“Do you have a way to get home?” Sam asked.

“I’ll take her,” the friend said.

“I’ll need both of you to write down your names and phone numbers in case we have follow-up questions.” Sam handed her notebook to the friend and then turned to Farnsworth and Conklin. They’d tried to talk the chief out of coming here, but he’d insisted. “What do you make of it?”

“I have no idea what to make of it,” Farnsworth said. “We need to notify Springer’s wife and family.”

“I’ll do it,” Sam said, though she had no desire to be the one to bring more bad news to Mrs. Springer. “You should get out of here before the media catches wind.”

“I agree, Chief,” Conklin said. “You shouldn’t be here.”

“Fine, let’s go,” Farnsworth said. “You’ll keep me posted?”

“Of course.” After they left, Sam retrieved her notebook from the women. “Stay local in case we need to reach you.”

Pamela nodded as she stared vacantly at the far wall of her friend’s office. “What am I supposed to do now? I don’t know what I’m supposed to do.”

“Let’s get you home, Pam,” the friend said.

Sam walked out of the office to find Peterson in the hallway. “Anything on the canvas?”

“Not yet. We haven’t found anyone who was here last night.”

Lindsey McNamara came through the door from the stairwell, carrying her field case. “Morning,” she said.

“Morning, Doc.” Sam gestured for Lindsey to follow her into Springer’s office. “Keep me posted, Peterson.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“This is going to be another shitstorm, huh?” Lindsey asked when they were alone with Springer’s body. She secured her long red hair into a ponytail before getting to work assessing the victim.

“Yeah.” Sam removed her suit jacket and tossed it over a chair. “Can you give me an estimated time of death?”

“Based on the temperature and the rigor, I’d say sometime before midnight, but I can’t give you anything exact until I get him back to the lab.”

“Roll with me for a second here.”

“Sure.”

“First we have the woman who accused Gonzo of conspiring with the judge to screw her out of custody of their kid. Then we have the lawyer who’s been all over the chief about the botched investigation. Call me crazy, but this feels like a deliberate effort to undermine the department.”

“I can see why you’d think so, but is it possible that neither murder had anything to do with the department?”

“Of course it’s possible, but the murders of two people who were causing trouble for us in two days feels too calculated to be random.”

“So what’re you thinking?”

“I’m not sure yet.”

“Saw you on TV. You guys rocked it. I was cracking up laughing in pity for poor Monica.”

“She was a boob. Five seconds before she referred to me as Lieutenant Cappuano, I’d told her I was not there as the vice president’s wife.”

“You certainly did a good job of reminding people not to jump to conclusions.”

“Imagine the conclusions they’ll jump to when this hits the news.”

“Gonna be ugly,” Lindsey said bluntly.

Sam waited for the Crime Scene detectives to arrive and for Lindsey’s team to remove Springer’s body. People from other offices stood in the hallway to watch the proceedings. She figured she had a matter of minutes to get to Mrs. Springer before the news hit Twitter or Facebook.

As she drove to the MacArthur Boulevard home of Marissa Springer, Sam called Freddie.

“Hey,” he said softly. “What’s up?”

“Someone killed Springer.”

“Seriously? Oh my God. Hang on just a second.” When he came back, he spoke in a normal tone. “What the hell is going on?”

“I have no freaking clue, but we’re going to need to get one fast before our department gets dragged through the mud even worse than we have been lately.”

“I was watching the news this morning. You and the chief killed it on CBC.”

“For all the good it did us. The second the news about Springer hits, people will forget all about that.”

“What can I do?”

“Are you working today?”

“Elin is still in the hospital.”

“Oh, damn, really? How come?”

“The punch broke bones in her face. They kept her for observation. I’m not sure when they’re going to let her out.”

“You should be with her. Take a personal day.”

“You need me. With Gonzo out—”

“We’re okay. Take care of her and check in with me later.”

“She’ll probably be going home later, and I can work from home. Hit me up if I can help.”

“I will. Tell Elin I hope she feels better.”

“Will do.”

Sam ended the call with her partner, and placed a second call, her stomach clenching as she pressed Send.

Hill answered on the second ring. “Good morning, Lieutenant.”

“Yeah, hey, so I need your help.”

“Really. Did it pain you to say those words?”

“More than you know. Bill Springer was found murdered in his office this morning.”

“Seriously? Fuck.”

“You said it. I need you, Avery. I need someone outside the department making sure we aren’t going to get totally screwed by this.”

“I’m not working today. Terrell is available.”

“I need you, not your deputy. You.”

“I have a situation on the home front. I need to be here.”

“What kind of situation does a single guy with no kids have on the home front?”

“A badly injured girlfriend.”

Sam sighed with frustration about the case and empathy for her friend. “So she’s badly injured? I though Cruz said she only skinned her knees. It’s not the baby, is it?”

“The baby is fine. She’s just... I can’t leave.”

“What aren’t you telling me, Hill?”

His deep sigh set off a whole new wave of anxiety within Sam. “She found out about the thing, between us, back when we first met.”

“There was no thing between us! What the hell?”

“The one-sided thing.”

“You fucking told her that? Is this why she called in sick today? She’s pissed with us?”

“She called in sick today because her knees and hands are a mess and the ER docs advised her to take it easy for a few days.”

“And because she’s pissed.”

“Maybe a little.”

“A little. Right. Thanks a lot for this. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you sharing something like that with her.”

“I like her, Sam. It was way past time to be honest with her.”

“So now she thinks you’re dating her to get closer to me.”

“I assured her that is not the case.”

“Way to go, Hill. Seriously, great job.” Sam thought about when Shelby and Avery were first dating and how she’d told Shelby to keep him far, far away from them—Nick in particular. Now Shelby knew why and was hurt. Excellent. “This is just what we needed with Nick starting the new job and me dealing with someone who has a beef with my colleagues.”

“I’m sorry if the timing was inconvenient for you, Lieutenant.”

“Forget I called. I don’t need your help with this or anything else.” She hung up on him and threw the phone into the passenger seat. “Motherfucker!”

Her mind reeled with the implications of Shelby finding out about Avery’s so-called crush. What Shelby must be thinking! Ugh. As Sam pulled onto MacArthur Boulevard, she took a call from Gonzo.

“Hey, how’s it going?” she asked.

“Never better. What’s the latest?”

“Well, Springer’s admin found him dead on the floor of his office this morning. Also manually strangled.”

“Shut. The. Fuck. Up. Are you serious?”

“Unfortunately, I am.” She heard Gonzo conveying the news to Christina.

“This is unbelievable.”

“Starting to feel like a vendetta.”

“No kidding.”

“So I’m at MacArthur now. I got the short straw and have to tell Marissa Springer. Just looking at the place where Brooke was attacked gives me hives.”

“You should get someone else to do it.”

“No time. People know. It’ll be all over social media if it’s not already.”