Chapter Nineteen #2
Sam shook her head in disbelief. “The poor guy. They kept him in the dark about everything.”
“So we’re operating under the assumption that Hamilton’s murder and the son’s kidnapping-adoption-abduction are related?” Tyrone asked.
“How can they not be?” Sam said. “The timing is not coincidental.” She thought for a second and came to a decision.
“I want everyone looking for Josh Hamilton. As far as we know he’s still alive, so he’s the priority.
Talk to his coworkers, his friends, his neighbors, dig into every corner of his life.
If we find him, we may find whoever killed his father, too. ”
“I agree with the Lieutenant’s approach,” Malone said.
The agent working the front door admitted Gonzo and Freddie.
“Where’d you guys come from?” Sam asked, thrilled to see them, even if Freddie still looked dangerously pale and Gonzo seemed incredibly wired.
“I apologize for missing the calls last night,” Gonzo said to her and Malone. “Won’t happen again.”
“You’re authorized and encouraged to take bereavement leave,” Malone said.
“Not necessary,” Gonzo said. “Other than the required appointments with Trulo, I’m back to work.”
“Me, too.” Freddie wore a bandage over the cut on his forehead. “I got sprung an hour ago. No concussion, so I’m back to full duty. What can we do to help find Josh?”
Sam and Malone handed out assignments to every member of the squad and sent them on their way with orders to report in hourly.
“Our flight is at two,” Avery said as he put on his coat. “The first return flight we could get was at one o’clock tomorrow afternoon, so pack a bag. I’ll meet you at Reagan?”
“I’ll be there.”
“Let me know what you find out,” Malone said as he took his leave.
“Seriously?” Nick said when they were alone—or as alone as they ever were these days.
“Let’s go upstairs to have this fight in private.
” Sam headed up the stairs, prepared to do battle if necessary.
In their bedroom, she turned to face him, watching as he closed the door that had played a pivotal role in last night’s activities.
Though his posture was casual as he leaned against the door, looks could be deceiving.
“There’s no need for you to go on this trip.”
“There’s every need for me to go. This is our case.”
“You’re suspended, Sam!”
“Exactly! And this is something I can do to help out while I’m suspended.”
“Avery can handle it on his own.”
“And when he gets a big break, do you think he’ll call us or his own people first?”
“I don’t want you spending a night away with that guy.”
Infuriated by the insinuation, she approached him, stopping when she was a few inches from him.
“What do you think will happen, Nick? Are you worried that I’m going to sleep with him or something?
Is our relationship so fragile that you’d be worried about such a thing? Do you have so little trust in me?”
“He’s the one I don’t trust, and no, our relationship is not fragile.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“I don’t like it.”
“I don’t like that Melinda stares at your ass when she’s supposed to be watching all of you.
I don’t like that she’s wondering how big your dick is every time she looks at you!
Guess what? There’s nothing I can do about it.
He’s a colleague and my friend’s fiancée.
That’s all he’ll ever be to me. I don’t know how many times or ways I have to say that to get it through your thick skull that I am not interested in him! ”
“Melinda doesn’t wonder how big my dick is.”
“Figures that’s all you heard. You don’t think so?”
“She’s a professional.”
“She’s a woman who knows a hot guy when she sees one.”
“And Avery is a man who knows a hot woman when he sees one, and he wants you. I don’t care what you or anyone else says. He wants you, and you’re handing him a golden opportunity.”
“For what? To have me? Fuck you.” She pushed him off the door and went across the hallway to pack for the night away.
The closet door slammed shut, and she spun around to find him advancing on her, a look of fury on his face. “Fuck me? Really? Is that how we fight now?”
“That’s how we fight when you insinuate that I’m unable to spend a night out of town with a colleague without being unfaithful to you.”
Even with his hands on his hips and his mouth set in a mulish expression, he was still the most gorgeous man she’d ever laid eyes on. Even if she wanted to punch his lights out. He stared at her for a long, charged moment before the starch seemed to leave his spine as he exhaled. “I trust you.”
“Then we don’t have a problem.” She packed a clean pair of jeans, a sweater to wear tomorrow, underwear, pajamas and socks into an overnight bag. Then she changed into a pair of black dress pants and a silk blouse to wear to the White House.
“Why’re you getting dressed up to go on a trip with him?”
“I’m getting dressed up to go to the White House, you ass.”
“I don’t want you to go with him.”
“I don’t want you to go to Iran.” Sam brushed by him as she left the closet and crossed the hall to the bathroom to pack a small cosmetic bag. When she was finished, she went into the bedroom where he was sitting on the bed watching her. “I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“I guess you will.”
She didn’t want to leave it like this, but she was as mad at him as she’d ever been. “Tell Scotty I’ll call him tonight.”
“Okay.”
Apparently, he was mad, too, or he would’ve told her to be careful.
He would’ve said he loved her. But he didn’t say anything and neither did she.
Checking the time on her phone, she saw that she had time to kill before the pickup for the meeting with her White House staff—a meeting she wished she could cancel after her argument with the vice president.
After unlocking her bedside drawer to retrieve her weapon, badge and cuffs, she went downstairs, put on her coat and left the house with a heavy heart. She and Nick didn’t fight like that. Ever. Her eyes burned, and she blinked back tears that she attributed to the cold.
She took the ramp to her dad’s house and went in without knocking. “Hello?”
“In here, honey,” Celia called from the kitchen.
Sam entered the kitchen where Celia hurriedly gathered up paperwork that had been spread out on the table. Since this was the second time she’d come upon them obviously trying to hide something, she said, “What gives?”
“Nothing,” Skip said gruffly.
“Are you guys having financial issues? Tell me the truth.”
The look that Celia gave her father confirmed it for Sam.
“What’s going on?” Since she had time and didn’t want to be at home, she took a seat at the table.
“We’re handling it,” Skip said.
“Skip—”
“We’re handling it, Celia. That’s the end of it.”
“That’s not the end of it.” To Sam, Celia said, “Insurance only covered a portion of your father’s surgery. We owe the rest.”
“How much?”
“Two hundred thousand.”
“What?” Sam asked, shocked. “Have you talked to the union?”
“We’re not talking to the union,” Skip said, his mouth set in a mulish expression that told Sam he’d had this same argument with Celia. “My injury has already cost them enough. Everyone’s premiums have gone up because of me.”
“Who told you that?”
“No one had to tell me. I know how much all this costs.”
“You were injured on the job. No matter what it costs, they owe it to you to find a way to pay for what you need. That surgery wasn’t elective. It was lifesaving.”
“I don’t want to talk about this,” Skip said.
“We have to talk about it,” Celia said.
“We’ll get a second mortgage on the house,” Skip said.
“Dad, let me talk to the union, will you please?”
“No. I don’t want charity.”
“It’s not charity! You were shot in the line of duty.
You nearly gave your life for this city, and you’re stuck in that chair for the rest of your life because of your service.
It’s the least they can do to help offset the cost. Please.
Let me run it up the flagpole and see what can be done.
” She hated watching his eyes fill with tears.
Covering his right hand, the one that retained sensation, with hers, she said, “Let me help.”
“Okay,” he said begrudgingly, “but make sure you tell them I didn’t want to ask.”
“I will. I promise.”
“Thank you, Sam,” Celia said, blinking back tears of her own.
“I don’t want you guys suffering in silence over something like this, and Trace and Ang would agree. We want to help, but you have to tell us when you need it.”
“I hate that I need help for everything.”
“I know you do,” Sam said, feeling teary-eyed herself now.
He’d always been so fiercely independent and vital.
She never got used to the sight of him in the chair where he would spend the rest of his life.
While the surgery had removed the bullet and restored some sensation to his extremities, it had caused secondary issues with pain that they were still contending with months later.
He was better than he’d been, which was something to be thankful for, but it broke her heart to think of him and Celia stressing out about medical bills.
“This isn’t why you came over,” Celia said. “What’s going on?”
“I’m heading to Knoxville for the night.”
“How come?” Skip asked.
“Hamilton investigation.”
“What happened to being suspended?” Skip asked.
“I’m still suspended. I’m going on my own time and dime to talk to someone we feel might have information about how Josh Hamilton came to be in the custody of Troy and Courtney Hamilton.
Courtney says he was the son of their administrative assistant who couldn’t care for him.
She still works in the office where Hamilton was assigned in the eighties, so Hill and I are going to talk to her. ”
“You and Hill?” Skip said, raising a brow.
“It’s our case, Dad. We need someone there, and we’re short-handed as it is, so I volunteered to go.”
“And Jake signed off on that?” he asked, referring to Malone.
“He did.”
“We couldn’t believe the news about the FBI director,” Celia said. “He didn’t have security?”
Sam shook her head. “He declined it.”
“Like someone else we know,” Skip said pointedly.
“And Freddie,” Celia said, “he’s all right?”
“He’s back to work with a lump on his forehead, no worse for the wear.”
“Thank God for that,” Celia said.
“No kidding. My squad has been through enough since losing Arnold. We can’t take any more.”
“Not to mention what nearly happened to you,” Skip said.
“Not to mention.”
“How’s Tommy?” Celia asked. “I think of him so often and what he has to be going through.”
“He was at the house this morning and is working the case. He didn’t say much, but he seemed a little better maybe.”
“It’s going to take time,” Skip said, speaking from experience. “The rest of his life.”
“He’s talking to Trulo, so hopefully that helps him to come to terms with it. He blames himself because he let Arnold take the lead for the first time, and this is what happened.”
“It’s such a terrible thing,” Celia said. “For everyone. I think about AJ’s poor parents and sisters, too.”
“I know,” Sam said with a sigh. “I talked to his mother last week, and she’s so strong. I don’t know how she does it. I’d be a disaster.”
“How are your boys feeling?” Skip asked.
“Scotty is back to school today, and Nick is… Well, he’s pissed at me.”
“Because you’re going on this trip with Hill,” Skip said.
“Yeah. He’s being completely unreasonable.”
“Is he?”
“Yes! Does everyone think I’m going to cheat on my husband the second his back is turned? That I can’t control myself for one night away with a colleague?”
“A colleague who’s made no secret of his affection for you.”
“That’s his problem, not mine.”
“Listen to me, baby girl, and hear me when I say it’s your problem, too.
It’s your problem because Hill’s affection for you makes your husband uncomfortable.
After Steven died, I was so intent on caring for Alice that I totally neglected your mother.
I let her think someone else’s wife was more important than mine. I regret that.”
“This is different, Dad. He is nothing to me but a colleague and my friend’s fiancé. That’s it. And Nick knows that.”
“Doesn’t matter. He’s threatened by the guy, and you need to respect that.”
“What do you think?” Sam asked Celia.
“I agree with your Dad. He’s often talked about how his attention to Alice ruined his marriage, and I know he regrets that your mother felt neglected.”
“Nick’s not neglected. He’s the opposite of neglected.”
“He’s threatened by Hill’s interest in you, Sam,” Skip said. “That’s all you need to know.”
“I would never, ever, ever, ever cheat on Nick. Ever.”
“And he knows that, but it doesn’t make him any less threatened by Hill,” Celia said gently.
“You guys are supposed to be on my side at all times,” Sam said, making them laugh.
“We are on your side, baby girl, which is why we’re giving you this advice,” Skip said. “We love you, we love Nick, we love the two of you together. Just because something seems preposterous to you doesn’t make it less real for him.”
“I get what you’re saying, even if I don’t like it.” She checked her watch. “And I’ve got to run. Lilia is sending a car to pick me up for a meeting at the freaking White House.”
“When do we get to see your speech?” Celia asked.
“I haven’t even seen it yet, but I’ll email a copy to you when it’s ready.”
“I can’t wait to see it,” Celia said, “and in case I haven’t told you, I think it’s amazing that you’re going public with your fertility struggles. It’ll help so many people.”
“Thanks.” She rubbed her belly, which fluttered with anxiety. “I hope I can do it without making a fool of myself.”
“You’ll be great,” Skip said. “I have no doubt. I can’t wait to watch it on C-span.”
The reminder that her speech would be televised didn’t do a thing for her nerves. She gave them each a kiss. “See you tomorrow.”
“We’ll be here,” Skip said. “Safe travels. Love you.”
“Love you, too.”
With her dad and Celia’s thoughts about the situation with Nick and Hill heavy on her mind, Sam went outside to find a big black SUV waiting for her. One of the Secret Service agents on Nick’s detail held the back door for her.
“Thank you, Nate.”
“Yes, ma’am. Have a nice day.”
“You, too.” She glanced at her home as the car pulled away, wondering if Nick was watching her leave and whether he was still angry.
Though she still felt hurt by his insinuation that she would cheat, she had new perspective thanks to what her dad and Celia had said.
When she had the chance, she would talk to him about it again, and hopefully fix the damage they’d done this morning.