Page 55 of The Secrets We Hide
“Allison Vickery was murdered in her home less than five hours ago.”
Samuel’s poker face cracked. His shocked expression told her the news hadn’t reached his desk yet.
She said, “The shooter escaped. Allison’s teenage daughter was shot in the head. Probably won’t make it, but the surgeons are trying.”
“Who’s your suspect?”
“You tell me. Allison Vickery was your informant, right?”
He didn’t answer the question. He placed Jude’s phone on the coffee table. “What about the photo of the photo?”
“Found in Allison’s papers. She was obviously tailing Foley, which means she didn’t trust him. The X that he chalked onto the lamp-post is a signal for a meet-up. Did she meet with him?”
He shook his head once. News of the murder had thrown him.
She said, “Allison was packing her bags when she was killed. She had enough cash to leave town and start over. Tens of thousands of dollars, all in hundreds. Either someone was paying her off or you were paying her to cooperate.”
He sat back in his chair. “Are you auditioning to be the Jessica Fletcher of North Falls?”
Jude hadn’t told him the name of the town, and Samuel didn’t make those sorts of slip-ups. “You clearly want to tell me more. It’s just us, Sam. Tell me more.”
He paused again, but only so his silence would set some boundaries. “The money wasn’t from us.”
“So it was early days?”
He nodded. “Two months ago, we got an anonymous email tipping us off to corruption inside a Clifton County law enforcement agency.”
“Did they specify which agency?”
“No,” he said. “The tipline on the website gets hundreds of these emails a week. High on conspiracy, low on facts. We sent back the usual response—what can you prove? A few weeks later, the whistleblower gives us her name and the offer of a Giglio.”
Jude felt the breath leave her lungs.Giglioreferred to Giglio v United States, a Supreme Court case that required prosecutors to disclose information that might bring into question the credibility of one of their witnesses. Police departments kept what were called Giglio lists of officers whose conduct was so questionable that they could never be called to testify. For obvious reasons, most departments kept their lists buried in a deep, dark place. If the name of a Giglio cop was leaked, every case he’d ever worked on could be called into question.
She asked, “What names were on the list?”
“She said she could give us eleven total, but she offered up one so we’d know she was serious.” He paused, as if it pained him to continue. “Gerald Clifton.”
Jude had guessed what the name would be, but it still took her a moment to recover. “I need a more accurate timeline. When did Allison make the offer?”
“Two weeks ago,” he said. “Four weeks after your father’s murder.”
“Okay.” Jude guessed Samuel’s poker face was better than she’d thought. “Whoever intercepted the email from Allison did some digging before they responded. They found out that Gerald Clifton was my father. They reached out to you because of our personal relationship. You talked to Seth Alexander because he recently worked with me on a case in Georgia. You sent one of your protégés to handle Allison Vickery so you could control the flow of information.”
“You could also say I was looking out for you.”
“I’ve never needed looking after, and you’ve never worried about collateral damage.”
“We were together ten years. Is it so hard to believe I still care about you?”
“Not when you’ve been lying to me about what you know since I walked through that door.” She leaned her elbows on her knees. Looked him in the eye. “Why didn’t you come to me when the tip came in? What’s really going on?”
“You know your father’s reputation. He was a godlike figure in the state. One of the longest-serving sheriffs in the country. The people who went to his funeral are not people who like to be in proximity to scandals.”
“You mean like a United States senator with deep roots in the local law enforcement community?”
He mirrored Jude, leaning his elbows on his knees. “There’s also your reputation to think about. Two different streamers filming documentaries on Freddy Henley right now. They would love to dig into your psyche. The beautiful woman who sweet-talked a serial killer into giving up his secrets has a corrupt daddy who terrorized a small town?”
“None of those vultures has ever put it together that Gerald Clifton is my father.”
