“You helped your ex-husband murder a young girl?” Warren tossed crime-scene photos on the table from a case that happened almost two decades ago. Samantha looked up from the floor, showing no emotion as she glanced at the pictures.

“I didn’t murder anyone. He did!” she said vehemently. “I’m the reason why he’s sitting in jail. My testimony put him away. I told everyone what he did.”

“After a plea bargain,” Warren said unceremoniously.

“You’re as much of an asshole as he was,” Samantha hissed. “Christ, I was seventeen. I was a young girl myself. I was an abused child under the control of a bastard. I did what he told me to do.”

“You could have let her go.”

“I did what he told me to do,” she repeated.

“You lured her in. She trusted you and then you sat back and did nothing while he did this to her.” He pushed the pictures towards her again, this time she did not look.

“Do you still talk to Daniel Ritcher?” Gavin asked, referring to her ex-husband who was in jail serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole.

“I haven’t seen him since the day I testified against him. I have no reason to talk to him.”

“Does he try to contact you?”

“No.”

“You wouldn’t be lying to me, would you?” Warren said.

“I said no. What the hell more do you want?” Samantha’s chest heaved and every muscle tensed.

Gavin knew if they pressed her too much on this issue, they might lose the ability to question her altogether. He softened his tone and asked a different question. “After all this time, you must still care about your sister very much.”

“Yes, I do.”

“How did you know Francine was missing?” he asked.

“I called and left messages,” she said after a few seconds, seeming to relax a little.

“Did Francine return any of your calls?”

“No.”

“Are you sure you had the right number?”

“I got her answering machine. The voice was Francine’s.” Samantha continued to relax.

“How many times did you try her?”

“I called her for about two weeks. Then I went to her apartment and asked around about her, but no one had seen her in a couple of days. What I heard is that she just took off but I didn’t believe it.”

“Any chance she took off because you were looking for her? Any reason she didn’t want you to find her?” Warren questioned.

“Why the hell would she do that? I hadn’t heard from her in almost twenty years. If she wanted nothing to do with me, well all she had to do was just say so. Why are you asking me all of these questions? Jesus Christ, you sound like I’m the reason why she took off.”

“We need to know why she left,” Gavin said.

“I don’t know why.”