Chapter Seventeen
Holding hands, Sam and Nick left the kitchen and went into a living room full of people in suits, some FBI, others Secret Service. Avery Hill introduced them to the agents they didn’t already know.
“You’ve got Nevins in custody?” Nick asked.
“We do,” Avery said. “Our Oklahoma field office has taken the lead on bringing him in.”
“And?” Nick asked. “Is he our guy?”
“We don’t think so.”
Sam heard all the air leave Nick’s body in one deep sigh. “Why not?” Sam asked.
“Upon hearing what he was suspected of,” Avery said, “he invited our agents into his home, told them to take a good look around. He doesn’t do things anonymously. If he makes a threat, he puts his name on it. As Lieutenant Holland can attest, guilty people don’t tend to invite us in.”
“And we didn’t know his MO beforehand?” Sam asked.
“We did know that he owns his opinions, but threatening the sitting vice president and his family is a whole other kind of felony. He’d be crazy to put his name on that one, which is why we tracked him down, brought him in, had a conversation and basically ruled him out.”
“So we’re back to square one with our family now out of lockup,” Nick said, “which I might add was all for nothing.”
With his hands on his hips and his hazel eyes shooting daggers at the federal agents, Sam thought he was sexy as hell. She’d tell him so later when they were alone. For now she squelched the thought.
“We’re very sorry, Mr. Vice President,” Avery said. “We’re working the case from every possible angle. We all hoped it would be Nevins and we could put this one to bed.”
“So what’s the next step?” Sam asked.
“We expect to hear from the lab in the next day or so with analysis on the letter and envelope,” Hill said. “In the meantime, we’re going back through every threat we’ve received against the president and vice president over the last year and looking for similarities.”
“In other words,” Sam said, “you’ve got dick.”
Most of the agents looked down at the floor rather than look at her. Whatever. She only spoke the truth.
“What’s being done to protect our family now that they’ve been let out of the pointless lockup?” Sam asked.
“We’ve assigned a detail of agents to each family,” Brant said. “They will be giving particular attention to the children, as they were specifically threatened.”
“That’s good,” Sam said. “We appreciate that, but why couldn’t we have done that from the get-go?”
Brant looked to Nick.
“Because I was out of the country, and that wasn’t good enough for me.”
“What he said,” Brant added with a small smile.
“I want to talk about Scotty and baseball camp,” Nick said. “There has to be a way that we can make it possible for him to go back.”
Debra Nixon, the agent in charge of Scotty’s detail, shook her head.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Vice President. We’ve had several meetings on this subject, and we’re all in agreement that we can’t adequately protect Scotty when he’s on that field.
We can seal off the perimeter around the field, but we wouldn’t be able to stop a sniper with long-range capacity. ”
The word sniper in relation to her son made Sam queasy. Judging by Nick’s rigid posture, he felt the same way.
“What’s the likelihood of a sniper?” Nick asked.
“Low, but it exists, thus our recommendation to forgo the rest of camp,” Debra said. “Not only for Scotty’s safety but for that of the other campers, too.”
“He’s extremely disappointed,” Nick said, running his fingers through his hair in frustration.
“I’m sure he is,” Debra said sympathetically.
“What if we were able to arrange a separate camp for him after hours?” Sam asked. “Perhaps the Feds organization could make one or two of the players available after a game. No one would expect Scotty to be there at night.”
“We should be able to accommodate something like that,” Debra said, glancing at Brant, who nodded in agreement.
“I’ll reach out to the Feds to see what can be arranged,” Nick said. “I’ll let you know.”
When the others prepared to leave, Sam asked Avery to stick around.
“Could we please have the room for a minute?” Sam asked the remaining Secret Service agents.
“Yes, ma’am.” Brant gestured for the others to follow him into their first-floor office. Nate stepped outside and closed the front door behind him.
“What’s up?” Avery asked when only he, Sam and Nick remained in the room.
Sam took a closer look at him and again noticed his unusually ragged and exhausted-looking appearance. “That’s what I’d like to know. What happened with Shelby?”
“You should ask her.”
“I did. She wouldn’t tell me. She wouldn’t even look at me. In fact, she quit her job and left to have the baby by herself rather than have me go with her.”
His golden eyes bugged. “She’s having the baby? Now?”
“That’s what she said when she left after quitting. You heard that part, right?”
“Yeah.” He blew out a deep breath. “I fucked up.”
“I figured that out for myself. What’d you do, and how in the hell does it involve us?”
He glanced at Nick and then at Sam and then down at the floor. “I said the wrong name at a critical moment.”
Sam stared at him, hoping she had heard him wrong. “You…you said…”
“Your name instead of hers.”
Nick exploded. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Do you honestly think I’d joke about something like this?” Avery sounded tortured. “I fucked up everything in one second. She kicked me out of her life, the baby’s life. She packed up and left our place. I have no idea where she’s living or what happens now.”
Sam was so shocked she could only stare at him, wishing with every fiber of her being that she hadn’t pushed him to tell her what’d happened.
“I’m sorry,” Avery said. “I have no idea how it happened. I wasn’t even thinking about you. I was thinking about her.”
“I…” Sam didn’t know what to say. She couldn’t seem to make her brain form a thought.
“I think you should go,” Nick said. “Now.”
“I’m sorry. You have no idea how sorry I am.”
“You know where the door is,” Nick said.
Without another word, Avery headed for the door. When it clicked shut behind him, Nick turned to Sam.
“Say something.”
“I…I have no idea what to say.” She looked up at him. “This has nothing at all to do with us. Tell me you know that.”
“Other than the fact that our good friend and trusted employee has quit over it, you mean?”
“Other than that.”
“Yes, I know it has nothing to do with us, but I still want to have him fucking killed for daring to think of you in that or any other context that isn’t professional.”
“I have no control over what he thinks—and apparently, neither does he.”
“He needs a fucking exorcism or something.”
“At this point, I believe he’d probably welcome that.” Sam put her arms around herself, suddenly chilled to the bone.
Nick unwrapped her arms and drew her into his warm embrace.
“Please don’t turn this into a crisis for us. Please.”
“I won’t,” he said. “I promise. But I can’t stop thinking of her having the baby by herself.”
“I can’t either.”
“Should we see if we can track her down?”
“I don’t know… She was pretty adamant in her refusal of my help. I think I’m probably the last person she wants to see right now.”
“We could text her, offer our support and let her know we can be there if she changes her mind.”
“I like that idea.”
Nick pulled out his phone and began to type while Sam watched.
Avery told us what happened. Sam, Scotty and I love you very much. You are family to us, and you always will be. If you need us at the hospital, please let us know. We’ll do anything we can for you at any time.
“That’s nice. I hope it helps.” Sam rubbed a hand over her aching belly. “I hate feeling like I lost a friend today.”
“She’ll come around when she has a chance to think it through,” Nick said. “You didn’t do anything. It’s all on him. She’ll see that in time.”
“I hope so.” Sam felt less than optimistic, and her heart broke for her heartbroken friend. “I can’t believe this happened to her right when the baby was due.”
“I know. Poor Shelby. She was so happy and excited about everything.”
“You wouldn’t have recognized her today. She was totally different.”
“I hate to hear that,” he said with a sigh. “But on a happier note, I’m glad they liked the idea of a nighttime baseball camp.”
“Fingers crossed we can make it work.”
“I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough of this day. What do you say we turn in early?”
“I say yes, please.”
After they ate the dinner Shelby had made, they went upstairs and knocked on Scotty’s door.
“Come in,” he said in a dull, flat tone that was wildly out of character for him.
Nick opened the door and let Sam go in ahead of him.
“We’re calling it a night, buddy,” Nick said. “You need anything?”
Without taking his gaze off the Feds game on the wall-mounted TV, Scotty said, “No, thanks.”
Nick started to say something, seemed to think better of it and then shook his head. “We’re trying to figure something out for camp.”
Sam gave her husband a “What the hell?” look. Nick shrugged, and she knew he’d told Scotty because he couldn’t bear to disappoint him.
Scotty shifted his suddenly brighter gaze to Nick. “Really?”
“I can’t make any promises yet, but we’re going to try. That’s all I can say.”
“That’s awesome. Thank you.”
“Yeah, sure, bud. I feel so bad…”
“It’s not your fault. You’re not the one threatening us.”
“It’s my fault for taking this damned job that makes everything so complicated.”
“That’s also not your fault. I don’t blame you. That would be stupid.”
Nick went to the bed and leaned down to hug him. “You’re the best son I ever had.”
“Haha, I’m the only son you’ve ever had.” Scotty returned his hug and then looked up at his father. “I’m sorry if I made you feel bad. I didn’t mean to.”
“You didn’t. No worries. Don’t get your hopes up yet about camp.”
“I won’t. Thanks for trying.”
“You got it.”
Sam switched places with Nick and bent to kiss Scotty good-night. “Love you, kid.”
“Love you, too.”
“Don’t stay up too late.”
“It’s summer vacation. I’m supposed to stay up too late.”