“Archie should have the dump on her phone soon, so start there. Go through everything and find out if she was beefing with anyone.” She handed over the phone numbers Wes and his brother had provided to account for their whereabouts during the time of the murder. “Confirm their alibis. And then get with Archie’s team to see where we are in the review of cameras in the park. After that, if you have time left, look into recent reports of any activity in the park.”

“I was just coming to talk to you about that,” SVU Detective Erica Lucas said as she entered the pit, holding papers she handed to Sam. “Report of an unsolved rape we caught in the park two weeks ago.”

Sam eyed the pages before handing them over to Dani. “We’ll want to compare DNA if there is any from Audrey.”

“Will do,” Dani said. “We’ll take it from here.”

“I’ll be in for a few hours in the morning if I can get here in the storm,” Sam said, “but I’m taking my laptop in case I can’t.”

“Got it,” Gigi said. “We’ll be ready to update you by seven.”

“Everyone else, go home and be careful getting back in the morning. We’re hearing this storm is going to be one for the ages.”

“Could I have a minute, LT?” Erica asked.

“Of course. Come in.”

Gigi glanced at Dani. “What do you suppose that’s about?”

“Not sure, but we’ll find out soon enough.”

Chapter Twelve

“What’s up?” Sam asked Erica, a detective she liked and respected.

“Hearing rumblings that Ramsey is coming back to work while his firing is being appealed.”

Sam groaned. “Just when we thought we’d seen the last of that son of a bitch.”

“But he has rights, don’t you know.”

“Whatever. We have rights, too, and one of them is the right to come to work and not have to deal with assholes.”

Erica snorted out a laugh as she sat in Sam’s visitor chair. “Exactly. With all this shit about Stahl and his past cases coming to light, we don’t need people like Ramsey making the rest of us look bad.”

“Agreed. Hopefully, the appeal won’t go anywhere.”

“From your lips to God’s ears. So, tell me the truth. How was Camp David?”

“Pretty and rustic. What I saw of it, anyway. Nick loved it.”

“Did you?”

“I wanted to.”

“But?”

“I felt a little odd about being on a mountaintop, removed from everything here.”

“Odd. Is that another way of saying you were coming out of your skin?”

“Maybe,” Sam said, laughing. “I so want downtime with my family, but the isolation there was crazy. Which, of course, was exactly what Nick needed. I’ll suck it up occasionally so he can get out of La Casa Blanca.”

“Good plan. Is it all still surreal?”