“Lenny Stahl, too. What the heck is wrong with him, trying to kill Skip’s daughter—twice?”

“So many things are wrong with him. We’ve reopened some of his cases and are finding all kinds of irregularities.”

“What do you mean?”

“Did you hear about the Carisma Deasly case? A missing teenager who was believed kidnapped by a family friend eleven years ago? That was Stahl’s case when it first happened, and he filed in-depth reports that were pure fiction. They were found archived separate of the case files. Detective Jeannie McBride, who was recently named our new deputy chief, dug into the case, found Carisma in Richmond living in absolute filth along with ten other children. It’s led to a massive human trafficking ring.”

“Holy crap,” Tom said.

“I read about that,” Amanda added. “It made the national news.”

Jake nodded. “Only took a couple of days to find her once someone bothered to care. Now we’re reopening all his cases, even the successful prosecutions, to see what other corners he cut.”

“He was always a bit of a creep,” Tom said, “but I never thought he’d do something like that—or be convicted of attempted murder.”

“None of us did.” Jake paused as he tried to find a delicate way to pose the question he’d come to ask. “You don’t remember anything about his reports being archived, do you?”

“I can’t say that I do. Doesn’t that require a captain or above?”

“It does.”

“I never had much to do with him. I tried to steer clear. He was just one of those people we had to put up with, you know?”

“I sure do.” Jake was relieved that Tom seemed to know nothing about the archiving of reports, but that left him with only one other captain from that time to ask, and with hindsight, he realized he probably should’ve started with Conklin.

“Your kids must be all grown up by now,” Tom said.

“They are. Mel is practicing family law in Pittsburgh. She’s married to a great guy. Chris is in LA, working for a company that provides support services to the film industry. He’s been dating someone for a while but doesn’t seem to be in any rush to make it official.”

“Wow, they were in high school the last time I saw them.”

“Time flies, doesn’t it?”

“Sure does, especially when you’re almost out of it.”

“I was so sorry to hear you’re ill.”

“Came outta nowhere. Had a pain right about here.” He placed his hand on his abdomen. “Was diagnosed with stage four stomach cancer a few weeks later.”

“God, what a shock that had to be.”

“Indeed, it was.” He reached out to Amanda. “I finally found my true love five years ago and didn’t get near enough time with her.” Tears filled Tom’s eyes and Amanda’s.

“We’ve made the best of it,” she said.

“Not enough time,” Tom said, gazing up at her.

Jake was unbearably sad for them. “I won’t take up any more of your time,” he said, standing. “It sure was good to see you, old friend.”