Chapter Thirty-One
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
“ W hy’d you take us out the side?” Nick asked Brant when they were standing next to The Beast. Sam had gotten in ahead of him to call Freddie.
“A massive gathering of press materialized while you were inside, and from what we heard, they were planning to ambush the first lady about the Juan Rodriguez situation. Over the last hour, every major media outlet has reported on the story.”
“What’re they saying?”
“That she interviewed his grief-stricken roommate while knowing that Juan wasn’t dead.”
“Shit.”
“From what I can see, it’s blowing up into a big story.”
“Just what we needed.”
“Yes, sir, that was my thought as well. We’re still going back to the White House?”
“Yes, thank you.”
Brant held the door for Nick until he was settled inside the car, next to Sam, who was still on the phone.
“What is?” she asked. “Seriously? Okay, well, we’re going to address it in the interview. Yes, I hear you. I’ll be there soon.” She slapped the phone closed. “The shit storm with Juan’s roommate has gone nuclear.”
“I heard. Brant said every major outlet has published or aired something on it while we were at the funeral.”
“So I heard. I’m sorry if this causes a problem for you.”
“Don’t worry about me. This doesn’t even count as a problem in the grand scheme of things.”
“It’ll make me look like an asshole.”
He reached for her hand. “You’ll explain why you did it in the interview, and we’ll ask them to release that portion of it ASAP. It’ll be fine.”
“I wish I shared your optimism. Between this and Ramsey’s outburst, it’s going to be an I-hate-Sam-Holland kinda day.”
“Not for me. Every day is an I- love -Sam-Holland kind of day.”
“Thank goodness for that.” She released a deep sigh that was part agony for the loss of Tom and part relief that her speech hadn’t been a disaster. “My heart aches for Leslie and her girls and what they’re going through. I can’t imagine it.”
“You did a beautiful job speaking about Tom. I’m sure it meant a lot to them.”
“I hope so.”
“I know so. Don’t let the haters get you down. Remember our mantra—they can’t touch us unless we let them. You did what you thought was right, what you’d been asked to do by NCIS in the interest of national security. You’ll say that as much as you disliked having to go through the motions with the roommate and others, you’d do it again for the same reasons if it came to that, which you hope it never does.”
“You’re good at this. You ought to run for office.”
Snorting with laughter, he said, “No fucking way am I ever doing that again.”
“Never say never.”
“I’m saying it, and you should be, too. Three years of this madness will be more than enough for me. ”
“If you wake up one day and decide you want more, I’d support you. I hope you know that.”
He felt her forehead as if checking for a fever.
She swatted his hand away. “I’m serious.”
“I know. It’s terrifying. Are you sure you’re not feverish or under the influence of something that would explain this insanity?”
“It’s not insanity to predict that my gorgeous, sexy, intelligent husband is going to have a very successful presidency, and if he decides he wants to continue being president for four more years, his wife would support him.”
“When is this ‘successful’ portion of the program going to begin?”
“It already has.”
He gave her a skeptical look. “Doesn’t seem that way.”
“It does to me. Other people’s opinions are none of our business.”
“Even admirals and generals with thirty-plus years of experience?”
“Especially them. They’re envious of your meteoric rise to power and your popularity with regular people. They thought you’d be weak and easy to manipulate because you’re young. They found out otherwise.”
“Only because Juan warned me. I can’t imagine how it would’ve gone down if they’d caught me by surprise.”
“They wouldn’t have succeeded.”
“Brant said the Secret Service would’ve taken them into custody and escorted them from the premises.”
“They were never going to succeed at that mission, which was fueled by their own hubris and sense of importance.”
“It shook me. I can’t deny that.”
“Of course it did, but remember, they were Nelson’s people, not yours. Put your own people in these important positions and get to work. ”
“Terry and I are working on that now, with Graham’s help. I don’t have enough people on my bench, but he does.” Nick slid across the seat, put an arm around her and snuggled her in close. “Enough about me. I want to talk about how amazing my sexy wife was this morning, talking about the history of the U.S. Attorneys. I had no idea they went so far back that George Washington chose the first ones.”
“Wait, I know something you don’t about the government?”
“Yep.”
“True confession. Roni wrote that part.”
Nick laughed and kissed the top of her head. “You knew it before I did.”
“There is that.”
“You did a great job. You were warm, compassionate, sincere, and your affection for Tom was very apparent.”
“He saved my ass once upon a time, as Ramsey so eloquently noted.”
“I hope they lock that guy up. He’s a ticking time bomb waiting for a place to detonate.”
When Sam’s phone rang, she fished it out of her pocket and took the call from Gonzo. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Ohio State Police called to tell us they found Jada Myerson, bound and gagged in a motel room off Interstate 70 outside of Columbus.”
“Oh my God,” Sam said.
“I’m going to send some of our people to pick her up and bring her home. Just wanted to run that by you first.”
“Do it. We need her to tell us where Bonnie and Clyde are headed.”
“Bellamy’s mother has been calling every thirty minutes, asking if we’ve found her son. We’ve told her that if she hears from him to tell him to turn himself in and to let us know. She refuses to believe it’s possible he’s involved in anything criminal. ”
“Her baby would never do something like this. I’m feeling the buzz. These two planned the whole thing, brought Jada in as a coconspirator and then turned on her when things got hot. They’re too stupid to realize she has all the dirt on them.”
“I wonder why they didn’t kill her, too,” Gonzo said.
“They’re panicking, which is good news and bad. Did you guys reach Jesse Best?”
“We did, and he’s deploying a team in Ohio as we speak. We’re also working on getting Bellamy’s car from the West Virginia State Police.”
“Great job. I’ll be in this afternoon to catch up.”
“See you then.”
“Sounds like you’re getting some breaks in the case,” Nick said.
“Yeah, which are leading to a seventeen-year-old and her boyfriend murdering the girl’s mother to get her out of their way.”
“Jeez.”
“I didn’t want to believe it, but nothing else pointed to murder other than her draconian rules with her girls. I feel sorry for Elaine, the mother. Her sister was kidnapped, tortured and murdered when Elaine was twenty and the sister seventeen. As a result, she’s been incredibly overprotective of her kids.”
“As anyone would be.”
“But try explaining the rationale for that to two kids who never knew the aunt who was killed years before they were born. How can you possibly make that kind of trauma relevant to kids who just want to live their lives and spread their wings?”
“You can’t, but that doesn’t give them the right to end her life over it.”
“No, it sure doesn’t. They left the younger sister gagged and bound in a motel room on I-70 outside of Columbus. She’ll be the key to this whole thing.” Sam’s backbone was on fire with the tingles that came from getting closer to solving a case. She wanted more than anything to go right to HQ and dive into the home stretch.
But Nick needed her, and she needed his big platform to set the record straight about what’d transpired after Juan Rodriguez’s alleged murder.
Her phone rang again with a local number she didn’t recognize. “Holland.”
“It’s Claire Truver.”
“What can I do for you, Agent Truver?” Sam asked as she glanced at Nick.
“I understand you plan to go public with what transpired after you learned Lieutenant Commander Rodriguez had reportedly been murdered.”
“You understand correctly, as my reputation is taking a public flogging thanks to the roommate I interviewed after you asked me to conduct my usual investigation.”
“I’m aware of Lieutenant Commander Erickson’s statements, and his command is encouraging him to shut his mouth about things he knows nothing about.”
Truver’s sharp tone indicated an all-new level of tension.
“The word is out that Juan is alive. It might be time to end the ruse and come clean on what you were hoping to achieve by faking his death.”
“If I do that, part of our case against Goldstein disappears.”
“How so?”
“He’s being held in isolation and still doesn’t know Juan is alive. We’re hammering him hard on what the plan was to get rid of the guy who blew up their plot by telling the president. We’re close to a breakthrough, but if Goldstein finds out that Juan isn’t dead, we’re never going to get him to break on that.”
“Can you keep him isolated in lockup?”
“We have been, but you know how these things go. The more people who know the truth, the more likely he is to find out.”
“Not if you keep a tight control over who has access to him. ”
“He’s got a lawyer, Lieutenant, and as you know, we can’t control what his lawyer tells him.”
“You’ve caused me tremendous grief with my closest colleagues and friends by asking me to lie to them and others. Erickson is justified in his outrage. What I—and you—did to him and others who love Juan is unforgivable in their eyes.”
“It was done in the interest of national security.”
“So you say, but as far as I can tell, our nation is secure with Goldstein in lockup and the others who participated in this plot dishonorably discharged from the military and facing charges that will send them to prison. What more needs to happen to protect the national interest?”
“I want justice for Juan Rodriguez, who was stalked and pursued by senior officers intent on doing harm to the man who exposed their dirty secrets.”
“You’ll have to make your case another way against those who wanted to harm Juan, because I’m going to publicly own the role I played in this in an interview I’m doing with my husband shortly.”
“I urge you not to do that.”
“Your objection is duly noted, Agent Truver. I have to go now.” Sam slapped her phone closed. “What are you hearing from her bosses?” she asked Nick.
“We’ve notified Jennings and the Navy secretary of our plans to go public with what was asked of you under the guise of national security. They were notifying the NCIS director, which is probably why you heard from Agent Truver.”
“You’re not hearing anything about us endangering investigations by going public, then?”
“Nothing specific. I asked for an update during the security briefing this morning but haven’t heard anything new yet.”
“When did you do a security briefing?”
“Zero six hundred, baby.”
“Where the hell was I?”
“Out cold. ”
“This is what I mean when I say people have no idea how dedicated you are.”
“I’m just doing the job the best way I know how. I knew it would be a busy day, so I scheduled an early briefing to get that out of the way before the funeral.”
“Thanks for coming to that with me.”
“I’m always glad to accompany my beautiful wife, but I’m sorry it was to a funeral for a friend.”
“Me, too. He was one of the good guys.” Sam hesitated for a second before she shared another thought. “I’m hearing the prospective new USA is a ballbuster.”
“Catherine McDermott?”
“Yeah, her.”
“Do you guys not want her?”
“I absolutely should not be discussing this with you. It crosses all the lines.”
“Tell me what you’re hearing. This is a major nomination. I want to get it right.”
“I heard she’s super by the book and takes no prisoners.”
“I’m not sure what to make of that.”
“Me either, but you should do what you think is best.”
“She comes highly recommended by people at all levels of the system—judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys, law enforcement.”
“Then it sounds like she’s a good choice. I can’t believe it’s up to my husband to nominate the next U.S. Attorney. That’s kind of bonkers to me. In most cases, it would have no impact on me as a municipal police officer. But in DC, the USA is our prosecutor, so the appointment of Tom’s replacement is hugely consequential to us.”
“If we get it wrong, then your already complicated life becomes more so.”
“I’m sure you’re fully vetting her. I have faith in you and your team. ”
“That’s nice to hear, but I sure as hell hope my choice for the new USA doesn’t cause problems for you and your team.”
“Don’t worry about me. Do what you think is right.”
He kissed her softly. “I’ll always worry about you.”