Farnsworth was quiet as he processed that information. “So the video puts her at the scene, but shows her as a victim rather than a perp.”

“Yes.” Sam swallowed a knot of fear as she pressed on. “I’ve also just been to her school to retrieve her laptop, iPad and a few other belongings. I was also able to view the video of the pickup and identified the girl who went in there pretending to be Brooke’s older sister.”

“And you just breezed in there and they gave you all that access?”

“Um, not exactly.”

“Speak, Lieutenant. Immediately.”

“I, um, had some help from Agent Hill. He got a warrant so we wouldn’t have to deal with the jurisdictional BS.”

The chief’s deep sigh had Sam holding the phone away from her ear. The grimace she directed at Nick normally would’ve amused him. Not today. “If and when my head actually explodes, you’ll be one hundred fifty percent responsible for it. You know that, right?”

“Yes...sir. Sorry, sir.”

“No, you’re not, so don’t compound it by lying to me.” He cleared his throat in a deep rumble that came through the phone line like a roar. “Here’s how we’re going to play this. You’re going to make a statement to the press in the morning that indicates your niece was at the party but we have eliminated her as a suspect in the homicides. You’re going to indicate your niece was the victim of a crime that is being handled by another division.”

“But—”

“Sam! Shut up and listen to me!”

She literally bit her lip to keep from talking back to him.

“You’re going to say the crime involving your niece is under investigation by a separate division of the MPD, and you’re to stay far, far away from that investigation. Do I make myself clear?”

“I want to be there when she is interviewed.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“No!”

Startled by his actual roar, she forced herself to remain quiet—for now.

“You’re walking the finest line in the history of fine lines, Holland, and if you think I won’t hesitate to suspend you and take your badge to keep you from crossing that line, you don’t know me at all.”

“I want Erica Lucas on Brooke’s case,” Sam said when she had the opportunity. “I don’t want Ramsey anywhere near it.” She’d had the chance to work with Lucas during a recent investigation that had unearthed a child prostitution ring in the city, and she’d appreciated Lucas’s no-nonsense approach as much as her sensitivity. “Ramsey hates my guts.”

“What’d you do to him?”

“Hell if I know.”

“Fine. I’ll request Lucas, but you’re to stay out of her way. You got me?”