He sagged and seemed to accept the inevitable, which was good because not cooperating would count as wasting her time, and Sam hated when people wasted her time.
Using his cell phone to get the info, he wrote down the names and numbers of the three men. Sam handed the notebook over to Freddie to make the calls.
“When was the last time you saw your wife?”
“Before I left this morning.”
“Spoke to her?”
“After her arraignment when I drove her home and asked her what the fuck she’d been thinking stealing from people, let alone people we know. When she couldn’t give me a satisfactory response, I told her to stay the hell away from me. I was planning to immediately file for divorce and wanted her out of the house.”
“Was she aware you were planning to divorce her?”
“Not yet, but I hardly think she would’ve been surprised in light of what I’ve learned about her. I didn’t want to be on the hook to make restitution to her victims.” As he said those words, it seemed to occur to him that he might be now that she was dead. “I didn’t kill her, but I can think of hundreds of people who had reason to. One of our closest couple friends, Dan and Toni Alino, both his parents have Alzheimer’s, and she got them to invest in her scheme with money she knew they’d need to care for his parents. She took money from her own cousin as well as my brother. Who does that?”
“I don’t know,” Sam said. “Was anyone particularly outspoken after she was charged?”
“Her phone was ringing nonstop for days. She ignored the calls. People were calling and texting me, but I didn’t know what to tell them except I was as surprised as they were to find out what she’d been doing. I’m sure they don’t believe I didn’t know, but I really didn’t. I was horrified when I heard the full extent of what she’s charged with. If I’d known…” He looked at them, seeming shattered. “I would’ve done something to stop it. I’m an attorney, an officer of the court. There’s no way I would’ve let this go on and not tried to stop it.”
“Take me through what happened when you found her.”
“I came home from the club, opened the garage door and saw the blood all over the place, and then I realized it was her. Ginny. I… I recognized the running shoes she had on. I immediately called 911 and waited outside until the MPD arrived.”
“You never touched her or went near her?”
“No. I could tell there was nothing I could do for her.”
“Is her phone here?”
He nodded toward the kitchen counter. “It’s there.”
“Do we have your permission to take it into evidence?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, sure.”
Sam pulled an evidence bag out of her coat pocket and handed it to Freddie.
“Is there somewhere else you can stay tonight? Crime Scene will be coming in to work the scene and will probably be here at least until tomorrow.”
“I, um, I can go to my brother’s. I think. Is it okay to text him?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
Sam stayed with him while he texted his brother.
“I can tell him what happened with Ginny?”
“Yes.”
He typed the information into the phone and then waited for his brother to respond. “He said I can come over.”
“We’ll get Patrol to take you.”
“I can’t drive myself?”
“Everything here is considered evidence until Crime Scene is finished processing it. Where is your brother’s home located?”
“Chevy Chase.”
“Detective Cruz, will you ask Patrol to arrange transport for Mr. McLeod?”
Freddie nodded and left the kitchen.
“Are you guys going to ruin my life in the process of figuring out who killed my wife? I watch TV. I know you always think the spouse did it.”
“Not always, and we’ll only have to ruin your life if you lie to us.”
“Everything I’ve told you is the truth.”
“Then we shouldn’t have a problem.”
Chapter Three
After sending Mr. McLeod off to his brother’s house with Patrol, Sam stayed with the body and waited for the medical examiner while Jeannie and Freddie conducted a canvass of the neighborhood. On a search of the grounds, Jeannie hadn’t found anything that might be the murder weapon, but Crime Scene would do a more thorough search of the house, yard and surrounding area.
Dr. Lindsey McNamara, the District’s chief medical examiner, arrived with her team a short time later. With her long red hair up in a ponytail, Lindsey looked much younger than her thirty-seven years. “Sorry, I was out at the farm with Terry when I got the call.” The family of her fiancé, Terry O’Connor, lived in Leesburg, Virginia. “I got here as fast as I could.”
“No worries. We were on the way back from Baltimore when we got the call.”
“How is he?”
“He seems really good.”
They walked into the garage together.
“Did he say when he might get released?”
“In the next week or so and then back to work part-time at first.”
“I’m glad for him and all of you that he’ll be back soon.”
“We are too.” Since Lindsey was alone, Sam filled her in on Gonzo’s plan to plead to misdemeanor drug charges. “If you ask me, it’s total bullshit.”
“I agree with you.” After putting on gloves, Lindsey squatted for a closer look at the bloody wound to Ginny’s neck. Lindsey moved the woman’s hair. “Looks like death by sharp object, but not tidy enough to be a knife. I’ll know more when I get her cleaned up.”
“I’m going to need a time of death as soon as possible. We’ve got motive up the wazoo here. Apparently, she was running a scam that bilked people out of millions.”
“I read about that in the Star this morning! Terry and I were talking about it. How do you scam your own family and friends?”
“We were saying the same thing on the way to Baltimore. I guess we need to inform the prosecutor on the fraud case that his case just became mine.” She’d get someone on her team to take care of that detail.
“Probably so.” Lindsey took some photos and then signaled to one of her assistants to bring in the gurney for transport to the morgue. “I’ll get on this right away and have a report to you by morning.”
“Thanks, Doc.”
Sam caught up with Freddie and Jeannie in the street. “Anything?”
“Of course no one has seen a thing,” Freddie said, “but they’d all heard about Ginny being charged with fraud.”
“Hmm, well, I guess that’d be big news around here.”
“We’ve still got one house.” He pointed to the last house in the cul-de-sac.
“Let’s do it,” Sam said.
They knocked on the first door, and an older man with thick white hair and glasses answered, seemingly taken aback to see three cops on his doorstep. “What can I do for you?”
“We’re investigating the murder of Virginia McLeod,” Sam said.