down so abruptly?” Keller asks. Most detectives want a case solved, not merely administrative closure.

“Didn’t matter what I was okay with. But, yeah, I mean it seemed pretty open-and-shut. The kid takes off, we find the blade in his school locker, he had motive…”

“What was the motive?” Keller asks.

“You know, he’d been seeing one of the girls, Katie. We figured he visited her at work, they had a fight. He came back at closing to pick her up, maybe they went at it some more and he stabbed her in the heat of it, used a knife that was in the break room. Then maybe the others stumbled on the scene before he was out of there, or maybe they’d seen him there earlier, so he took out all the witnesses.”

“Except for Ella Monroe.”

Grosso releases another loud breath. “I haven’t heard that name in a long time. Yeah, she got lucky, that one.”

Keller looks at Grosso closely now. “Did you interview Ella?”

Grosso nods, staring out at nothing, like it isn’t a pleasant memory.

“Did she ever tell you about the killer saying something to her?”

“No, she’d been knocked out cold during the attack. Ella and Katie came into the break room together, so he needed to incapacitate them both. He clocked Ella, then stabbed Katie repeatedly. Before he left the store, the guy stuck Ella in the chest, and must’ve thought she was dead too.”

“You’re sure no one ever mentioned anything about the killer saying something to Ella?”

Grosso gives a decisive nod. “I’d remember that.”

He didn’t hesitate, didn’t waffle or seem defensive.

“Did anyone else on the investigative team interview Ella Monroe?”

“I don’t remember. But I imagine so. You’ll have to check the file.”

Atticus speaks up. “You mentioned the motive. Did you all ever learn what Vince Whitaker and Katie McKenzie were supposed to be fighting about?” He’s been hung up about discrepancies in the file.

Grosso looks conflicted now. He sighs, like he’s deciding there’s no harm in saying it. “There was one thing, which we left out of the official reports. The press was in a frenzy and we didn’t want it to leak.”

Keller and Atticus stare at Grosso, eager for him to explain.

“The girl—”

“Katie McKenzie,” Atticus says.

“Yeah,” Grosso says. “We thought the perp had gotten her pregnant, so we thought it might be about that.”

“The autopsy report didn’t—” Atticus begins.

“No, I mean she’d already gotten it taken care of. So maybe the fight had something to do with that. The family had been through enough, and they were super-religious types. And her mother was old friends with someone from our office…”

“Who was that?” Keller asks.

Grosso shakes his head. “He wasn’t on the task force. I don’t remember his name. But he was tight with the mother. Said it would devastate the family if it came out. So we kept it quiet. I figured it might need to come out if Whitaker was ever caught and went to trial.” Grosso looks up, like he’s trying to conjure the memory. “For the life of me, I can’t remember the fella’s name. He was lucky that he wasn’t officially on the team; probably saved his job. If it’s not in the file, you can ask the victim’s mom.”

Keller nods. Someone from the Union County Prosecutor’s Office had a connection with Katie McKenzie’s family. Maybe this someone knew what the killer had said to Ella Monroe. Or maybe there’s more to it.





CHAPTER 30


ELLA





In the back of the limousine, Jesse’s fascinated by the luxurious interior. She plays with the mood lights. Ella shakes her head to stop. Jesse plugs her phone in its Hello Kitty case into the aux cord and her playlist, loud and angry, comes through the speakers. Ella gestures for her to turn it down. Jesse opens the mini bar and peers inside. Ella gives her a Don’t even think about it look.