Sydney let out a sigh of relief that turned into another sob.
Doug held up the drive before turning to me. “Mike, I’m going to ask that you take a step away from the investigation.”
“What?” Sydney asked, panic in her voice.
“Sydney,” Wesley warned.
She didn’t listen but kept talking. “Doug, what if there’s information on the drive? Something that tells us what happened to Vickie?”
“Then we will find it, Sydney. Mike isn’t our only officer. Roger is the lead on this, and if we find something, we will follow it to the end. You know I will do no less.”
She nodded. “Of course. I’m sorry, it’s been such an emotional day.”
Wesley stood and held out his hand to Sydney. “If that is all, I will need this letter signed stating you’re formally not charging my client with obstruction of justice in reference to removing the jump drive from the scene in a moment where she was emotionally overwhelmed and not aware of her actions.”
Doug reached for the letter, signed it, then handed it back to Wesley as his phone started to ring.
“This is Doug. Jack, what did you find out?”
I held my breath as Doug listened to what I assumed was the preliminary autopsy report. His eyes closed, and I turned my focus on Sydney. Wesley had reached for her again, but she stood and made her way over to me. She stopped in front of me and looked up into my eyes.
Smiling, I placed my hand on the side of her face. My heart ached at the pain she was in.
Doug hung up, and Sydney turned to face him.
The silence in the room was almost too much to bear.
Dragging his hands over his face, Doug took a few moments to compose himself.
“The unofficial findings from Jack say it is Vickie. From the evidence at the scene and on the body, he is pretty confident. Jack said it appears she most likely slipped and hit her head. He doesn’t suspect foul play but will know more when the full autopsy is done. The DNA results were sent to the state police lab and we should have the results back tomorrow.”
Sydney leaned back against me. I reached around and held her.
“An accident?” Sydney said.
Doug looked at her. “It appears so. My question is what in the world was she doing down there?”
I felt Sydney stiffen ever so slightly.
Doug stood. “And what in the hell where you two doing down there?”
Wesley took a step between Doug and Sydney. “I thought we had worked past being accusatory. Sydney has testified at the scene why she was there.”
I stepped forward to speak. “Like we said before, Sydney was looking for some information on the coin and letter. We had found that hidden panel in her living room and started looking around for another one. It was pure luck we stumbled upon it at Beatrice’s.”
Doug rubbed his hands over his face. “You always did like a scavenger hunt, Sydney. Virg knew that.”
She smiled. “Yeah.”