"Do you mind if I smoke?" Mrs Sampson asked us "Right now, this is the only thing that can keep me calm." She took a cigar out of her small purse and lit it. Then, she looked back at us with sadness in her dark eyes.

"It was an accident, Mr Sampson was hit by a car and ..."

"I knew something had happened to him!" She cried "I called him and texted him and had no answer, that wasn't like him at all." The woman covered her face with her hands while her mother and her mother in law comforted her. "God, how will I tell Ashley her father is gone?"

"Calm down, honey. "Her mother squeezed Mrs Sampson's hand "We'll take care of Ashley."

"Where was my son when the accident happen?" The victim's father asked. He was a considerably tall man, with a determined expression in his eyes. No wonder he had built from nothing one of the most successful businesses in the whole state. He had graduated in Medicine in Stanford and after some years working as a neurologist he had opened a Laboratory for the research of neurological illnesses. His three children- Michael, Debra and Stephanie had followed his steps and worked in the same company.

"He was in Bethesda." I answered "There was an accident, he was struck by a car."

"Nonsense. What the hell was doing my son in Bethesda? Are you sure it was him, Detectives?" Old Mr Sampson yelled.

"He had his identification on, Mr Sampson." Mark calmly replied.

"That means nothing at all! My son could have been robbed or whatever. "

"No, Harold. I appreciate what you say, but I know it was him." Tracy Sampson said in a surprisingly calm voice. "I called him and texted him three or four times but he never answered." She turned to us "Did he...did he die in the moment?"

"We think he did, Ma'am." 

"Thank God, at least he didn't suffer." 

"Detectives, when will we be allowed to bury our son?" The victim's mother asked with an almost inaudible voice. In contrast with her husband, she was a petite woman with a fragile appearance. 

"As soon as possible, I promise. But coroners have to examine him first." I held the old woman's hand as I answered 

"I see. Thanks Detectives." The woman searched now for some confort in her husband.

"Look, I know this is hard but we will need to make you some more questions. We can go to your place if you don't want to go to the police headquarters." Mark gave his card to Mr Sampson and to the victim's widow. "Call us when you're ready to talk."

"The sooner the better." Old Mr Sampson, who obviously played the role of family leader said "Tomorrow at  eleven will be fine. "He turned to his daughter in law "Will you manage to be there, Tracy?"

"Yes, I think so." 

"Fine then. Thanks Detectives." In a clear message to dismiss us, the man shook our hands and turned around to his family group.

"I'll never get used to this." I said when we were out in the street.

"Yeah, it sucks. I can't forget the first time I had to tell a wife her husband had been murdered. She had just found out she was pregnant and was going to tell him that very evening. She went mad with sorrow and had to be taken to hospital."

"My first time was a teen girl who was in the wrong place at the wrong moment. She was with some friends and there was a robbery. There was a shooting and a stray bullet hit her in the chest. She was an only child, had just been admitted to Stanford and was celebrating it with her friends."

We drove in silence for a while, each one of us lost in his own feelings and thoughts. When Mark arrived at my place, I muttered a quick goodbye and went into my home, to the safety and warmth Jack and Jordan provided. 

"Hey, how was your day?" Jack greeted me with a glass of red wine in his hand. 

"Hard as usual." I kissed his welcoming lips "There was an accident, or so it looks like at least. A young married man with a little kid, gone just like that. Fuck, I wonder if I was wrong when I convinced Mark to stay in the department,"

"Come here," Jack put his arms around my waist "You've never been the giving up type, so go out there and catch the bad guys."

"It's not just that, Jack. I had to tell the victim's parents and wife their son and husband was gone. Don't know, maybe I'm getting old but this was one of the hardest things in our job. And today it was specially tough."

"Then do it for that family. Look, I know you too well and I know tomorrow morning you'll see things in a different way. If someone can catch whoever is responsible for that man's death, that's you. You and Mark, you're an invincible team. But right now, you, me and Jordan are a team too, so go see him while the roast beef is ready."