Chapter Fourteen
Sam left the morgue, grateful for Lindsey and the rest of the friends and family who would support her and Nick through whatever came next.
She was strangely calm about the possibility of their world being turned upside down if Nick was forced to assume the presidency.
If that happened, they’d deal with it like they dealt with everything else. Together.
In the pit, she found her team gathered around the speakerphone in Freddie’s cubicle.
“What’s going on?” Sam asked.
“Hey, boss,” Sergeant Tommy “Gonzo” Gonzales said.
“Hey! How are you?”
“I’m good. I earned an extra phone call and decided to waste it on you losers.”
A low hum of laughter went through the group.
“Nice to hear your voice.” Sam was encouraged by how good he sounded and to hear him cracking jokes for the first time in nearly a year. “How’s it going?”
“It’s going. Three more weeks, and I should be able to get out of here. Not sure when I’ll be cleared to work, but I’m jonesing to get back.”
That, too, was an improvement over the months after his partner was gunned down in front of him, when he hadn’t seemed to give a shit about the job, his family or anything else.
“We’re looking forward to having you back,” Detective Jeannie McBride said. “It’s not the same without you.”
“Aw, thanks. I miss you guys. What the hell is going on with Nelson and the mistress?”
“That’s what we’d like to know, too,” Freddie said.
“You guys aren’t looking at him for her murder, are you?”
“Not yet, but it’s early days,” Sam said. “Lindsey got some prints off her neck, but they aren’t in the system.”
“Of course they aren’t,” Gonzo said, sharing their frustration.
“We interviewed her ex last night.” Freddie handed Sam a printout.
“He has an airtight alibi at work for all day yesterday, according to his assistant, Janice, but he was kinda creepy so we took a deeper look at him. The guy is in debt up to his eyeballs.” He handed Sam another piece of paper.
“Looks like he’s heavily into online gambling. ”
Sam scanned the report that showed Massey’s bank accounts were all but drained. “I assume he makes a decent salary as a lawyer at the World Bank.”
“He must, but he’s clearly got an issue,” Cameron Green said.
“That has nothing to do with his ex-girlfriend, unfortunately for us,” Sam said.
Malone came into the pit, looking stressed. “Lieutenant? A moment please.”
“Good to talk to you, Sergeant,” Sam said. “Keep us posted on how you’re doing.”
“Will do. Good luck with the case, everyone. Wish I was there to help.”
“We do, too.” Sam followed Malone into her office and closed the door. “What’s up?”
“Conklin is making a stink. Wants to see you right now.”
“Too bad. I’m busy right now, and I no longer have to jump at his command. He can wait.”
“All right then.” Malone propped his hands on his hips. “What’s the latest on the Weber case?”
“Lindsey got some prints off her neck, but they’re not in the system. I need a few minutes to get briefed on what Carlucci and Dominguez found out overnight.”
“And then we need you to brief the media.”
“Ugh, do I have to?”
“I’m afraid so. They’re going wild speculating about how the president would go about arranging a murder.”
“All right. Just give me thirty to get up to speed.”
“You got it.”
Sam put her hair up in the clip that kept it out of her way for work and went out to the pit. “Conference room, everyone.”
The rest of her team followed her into the room.
“Get the door, Green.” When everyone was settled around the room, Sam turned to her third-shift detectives. “What’ve we got?”
“The most interesting thing is an entirely blank security video,” Carlucci said. “We doubled back with building management, and they have no explanation for why it’s blank.”
“Was it wiped or did someone cover the camera?” Freddie asked.
“Archie couldn’t say for certain.”
Sam bit back a groan. “We need to get the video from the surrounding area.”
“Archie and his team are on that, but it’s a busy area. It’ll take a while.”
Of course it would. “What else?”
“We pulled the financials for Weber and Massey. He’s completely tapped out, but his assistant confirmed he was in meetings at the office all day yesterday. He never left.”
“I want to circle back to him today and ask about the financial situation,” Sam said. “He never mentioned that to us.”
“The campaign was profitable for Tara,” Dominguez said. “She was paid more than two hundred and fifty thousand for her work,” Dominguez said.
“Cruz and I will dig in deeper to her personal life and figure out how the story connecting her to the president got out. Who else knew? Besides Nelson, that is.”
“Are you going to interview him?” McBride asked.
“God, I hope not.”
A low rumble of laughter went through the group.
“I’m not going to lie to you guys. Nick and I are under the gun here to figure out who did this before Nelson gets run out of office. Every minute counts.”
“We’re on it, LT,” McBride said. She and O’Brien got up to leave the room.
“I’ll keep you posted on what I find,” Green said as he followed them out.
“Good work, ladies,” Sam said to Carlucci and Dominguez. “We’ll update you before your tour tonight.”
“We can stay if you need us to,” Dominguez said.
“Nah, go get some sleep while you can. But thanks for offering.”
“Call if anything comes up or if you need us,” Carlucci said.
“Will do.”
After they took off, Sam glanced at Freddie. “How do you feel about a field trip to the World Bank to see the creepy ex?”
“I’m with you, LT.”
“Let’s do it.” Sam headed out of the conference room and stopped short when she remembered the media briefing she’d agreed to do. “Ugh, I gotta brief the jackals first. That oughta be fun today.”
Freddie winced. “Better you than me.”
“Actually, better anyone than me. You know they’re going to make it all about Nick being VP and in the hot seat if Nelson is forced to resign.”
“Yep. Good luck.”
“Go talk to Archie while I’m gone to see if he’s gotten anywhere on the video and check with Crime Scene to see if they have anything for us or any leads on her cell phone.”
“I’m on it.”
Sam proceeded to the lobby area where the chief and Malone were conferring.
She approached them while taking a close look at the chief.
His expression gave nothing away, but that didn’t surprise her.
He played his cards close to the vest most of the time.
Yesterday was a definite exception to his normal routine. “How’s it going?” she asked him.
“Just another day in paradise.”
“No fresh hells?”
“Not yet, but the day is new. Give it time to turn to shit.”
She smiled, happy to hear him joking. “You coming out with me?”
“Yep.”
“You don’t have to if it would be better not to.”
“I’m not going to turn you over to them without backup.”
“I could do it,” Malone said.
“Thank you both, but I’m the one who needs to do it. Celia’s statement helped a lot. That was a good call, Lieutenant.”
“Glad to hear it.”
“The firestorm hasn’t exactly passed, but it’s definitely better than it was this time yesterday. Ready?”
“As I’ll ever be.” Sam’s stomach twisted with nerves. She hated these briefings on a good day. This was most definitely not a good day. In addition to the usual challenges of dealing with the always-voracious media, today they would make it personal for her, Nick and the chief.
They pushed through the double doors to where the reporters camped out waiting for updates. There were easily triple the usual number of people gathered. She even recognized a few faces from the networks, which was unusual, and they had her anxiety spiking even more.
Before she could say a word, they started shouting questions. Sam didn’t see Darren in the crowd. She hoped that meant he was getting her the info she’d requested.
“Did Nelson kill his mistress?”
“Are you going to arrest him?”
“Is your husband ready to be president?”
Sam waited for them to shut up before she began speaking.
“Shortly before three p.m. yesterday, Tara Weber’s assistant found her dead in her Georgetown home from manual strangulation.
Her newborn son was not in the home at the time of the murder.
He was with her parents in Herndon and has been accounted for.
We’re working a number of leads and asking the public to reach out to our tip line with any information you may have about the murder of Tara Weber.
” Sam recited the number twice, hoping it would yield some leads.
“I understand the high level of interest in this case and the obvious reasons for it, but I would caution you and the public not to jump to conclusions. As always, we will fully investigate the case and follow the leads wherever they take us.”
“If they take you to the White House, will you arrest the president?”
“That’s all I have at this time. We’ll provide another briefing as new information becomes available.”
“Chief, are you going to resign?”
Sam and the chief turned their backs on the reporters and went inside. She breathed a sigh of relief when the doors closed behind them, silencing the barrage of questions. “That went well, all things considered?”
“You did good.”
“I’ll never understand why they think I’m suddenly going to start giving them info they should be getting from the White House.
They need to abandon all hope when it comes to that line of questioning.
It ain’t gonna happen.” She took a closer look at him, saw the signs of sleepless nights in the dark circles under his eyes. “You sure you’re okay?”
“I’ve been better, but I’m hanging in there. I’ve decided that if the city council wants my job, they’re going to have to come for me. I’m not going to roll over and cede to pressure to resign. I don’t want it to end that way.”
“Good for you. I was hoping you’d find your fighting spirit.”
“It’s been tough without your dad to kick my ass. He had a way of doing that even when he couldn’t move.”
“I know what you mean. He got a lot done with that eyebrow.”
“Yeah.” Joe offered a small, sad smile. “He sure did. I miss the hell out of him. I started to go see him yesterday and was halfway there when I remembered…”
“I have to remind myself every day that he’s gone. I suppose we’ll have to do that for a while.”
“Probably. Are you holding up okay?”
Sam didn’t have time to chat, but she gave him time she didn’t have because she wanted to be there for him the way he always was for her. “As well as can be expected. I’m very well supported. That helps.”
“It’s going to take time to process and learn to navigate the new normal. I remember going through that after losing my parents.”
“I feel like there ought to be a law that parents should have to stick around for as long as they’re needed.”
“Parents and pets.”
“Ugh, speaking of… Scotty wants a dog.”
“Of course he does. All kids do. And they all swear they’ll take care of it. Remember when your dad brought that mangy stray home for you girls? What was his name?”
“Ranger.”
“Right! He was a hot mess, and you girls promised you’d take such good care of him. Which lasted how long?”
“Not even a week. My mom was not happy that she ended up taking care of him. He was faithfully devoted to her because she was the one who fed him.”
“Is Scotty swearing he’ll take care of it?”
“He is. I think maybe in his case he would since he knows what it’s like to not be well cared for.”
“True. He may be up to the task.”
“We can barely handle three kids—and we have a ton of help. I can’t believe I’m even thinking about adding another mouth to feed.”
“You may be surprised by the joy a dog can bring to your lives. Don’t rule it out.”
“Hmmm, if you say so. Well, I’d better get to it. The clock is ticking on this one. If I don’t close this case soon, I may find myself living at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.” She added a grimace so he’d know exactly how she really felt about that possibility.
“I didn’t want to ask how you guys are holding up…”
“It’s stressful. Nick’s insomnia is awful. Who could’ve seen all this shit coming when he agreed to be Nelson’s VP? Not us, that’s for sure.”
“No kidding. He was the most boring president we’ve had in a long time, and I mean that as a compliment. No scandals or anything overly interesting. I used to like him.”
“I think a lot of people would say that. He was reelected convincingly. And now…”
“I can’t believe he cheated on his wife when she was sick. That’s so unbelievable.”
“It is.”
“We aren’t liking him for the Weber murder, are we?”
“God, I hope not.”
“Keep me in that loop, will you?”
“You got it.”
They parted company, and she returned to the pit as Freddie was coming in from the other corridor. “Anything?”
“Archie and company are working their way through footage from the area, as well as trying to figure out how the security film got wiped, and Crime Scene is still trying to track down Tara’s phone.”
“So in other words, they’ve got dick.”
“What you said.”
“This case is pissing me off.”
“Most of them do.”
FBI Special Agent in Charge Avery Hill came into the pit. “Good morning.”
“Agent Hill,” Sam said, immediately on guard.
“To what do we owe the honor?” The man was sinfully handsome, with golden-brown hair that he wore combed straight back, matching golden-brown eyes and prominent cheekbones.
He was blissfully in love with and engaged to Shelby Faircloth, which was a huge relief from the days when he’d crushed on Sam.
“I stopped by to see if I can offer any assistance on the Weber investigation.”
“Is it possible you want to know if the president is implicated?”
“Is he?”
“We have no info on that.” Sam almost said “yet,” but caught herself. She didn’t want to suggest they suspected him when they didn’t have any reason to. At the moment. This case was fraught, no matter how she looked at it.
“Is there anything we can do to help?”
“Check in with Lieutenant Archelotta about the fact that the building’s security tape was wiped. We also can’t find the victim’s cell phone. He might welcome your assistance.”
“I’ll see if we can help.”
“Thank you. Detective Cruz, let’s hit it.”