Chapter Sixteen #2
She turned to face him. “I need information.” Taking two steps to close the distance between them, she added, “But first I need this.” With her hand on the back of his neck, she drew him into a kiss that she’d intended to be quick, but damn, the man could kiss.
Many minutes later, he said, “This rather shitty day just got a whole lot better.”
“Why is it shitty?”
“Oh, you know, the usual stuff, such as the Democratic National Committee chair once again pressuring me to have my ducks in a row in case the president is forced to resign. That kind of thing.”
“I hate that you’re under so much pressure.”
“We also got two media inquiries this morning about why we aren’t moving to the Naval Observatory now that your father has passed away.”
Sam stared up at him. “For real?”
“Yep.”
“Please tell me we don’t have to move.”
“We don’t have to move. It’s another one of those manufactured stories that come up from time to time because I don’t give them anything else to use against me. I’m ignoring it, so don’t sweat it.”
“At least they gave us almost two weeks after he died before they came at us.”
“Decent of them.”
“Did Harry check your BP?”
“He was here earlier. When I told him you were concerned he did a check of it, and it’s completely normal.”
Sam gave him her best perp stare. “You’re not lying to me, are you?”
He huffed out a laugh. “Never. I’d like to think I know better than to try to lie to you.” He gazed down at her, taking a visual inventory of her features. “How’s your day going?”
“Not bad, not good. I’ve only gotten into a couple of fights so far.”
“A slow day then.”
She smiled. She did that a lot around him, the most perfect human to ever cross her path. “At times like this, right here, I wonder how I would’ve survived if you hadn’t been at my crime scene that day at the Watergate.”
“Me, too. That day was the best and worst day of my life.” Sam knew that the murder of his former boss and best friend, Senator John O’Connor, was never far from his mind, as was the fact that his career had taken off in the wake of John’s death. He wrestled with how it all had happened.
Reluctantly, Sam stepped back from him. “So I was wondering if I could talk to Brant about the Weber investigation.”
“What do you need from him?”
“Info about the president’s detail and what they might know about Nelson and Weber.”
Nick blew out a low whistle. “That’s a big ask. They’re trained to be circumspect about the things they see on the job. Protecting the privacy of their subjects is almost as important as their safety.”
“I understand that, and I’m not asking them to spill state secrets.
I’d like to know if they saw anything that might be cause for further investigation.
This is a Homicide investigation. If they saw something, they’re obligated to share it.
I’d also like to talk to Nelson’s top advisors from the campaign. ”
“That’d be Derek and Tom Hanigan. They were the campaign managers for the reelection effort.”
“Thanks for that info. I’m going to use my office for these interviews.”
“Will you come by for another kiss before you leave?”
“I can do that.” She went up on tiptoe to kiss him. “There’s one to hold you over.”
He moaned. “I want to call in sick for the rest of this day and go home with you.”
“Not today, cowboy. But we should do that someday soon.”
“Yes, please.”
“Elijah is coming next weekend. Maybe we could talk him into hanging with all the kids for a night while we escape the madhouse.”
“Let’s make that happen. I’ll talk to him.”
“Something to look forward to.” She nudged him to get him to move so she could leave. “Ask Brant to come see me?”
“I will.”
She left him with a smile and returned to Freddie, cooling his heels in reception.
“All done with your booty call?”
“That was not a booty call.”
“Whatever you say, Lieutenant.”
Sam led him through the hallways to her office in the East Wing.
Lilia was coming out of Sam’s suite of offices as she approached the door. “What’re you doing here?”
“Hello to you, too.” Lilia always amused Sam. They had become friends under the most unlikely of circumstances.
“I meant to say, hello, Mrs. Cappuano. It’s a pleasure to see you.”
Sam laughed. “Sure, it is. I need to use my office for a couple of meetings relating to my other job.”
“Oh.” Even though no one else was nearby, Lilia glanced around to make sure they wouldn’t be overheard. “The Weber investigation.”
“Yes.”
Lilia lowered her voice. “People here are outraged by what he did.”
“People everywhere seem to be outraged by it. Gloria is very well liked.”
“She certainly is, especially inside this building.” After another look around, Lilia lowered her voice to a whisper. “You don’t suspect him, do you?”
“Not at the moment.”
“Oh, okay. I guess that’s good, right?”
“Ah yeah, it’s good.” She continued to believe that Nelson had nothing to gain by killing the woman after the story of the affair had already leaked. That reminded her that she needed to circle back to Darren about whether he’d figured out the origin of the story.
Brant approached them. “You wanted to see me, Mrs. Cappuano?”
“I did, Brant. Come in. Excuse us, Lilia.” Sam led Brant and Freddie into her office and closed the door. “I wondered if you could help me get in touch with the agents who were on the president’s detail during the campaign.”
“I can do that, but they won’t talk to you about his personal business.”
“I’m not going to ask them to, but I will ask them if they have any information about who might’ve wanted Tara dead.”
“Fair enough. Let me make a call.”
Sam gestured to the extension on her desk and then walked across the room to the seating area where Freddie had made himself comfortable.
“This is sick. I still can’t believe you have an office in the White House.”
“Believe me, neither can I. Not that it gets much use.” She often felt guilty about the small amount of time she gave to being second lady, but Nick had no qualms. At least not that he’d shared with her. “I should spend more time here.”
“You don’t have time to spend anywhere but at work and at home.”
“I know, and that’s why I suck at being second lady.”
“You show up when it matters. People are still talking about your infertility speech. That meant so much to so many.”
“I guess.”
Brant ended his call and came over to them. “They’ll be here in a few minutes. We got lucky. Most of the people you need to see are in the building today.”
“That’s great,” Sam said. “We never get lucky on this job.”