What She Found (Tracy Crosswhite #9)(79)

“I’m not judging—”

“I’ve waited twenty-four years for this moment, Detective,” he said, his tone angry.

“For Lisa to come home, or for you to be vindicated?” Tracy had the distinct impression it was the latter.

“I’ve lived under a cloud of suspicion every day for decades. Do you have any idea what that is like? My daughter and I suffered immensely because of what the police put me through. You have no idea. None. You have no right to judge me.”

He was right. Tracy did not know what he had been through, not in detail, and she had no basis to judge him. But he also had no idea what he might have unleashed by going public with the information.

Tracy had no idea what Childress had told the newspapers. If he’d told them where Lisa had lived for the past twenty-four years or her new name. He might very well have put his former wife’s life in danger.

“We need to make a statement that your wife has amnesia and doesn’t remember anything about what happened.”

“We’ll make a statement when we are ready, and we will say what we choose to say. You’re free to say whatever you want.” With that, Childress stepped back inside the house and shut the door.





C H A P T E R 3 0

Tracy returned to Police Headquarters around 6:00 p.m. and was summoned to Chief Weber’s office. Weber had a flat-screen television tuned to a news station, and she stood watching live coverage of the story of Lisa Childress’s return to Seattle, and the circumstances surrounding it. The story had already gone viral.

Since the staff had left for the day, Tracy knocked on Weber’s door and stepped in. Weber did not look happy to see her.

“What I want to know is how this reunion happened. The news stations indicate you were involved in making it happen.”

“I told you that I was asked by Anita Childress—” Tracy started before Weber interrupted her.

“And I thought I told you to focus your attention on cases that had the potential to be resolved.”

“This case was resolved,” Tracy said. “Childress was considered a missing person presumed deceased. Now she isn’t.”

“This was not a case with DNA evidence nor was it a case likely to be resolved when you chose to pursue it against my specific directive.”

“You said to pursue cases that had a likelihood of being resolved. I received a tip after we spoke that Lisa Childress was alive, and I pursued that tip. Not every cold case has DNA evidence that we can follow, Chief. Some are going to require police effort, talking to witnesses—and I did that.”

“What I need are numbers to justify our budget.”

“And I gave you one. A case that is getting positive feedback.”

“We have a city council that would like nothing better than to defund this department.”

Tracy couldn’t rationalize Chief Weber’s reaction. “This is a positive case, Chief. It’s a win. It’s receiving more local and national attention than the bodies discovered in Curry Canyon. I don’t understand what the problem is.”

“What the problem is?” Chief Weber pointed a remote at the television in her office and hit “Fast Forward.” Until that moment, Tracy didn’t know she had been watching a recording.

Weber stopped the recording when Larry Childress appeared on the screen, alone, facing a dozen reporters in the driveway of Beverly Siegler’s home. Tracy had a bad feeling about what was to come.

Chief Weber hit “Play” and Tracy listened to Childress speaking to reporters from notecards. He told them his ex-wife was alive and had been living in Escondido, California, for the past twenty-four years. He then chastised the media and said he’d been vindicated after being vilified. He cast blame on the Seattle Police Department, who he said had rushed to judgment and failed to follow other leads that might have resolved this case much earlier. He said police incompetence had led to the loss of his wife and his daughter’s mother, and they had both paid for it with a quarter century of their lives.

“It didn’t have to be this way,” Childress said, looking very much like the grieving husband. “We all suffered because the police department refused to consider any other possibilities, even when I called those possibilities to their attention. They were lazy,” he added, a bite in his tone. “And their laziness cost all of us dearly. So do not paint this as positive police work. This case, the disappearance of my wife, is an illustration of what happens when police officers don’t do their jobs. When they pick the low-hanging fruit and hang on to it even without evidence to justify doing so.”

Tracy felt sick to her stomach.

When asked about his wife’s claim of amnesia, Childress’s answer was vague, intimating that he didn’t understand the circumstances well enough to comment.

Weber hit “Pause.” “The other stations are broadcasting the same message.”

“He’s wrong, Chief. Larry Childress refused to let the department send out a news release to other police stations and the media. He handcuffed their efforts to protect himself. He’s protecting himself now.”

“And do you want to get up in front of cameras and say that?”

Tracy knew the question to be rhetorical and bit her tongue.

“His statements will be national news. You still think pursuing this case helped us?”