Safe Place to Hide || Chenford / The Rookie

Chapter 7

After a few beats of angry silence, Tim shifts gears, "Could it be someone from La Fiera's organization? She knows Lucy is a cop — she could have passed that along to others."

Angela frowns, "It's possible, but what's the motive? Why the note? Like Nyla said, sending vague, anonymous notes isn't really a go-to cartel intimidation tactic."

"Okay, so let's think about it from the Tamara angle," Nyla offers, "whoever shot Tamara sent this note? Or is it possible the note was actually intended for Tamara? She was living with you recently, wasn't she Lucy? How long has it been since you checked your mail?"

Lucy looks sheepish, "Yeah. You're right — that is possible — it's been a few days; maybe even a week," she admits. "Jackson's better about staying on top of stuff like the mail."

"So the note could have arrived even before Tamara was shot, or even before she moved out?"

Lucy nods slowly, eyes widening as the realization hits her that the note could have served as some kind of warning for what was to come.

Angela's expression softens as she reads the concern on Lucy's face, "Or maybe we're just searching for patterns that don't actually exist. It's one ambiguous note. Hell, it could have been meant for Jackson for all we know. All of these theories are possible, but we aren't doing ourselves any favors with all the speculation. We need to follow the evidence and facts and focus on the most logical motives.

"Tim said you went to her school yesterday? And that her friends Jenna and Marissa reacted when you asked about Scott?"

Lucy nods.

"Good — that's something we didn't catch in our initial questioning, and given how you bonded with Tamara, I think it makes sense for you to keep working on the girls; they may be more likely to open up to you."

"Have you been able to get anything from her laptop?" Lucy asks.

"We're still going through it, but nothing much yet that speaks to a motive for murder. Although, I did want to ask you — did you say that Tamara and Scott's girlfriend didn't get along?"

"Yes — Tamara seemed to think Cara was a big part of the reason Scott kicked her out. She didn't share any specifics though."

"Hmmm," Angela says, "So, it's not clear why, but Tamara saved a screenshot of a DM conversation with Cara from several months ago — before Scott kicked her out, I believe. The conversation seemed to be friendly — Cara was inviting Tamara and her friends to a party at La Marca Hotel over the weekend. Does any of that mean anything to you, Lucy?"

Lucy shakes her head, "No, I'm sorry, but it doesn't. I mean she's a teenager with no real adult supervision, so it's not out of the ordinary that she occasionally goes to parties with her friends, or even out with an older crowd; I saw some pictures indicating as much on Instagram. But I don't think she ever mentioned La Marca or hanging out with Cara specifically.

"But clearly, something in the dynamic between Tamara and Cara changed between when that message was sent and when Scott kicked her out of the apartment. The question is why? What did Scott and Cara say when you questioned them about why they threw her out?"

Angela rolls her eyes, "They just said the apartment was getting too crowded, and that Tamara wasn't paying her portion of the rent.

"Which leads me to the other interesting thing we found — we're looking into transactions on the prepaid debit card Tamara used — she had several deposits of $500 each a few months back — all within maybe 2 weeks of each other — I'll send you the specific dates. We're trying to get more detail on where the deposits came from via the provider. Did Tamara mention a job or some other way she might have been making some extra money?"