remain convinced sampson, or livers, or both had to be involved somehow. they didn't buy the notion that two drug-addled teenagers just happened to stumble on the place by pure chance in the dark. and anyway, fester, remember, said the main shooter, the guy who led them to the farm, was a local named thomas with whom fester had been communicating by phone before the murder. but detectives could find no evidence whatsoever against this thomas or anyone else. and meanwhile, jessica reid kept trying to persuade investigators that nobody else was there, besides her and fester, of course. she'd been saying that for months. and, oh, she was right about that. the detectives did not believe her. they still suspected livers and sampson of some involvement.