Touch of Red (Tracers #12)(27)

“I understand. But your client is dead now, and it’s my job to figure out who killed her.”

Farrah shook her head. “Sam’s records are confidential. If you need to see them, you can file a request—”

“That could take ten business days to process, I know.” He looked at her. “This is a murder case, Farrah. That means we’re on a ticking clock here. Every day that goes by without a suspect makes it more and more likely that whoever killed Sam will get away with it. And that means an extremely violent person is out there roaming the streets.” He paused to let that sink in. “This isn’t just about Samantha Bonner. I have a duty to this community. So do you.”

She folded her arms over her chest. “You’re good at this. A little thick on the guilt, but it’s effective.”

He held her gaze but didn’t say anything.

“Fine.” She huffed out a breath. “I can give you some basics. But if you want detailed specifics, you’re going to need to file that request.”

“Okay, then.” Sean wrapped his hand around his coffee cup. “Tell me the basics.”

“How about you tell me what you’re looking for? It might be quicker for everybody.”

“I’m sure you saw some of the details of Sam’s murder on the news.”

“Yes.”

“Then you know it was brutal. We think the killer knew Sam personally. The thing is, none of the friends or coworkers we’ve interviewed have been able to tell us about a boyfriend or any men in her life.”

“I don’t know about all that.” Farrah shook her head. “It’s not like we were friends, really.”

“You were one of eight people at her funeral.”

She unfolded her arms and rested her hands on the table. “Sam was special. She’d managed to beat the odds. Or at least, I thought she had. She dropped me notes from time to time to let me know how she was doing.”

“And how was she doing?”

“Very well.” Farrah glanced down. “I thought so, at least. She was holding down a job. She’d started college part-time. Did you know she was studying social work?”

“I heard that.” He watched her, trying to read her expression. “What was Sam’s life like growing up?”

Farrah looked uneasy. “Hard. I can’t get into specifics . . . but I can tell you many of my cases are children who have to be removed from their homes because of drug or alcohol addiction. They go into the foster system, which—as we all know—is far from perfect. Despite our best efforts, sometimes the kids end up in homes where they’re even more at risk than in their original setting.”

“?‘At risk,’ as in sexual abuse?”

“Yes.”

Sean watched Farrah’s eyes, trying to pick up every little clue. “This was when Sam lived with her aunt and . . . I’m guessing her uncle?”

Farrah nodded. “I can tell you want a name, but it won’t help. Her uncle’s been dead for years. Since shortly after Sam moved out of his home, actually.”

So much for a viable lead. But at least Sean had got Samantha’s caseworker talking. “What about the next home? The Jacobs place?”

Farrah’s face brightened. “Sam thrived there. She really did. That’s why she stayed in touch with her foster mom, I think.”

“Did they have other kids?”

“It was just Diane, and, yes, she had several other foster kids. All girls. Sam seemed to do well there. She started making good grades. She joined the choir. She graduated high school with honors over in Burr County.”

“And then?”

“And then what?”

“And then sometime after graduating with honors she ended up in a twelve-step program. Sounds like she had some setbacks.”

Farrah tilted her head to the side. “Do you know how many of my kids end up with drug and alcohol problems in adulthood? It’s amazingly common. The unusual thing about Sam was that she caught it early and decided to get help. I don’t see that as a setback.”

Sean sighed. Between the incomplete answers and the generalizations, they were talking in circles. Farrah glanced at her watch, and Sean felt a surge of impatience.

“Let me be straight with you, Farrah. I need names.”

“And as I told you—”

“Off the record. I’m not asking you to testify in court here. I’m asking for a lead. Can you think of anyone in Sam’s life—past or present—who might have been a problem for her?”

Farrah looked blank.

“Or not a problem. Maybe just a man in her life who was in the background?”

Sean was grasping at straws now. But much of Samantha Bonner’s life was a mystery to him, and her caseworker was one of the few people who had any real information.

“There’s no one I can think of offhand. I could look back through her case file. But like I alluded to before, the person who abused her as a child is dead now.”

“What about recently? Was she having trouble with a boss or a boyfriend?”

“I don’t know about that. We really just exchanged notes from time to time.” Farrah looked at her watch again. “Listen, I’m sorry, Detective, but I have to go.”