What She Found (Tracy Crosswhite #9)(100)

“Maybe those could be used to prove he kept them for leverage, or blackmail.”

“He’ll argue those files represent the truth, which would implicate you. I’m not willing to sacrifice you to get Moss. Besides, Moss is too smart. I’m sure he has that file hidden somewhere other than his home.”

“You tell Anita and Jorgensen yet about Chief Weber’s involvement with the Last Line?” Del asked.

Tracy shook her head. “I’m heading over to Laurelhurst this afternoon to talk to Anita. Childs is heading back to Escondido.”

“She’s not staying?” Del asked.

“She’s going to go back to let things settle for a bit, then she’ll decide. She can’t live a normal life here with the news vans and reporters parked outside the Laurelhurst home. Anita hired someone to handle her mother’s press inquiries, and they’re contemplating doing one interview and then shutting it down. She doesn’t want the fame or any money.”

They finished their lunch and went outside to bright sunshine.

Faz departed for the office, leaving Tracy and Del on the sidewalk fishing for sunglasses.

“I talked to my attorney this morning,” Del said. “He said my suspension was retaliatory and thinks I’ll be reinstated before the end of the month. You as well.”

“Weber said to expect blowback,” Tracy said.

“Not based on the calls I’ve received. The people who might have been implicated are long gone. Those there now, who know me, think I did the right thing.”

“You have a stellar reputation, Del.”

“Just not three Medals of Valor.”

“Bite me.” Tracy smiled. “We might get a few cold shoulders for talking,” she said. “But I can at least close my office door.”

“Bite me,” Del said.

Tracy left Fazzio’s and drove to Laurelhurst. With the Seattle Times stories getting picked up by the AP and UPI, Melissa Childs was now national news, and the uniqueness of what had transpired, and the prior Times articles, caused the crowd of news cameras and reporters to seemingly grow larger than in previous days. Tracy parked in the driveway and ignored questions shouted from reporters as she walked to the front door. Beverly Siegler greeted her and welcomed her into her home.

Anita and Melissa drank coffee in the living room.

“I wanted to say good-bye before you took off,” Tracy said. “And wish you luck. You’re liable to have crowds at home for a while.”

“I know,” Childs said. “But I have to get back to my business, and the sooner I do, the sooner things can get back to normal.

Hopefully.”

Tracy asked to speak to Anita outside. They stepped out the sliding glass door onto a deck that overlooked Lake Washington and the 520 bridge spanning east to west.

“Don’t forget to have the newspaper request the file for the internal investigation of Chief Weber’s father,” Tracy said.

“Those wheels are already in motion,” Anita said. “Do you think anyone will talk?”

“I don’t know. And I have my doubts about how much they might know.”

Childress smiled. “The only thing I ever wanted was to know what happened to my mother. I want you to know how grateful I am, even if this goes no further.”

“What’s your plan?” Tracy asked. “Are you staying here?”

“For now. But if my mom decides to stay in Escondido, I might move there and also start a new life. It’s ironic, isn’t it? I never knew her and yet my life is emulating hers.” She offered a pensive smile. “I feel like a burden has been lifted from my shoulders, like my life is just beginning.”

Tracy knew all about starting over, and it had worked out well for her.

“Start with family,” she said. “That’s the most important thing.”





E P I L O G U E

Two weeks after the final article in the series ran in the Times, Tracy pushed Daniella in a stroller through the Woodland Park Zoo. She’d given Therese the rest of the month off, and Therese had gone home to Ireland to visit her family. Dan had returned to work, though the emotional impact of Ted Simmons’s death still lingered and likely would for some time.

Tracy had stayed in contact with Bill Jorgensen. He advised that the Times had obtained the names of the Last Line officers but had decided to not publish them, pending the outcome of the United States Justice Department’s investigation. Though some had admitted to stealing drugs and money, charges for which were barred by the statute of limitations, they claimed, through legal counsel, no knowledge of the death of the two Egregious crew members or David Slocum, as published in the Times’s articles.

“They’ll blame Tombs, and maybe the other two deceased officers,” Tracy had said. She knew the Justice Department’s investigation would be a long slog, with no resolution for months, if at all. She could get upset, but what good would that do? Bitterness was never a good recipe for happiness. Jorgensen said the Times had also obtained the files pertaining to Chief Weber’s father, and that an investigative reporter had written an article in the series about her growing up in the same neighborhood as the drug dealers busted by the Last Line, though the newspaper did not call out Weber as being complicit with Tombs or the task force. Henderson Jones’s statements could not be corroborated, and Weber had declined to comment. The insinuation might have implicated Weber in the court of public opinion, but Weber marched onward, unfazed.