M. William Phelps

Michelle's apartment was spotless.

Everything in its place.

DiBenedetto stood off to the side and listened as Locke spoke to the girls.

Locke and DiBenedetto left.

You want to let tragic and traumatic news settle.

Give them time to process it all, then go back and begin to unpack what they might know.

Questions still on the table were, had either of them spoken to their dad on Saturday?

Had they seen him?

How was he the last time you were with him?

And of course,

Would you know anyone who might want to kill your father?

Greg Locke is one of those detectives among the hundreds I have interviewed with the patience of an oyster, allowing the evidence and information to develop slowly like a pearl.

Sometimes your greatest asset in a murder investigation is to simply sit back and wait.

While Locke and DiBenedetto were informing the Schwartz family of their father's murder, other Loudoun County investigators were making headway in locating the young drivers who needed a tow truck pull out of the mud.

Hell, for all they knew, at this stage, the tow truck driver himself could be involved.

This could have thrown a wrench in the spokes of the investigation, but it ended up being a break.

In digging for more information from the driver, it became apparent that his story was not adding up.

At one time, he said they had paid him.

Later on in the same conversation, he said they did not.

It all seemed very sketchy.