Chapter Seventeen
After having breakfast with the kids, Sam headed for work.
The story about the Secret Service providing protection to Aubrey and Alden was the lead in the Star and the Post, but Nick had told her not to worry about it.
His office would handle it. Because she had more than enough of her own stuff to worry about, she planned to push it out of her mind and let him deal with it.
She’d woken to a text from Lilia, her chief of staff at the White House, who had been dating their close friend, Dr. Harry Flynn.
I know you have so much going on and it might be too soon after losing your dad.
However, Harry and I would like to invite you and the vice president to a dinner party at my home on Saturday night.
It will be a small group of close friends, including Andy and Elsa Simone, Derek Kavanaugh, Terry O’Connor and Lindsey McNamara.
If it’s too soon to socialize, we totally understand, but we wanted to invite you anyway.
Sam had responded, Thank you for the kind invite.
Right at this moment, we’d love to join you, but I reserve the right to renege later if I’m not feeling up to it.
Is that okay? Let me know what time and what to bring.
It would be good for Nick to have some time with his friends, which he had so little of now that he was vice president and everything had to be planned so far in advance.
Absolutely fine and just yourselves. Seven o’clock. Would it be okay to invite Shelby and Avery? She’s become a friend since I met you. Lilia had also provided her address in the Adams Morgan neighborhood.
Of course, Sam had replied, looking forward to an evening with friends and to trying to get things back to normal, whatever that was now.
Excellent. I’ll take care of coordinating with the vice president’s detail.
Thank you. A casual night out with friends was anything but when you were the vice president. Sam was thankful to Lilia for handling that detail for them. Sam texted Nick to fill him in on the plans for Saturday night.
That sounds like fun, he replied. A date with my best girl and some time with my best friends. Sign me up.
Already did! Sam replied, including heart and kiss emojis.
Thanks to rush-hour traffic, she had plenty of time to think about her next move in her father’s case.
Celia, Tracy and Angela had promised to keep looking for the messenger bag at the house, and Sam tried to think about where else it might be at HQ.
Lost and found, maybe? How long would they keep things that went unclaimed?
Was it someone’s job to discard unclaimed items after a certain amount of time had passed?
If so, how did she apply for that job? She’d vastly prefer it to hers lately.
Between the drive-by shootings, the home invasion that had left Alden and Aubrey’s parents dead, her father’s death and the shooting of Agent Connolly, she’d had about enough of death.
Most of the time, she rolled from one case to another without letting the details overwhelm her.
But these last few cases had been rougher than usual.
Toss her father’s death in on top of everything else, and a lot became too much.
Lost and found.
Her brain jumped around from one thing to another and landed back where it started.
After being shot, her dad had been transported to the George Washington University Hospital.
How long would they keep something in their lost and found?
Had the bag still been slung across his chest when he was shot?
Probably not, but it was worth checking.
Turning the car toward 23rd Street, she flipped open her phone and put through a call to Freddie, all while zigzagging through traffic.
At times like this, it was a good thing she was a cop who didn’t have to worry about traffic violations while on the job. Otherwise, she’d probably be in jail.
“Morning.” His morning perkiness usually got on her nerves, but today she was glad one of them was feeling perky.
“I’m heading to GW to check their lost and found for the messenger bag.”
“Oh, good thought. Want me to meet you?”
“That’d be good. Let Malone know where we are and hit me up when you get there.”
“Will do. I’m on my way.”
When she arrived at the hospital, she parked in the emergency department lot and ran inside, hoping to find Dr. Anderson.
They’d had far too many encounters that involved him coming at her with needles, but he’d been useful to her in the past and she hoped he would be again.
At the desk, she asked for him while ignoring the people in the waiting room whispering about her.
She wished she could whirl around and tell them to mind their own goddamned business, but she couldn’t do that to Nick, who would have to explain why his wife had been a bitch to his adoring public.
The nurse working the desk placed a call to request that Anderson come out to the desk.
Ten long minutes later, he came through the swinging double doors, seeming surprised to see her. Youthful and blond, he had warm brown eyes that lit up with amusement at the sight of the people in the waiting room gawking at her. “To what do I owe the pleasure of a nonbloody visit?”
He was funny. She’d give him that, even if his humor was often at her expense. “I need a favor.”
“Come on back.”
Sam followed him to a small office tucked between patient cubicles. “Is this where the magic happens?”
“Nah, this is where I hide when I need to take ten.”
“I know that feeling.”
“Did you catch the Connolly case yesterday?”
“Yeah,” she said with a sigh. “I had the special joy of notifying his wife of three months.”
Anderson winced. “So fucking tragic.”
“Incredibly.”
“What’s this favor you need?”
“I’m looking for something that’s been missing for four years, and I only recently realized it.”
“Okay…”
“I know it’s a long shot, but my dad was brought here after he was shot.
He had a messenger bag that he carried back and forth to work.
A colleague recalls seeing him wearing it across his chest before the shooting.
It’s possible it was still there when he was shot and would’ve been on him when he was brought here. ”
“Anything he came in with would’ve stayed with him when he was admitted.”
“Is it possible that in the effort to save his life, he could’ve been separated from it?”
“I suppose it’s possible it was still with him if the EMTs didn’t cut it off to gain access.”
“If it was still with him, where would it have ended up?”
Before he could reply, Freddie appeared at the door. “Morning.”
“Morning. Dr. Anderson and I were discussing where missing items land in this place.”
“We have a central lost and found in the main office off the lobby,” Anderson said. “It’s run by volunteers.”
Sam cringed at the word volunteers.
Anderson chuckled. “Don’t make that face. They’re remarkably organized and are the backbone of this place.”
“If you say so.”
“I say so.” He consulted a directory, picked up the phone and made a call. “This is Dr. Anderson in Emergency. I have Lieutenant Holland from the Metro PD here.” He paused, glanced at Sam and said, “Yes, the vice president’s wife.”
Sam groaned.
Anderson smiled. “She’s looking for something from four years ago that possibly came in with a patient and might’ve ended up with you guys.
Is it okay to send her over to take a look?
” After listening for a second that seemed like much longer, he said, “Okay, will do.” He hung up the phone.
“She said you’re more than welcome to look, but they don’t tend to keep things that long, unless they seem valuable.
” Sam’s heart sank. Her dad’s beat-up leather messenger bag certainly wouldn’t pass the valuable test. But they would look anyway. “Thanks for your help, Doc.”
“My pleasure.” Using a printed map of the hospital, he showed her where to find the lost and found office. “Would you like me to punch your frequent-flyer card?”
After her many visits to the ER, he’d recently given her a card as a joke. “That’s okay.”
“Hey,” Anderson said when they were halfway out the door. “I’m very sorry about your dad.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you holding up okay?”
“Working the cold case helps.”
“I’ll hope and pray you get the answers you’re looking for.”
“I appreciate that.” She followed the directions he’d given her to the main lobby, realizing at some point the good doctor had become a friend despite the needles.
One could never have too many friends, or so her dad had always said.
He’d had so many friends, people from all walks of life who’d come to pay their respects during the public viewing.
She wasn’t nearly as likable as he’d been, but she had her share of friends and appreciated every one of them, especially at times like these.
As she and Freddie navigated the maze of corridors and hallways, Sam kept her head down to avoid eye contact with curious people they encountered.
She heard the whispers and the buzzing, felt the eyes on her and the fingers pointed in her direction, but ignored it all to stay focused on why she was here.
The woman who Anderson had spoken to was waiting for them when they arrived in the lobby. She waved them over to a doorway, located behind the information desk. “Hi there, I’m Ann, and it’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Sam shook her hand. “You, too. This is my partner, Detective Cruz.”
“I’m sorry for your recent loss.”
“Thank you. Do you mind if we take a look?”
“Feel free.” Ann stepped aside to let them enter the small room. Shelves lined the walls with items contained in plastic bins.
“Is there any particular place that older items would be kept?” Sam asked.
“Not really. We’ve tried to institute organization, but with volunteers in and out, things get mixed up.”
“Okay, then we’ll check it all,” Sam said, resigned to being there a while.
Freddie gestured toward the left side. “I’ll start over here.”