Chapter Twenty-Four
Sam turned Lucy over to Beckett to be taken to a safe house and then waited until everyone else arrived. Scotty was out to dinner with his former guardian, Mrs. Littlefield, and would be home in about ninety minutes. She hoped to wrap up this meeting before then.
Gathered in a circle in her living room were Nick, Harry, Brant, Skip, Gonzo, Freddie, Carlucci, Dominguez, Lilia and Andrea.
Since he’d come home with Nick, Sam had invited Harry to stay.
She’d take all the help she could get right about now.
The front door opened, and the Secret Service agent on duty admitted Captain Malone.
Now the only one missing was Avery, but he’d have to catch up when he arrived.
“Thank you all for coming on short notice, and Brant, thank you for getting Nick home for this meeting.”
“No problem,” Brant said, even though Sam and everyone else knew it was always a hassle for the agents guarding Nick when his plans suddenly changed.
Sam looked at each member of the team before she began to speak.
“Here’s what I know for sure. Last Friday morning, Nick’s office received a letter through the US mail that outlined a detailed threat against our family, focusing in particular on the children—our son, our nieces and nephews, and Nick’s half brothers.
Pictures of each of them were included.” Sam distributed copies she’d made of the threat letter, as well as the photos that had been sent showing the children going about their regular routines.
The other detectives studied the letter and the photographs.
“On Saturday, I had a dream about my ex-husband, as well as some of the other members of my fan club, including Lieutenant Stahl and Detective Ramsey. In the dream, I recalled how Peter used to tell me I needed some humility. You’ll note that word was used in the letter Nick’s office received.
My only excuse for not thinking of him sooner is that I never thought about him anymore.
As soon as I had that memory, I contacted Agents Hill and Brantley and told them they needed to take a look at my ex-husband. ”
Sam paused to gather her thoughts before distributing Peter’s autopsy photos.
“Upon arrival at the Sixth Street home of Peter Gibson, Detectives Cruz and Gonzales along with Agent Hill discovered the door unlocked. They entered the basement apartment and found Mr. Gibson tied to a chair in the middle of his living room and determined he’d been the victim of torture. ”
Freddie held the photos up for Skip to see, and Sam watched her father’s shrewd blue eyes take in the details of how his ex-son-in-law had been murdered.
“Earlier today we learned that Nick’s estranged mother has given a tell-all interview that’ll be aired tonight on Capital News.
From all accounts, the interview will not be flattering to him.
In it she mentions he was married once before, which isn’t true.
In fact, he participated in a wedding with his high school girlfriend who was dying of leukemia.
Though the wedding happened, the marriage wasn’t legal and there was no marriage license.
His mother will make reference to the possibility that Leo Cappuano is not Nick’s biological father.
” Sam distributed the photo of Leo at the same age Nick was now.
Upon seeing the photo and the striking resemblance between father and son, Gonzo laughed. “Yeah, that’s a nonstarter.”
“Exactly,” Sam said. “This photo and the story of Nick’s hospital ‘wedding’ will be released to the media by Nick’s office later today.
” She glanced at her husband and saw that he was looking down at the floor, no doubt embarrassed to be caught up in his mother’s lies.
They were going to have to do something about her, something radical and dramatic, but that would have to wait until after this case was closed.
“An hour ago, I learned that before he died, Peter granted an interview about me to Buzz Janson at . Nick, what can you tell us about Janson and the site?”
“He’s the founder of , which is generally known as a gossip site.
They like to stir the pot and don’t care about whether what they’re publishing is truth or fiction.
In addition, it’s widely known that Buzz pays for exclusives, which the mainstream media won’t do.
While official Washington disregards most of what’s published there, he does get a lot of attention in wider circles. ”
Sam’s stomach ached at the thought of a salacious story about her going public. To Andrea, she said, “Do we have an advance copy of the article?”
“Not the full piece,” Andrea said, “only the highlights, which include details about your acrimonious first marriage, your miscarriages, your divorce and other, quote, unquote, ‘bombshells that’ll expose the second lady’s scandalous past.’”
“I think I’m going to be sick,” Sam said.
“Everyone knows he deals in bullshit,” Andrea says.
“Everyone in DC knows,” Sam said, “but when the story is picked up elsewhere, people will believe it because it originated with a DC publication.”
Andrea couldn’t deny that, and she didn’t try.
“Here’s the thing,” Sam said. “For all his many faults, Peter was deeply affected by the miscarriages we suffered through when we were married. There is no way he’d talk about that, not even for money.”
“What’re you suggesting, Lieutenant?” Malone asked.
“That he was tortured for information about me that could be used against me—and Nick.” There.
It had been said out loud and could never be taken back.
If her theory turned out to be true, there’d be no denying that Peter’s horrific murder was directly related to her and her family. How would she ever live with that?
For a long moment, everyone was silent as they considered the implications.
Nick, who was sitting on the sofa while she perched on the arm next to him, reached for her hand, offering comfort she wasn’t sure she could accept. Her feelings were all over the place. She’d spent so much time actively despising Peter and with good reason. But now…
Suddenly, she felt like she was going to be sick. Her legs felt leaden as she bolted for the stairs and took them two at a time, wanting the privacy of her own room. The Secret Service agent stationed in the hallway stood when he saw her coming.
Sam kept moving, slamming her bedroom door closed behind her and bolting for the bathroom. She leaned over the toilet and vomited the meager contents of her stomach. The thought of what he’d endured was more than she could bear to imagine.
Nick came into the bathroom, closed the door behind him and came up behind her, gathering her hair.
“Don’t,” she said. “I want to be alone.”
“I’m not going anywhere, Samantha.”
She broke down into sobs that infuriated her.
She had a job to do. There was no time for ridiculous emotional outbursts.
Someone had orchestrated a smear job targeting her family and had used her ex-husband to do it.
She was determined to figure out who was responsible.
Becoming emotional over things she couldn’t change wouldn’t get the job done.
She flushed the toilet, wiped the tears from her face and stood on shaky legs, moving to the sink to wash her face and brush her teeth. When she’d pulled herself together as much as she possibly could, she prepared to return to the living room to get her team organized.
“Give yourself a minute, babe.” Nick wrapped his arms around her from behind, his gaze meeting hers in the mirror.
“I don’t need a minute.”
“Samantha.”
He wasn’t going to let her bullshit him. Most of the time she loved that about him. Now, when she had too much to do and not enough time to do it, she was annoyed by it.
“Take a few breaths,” he said in the soft, sexy voice he usually reserved for intimate moments. He nudged her hair out of the way and kissed her neck, which took some of the starch out of her spine. “It’s totally understandable that you’re upset about what was done to Peter.”
“I shouldn’t be. He was a monster to me.”
“If you weren’t upset, you’d be the monster, and you’re anything but.”
“I hate that this happened to him,” she whispered, her eyes welling with new tears.
“I do, too.”
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to feel about any of it.”
“You’re handling it the best way you possibly can, by hunting down his killer and putting the pieces together.
” He turned her to face him, tipping her chin up.
“I’m always incredibly proud of you, but I’ve never been prouder than I am now.
It would’ve been so much easier for you to let someone else deal with Peter’s case, but even after everything he put you—and us—through, you still want him to have the best. You still want to give him you. ”
“I could never do that if you didn’t approve. I hope you know that.”
“I do, and I definitely approve. I hate the direction the case is taking and how you’ll suffer over it.”
“I can’t help it. This happened to him because of me.”
“It was probably more because of me than you,” he said grimly.
“Who would do something like this?”
“I wish I knew, but I think you need to start with Buzz Janson and the reporter who interviewed my mother and work backward from there. You’ll get to the source eventually.”
Sam nodded. “Yes, we will.”
“Could I make a suggestion?”
“I guess.”
“Pick it up in the morning? It’s after seven now, and I can tell by looking at you that you’re completely exhausted. Not to mention, we need to check on Shelby and the baby.”
Sam didn’t want to put it off until tomorrow, but she couldn’t deny her exhaustion or her desire to see Shelby. “Okay. Let me go hand out some assignments, and we’ll pick it up in the morning.”
“First,” he said, gathering her into a hug, “let me have one more minute of this.”