Driving through afternoon traffic, Sam went over the case again from the beginning, thinking about who would have a reason to kill the players who’d cost the team a trip to the World Series. She kept coming back to the team management and ownership. Who else would care as much as they did?

Her cell phone rang and she took the call from Darren Tabor. “Nothing yet, Darren. I haven’t forgot I owe you an exclusive.”

“Your husband was tied up in Lexicore. Any comment on that?”

“Not a thing.”

“His people are saying he’s out of the country. Where is he?”

“I honestly don’t know.”

“Would you tell me if you did?”

“Probably not.”

“You’re nothing if not consistent.”

“Thank you.”

“Listen, there’s something else I wanted to tell you, but I’m in a bit of a tight spot on this one.”

“I’m listening.”

“You have to promise you won’t tell anyone you heard this from me.”

“You have my word.”

He hesitated, then cleared his throat. “The Star is hemorrhaging money. It’s going downhill fast.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” The Star was a D.C. institution, and as much as her dealings with the media rankled her, Darren was one of the few reporters who’d treated her fairly over the years—for the most part anyway.

“The internet has been annihilating the newspaper business for years now, but since Mr. Kopelsman died, it’s gotten worse. His daughter is nowhere near the businessperson he was, and she’s running the place into the ground.”

“Interesting,” Sam said. “How does that factor into the Vasquez case?”

“From what I understand, Elle was counting on the TV rights to the World Series and the influx of cash to bail out the entire company. Everything was riding on that.”

“Is that so?”

“Since the team lost that game, everyone here is sweating their jobs. Myself included.”

“This is very helpful, Darren. Detective Cruz is with me now, and I know I can count on his discretion.”

“I understand. I don’t want to think Elle or Ray could be behind something like this, but the company is in a lot of trouble, and protecting her father’s legacy is the most important thing to her. I thought you should know that.”

“You’re racking up the points, Mr. Tabor.”

Darren laughed. “Never hurts to be in good with the MPD.”

“Thanks for this. I’ll be in touch.” To Freddie she said, “Well, that was enlightening. Did you catch the gist?”

“Sure did.”

“This might be the break we’ve been waiting for. Will you get Ramsey from SVU to meet us in the pit?”

“Yep.” Freddie made the call while Sam rang Shelby.

“What’s up?” Shelby asked when she answered.

“How did Scotty make out today?”

“From what I can tell, it was a normal day. No interaction with Nathan and no trouble from anyone else.”