Chapter Two
Sam tried to shake off the grief for her colleague and friend as she sat next to Freddie, facing the board. “Bring me up to speed.”
“We got the call from Dispatch at zero eight twelve,” Gonzo said. “A woman walking by the car noticed broken glass and blood. From what other witnesses said, she put on quite a show, screaming and yelling for help. A guy who heard her screaming called it in.”
“Did either of them see it happen?”
“No, they both came upon it after it had already gone down.”
“Where was Forrester’s wife when he was killed?” Though she had no reason to suspect his wife, in a homicide investigation, they always looked at the people closest to the victim.
“At home and still under the protection of the FBI after she and her girls were rescued from the kidnapping.”
That ruled her out.
“Do we have Archie pulling video from the area?”
“He and IT are on that as well as tracking the pings from Forrester’s cell phones as soon as the warrants come through. We’ve requested access to his personal and work phones. The responding officers didn’t know who he was, but we recognized him when we arrived on the scene. I immediately called Captain Malone, who alerted the chief. Out of courtesy, the chief contacted the Attorney General’s Office.”
“Which is why we’re already fending off Feds,” Sam said.
“That’s to be expected. They know the case is ours, but we can tap into their resources as needed.”
“I was just coming by to say that very thing,” FBI Special Agent-in-Charge Avery Hill said as he stepped into the room. “Whatever we can do.”
“Thank you, Avery.” Sam smiled at him. “I’m sure you’ve got a lot going on with a new baby at home. We wouldn’t want to keep you from your family. How are Shelby and the baby anyway? I can’t wait to meet Miss Maisie.”
“They’re doing great. Noah is absolutely smitten with his new baby sister.”
“I’ll make sure to stop in to see them when I get home.” Avery, Shelby and their kids were staying with Sam and Nick at the White House while they secured a safer home after theirs was invaded by people Avery had arrested years earlier. “In the meantime, we’ve got a lot to do here.”
“We’re very upset about Tom’s murder,” Avery said.
“As are we.”
“The murder of a U.S. Attorney is a big deal.”
“We’re aware of that, Avery, and you can rest assured that we’ll give it our undivided attention until we bring his killer to justice.”
“You’re telling me to get lost, right?”
Sam smiled. “I never said those words.”
“Fine, I’ll go, but please let me know what we can do to help. Tom was a friend.”
“To all of us.”
Avery gave a curt nod and turned to leave.
Sam exhaled with relief. “That was a close one. We need to jump on it, so we don’t get squeezed out. What’s our plan?”
“I’d like to talk to his team first,” Gonzo said, “and then his family. I want to know the details of the time they spent with Bryant’s people and what they said to threaten Tom.”
“Are we thinking this’ll lead straight to Congressman Bryant?” Freddie asked.
“We can’t make that conclusion right out of the gate,” Sam said. “Tell me more about Forrester’s connection to Bryant.”
“The AG personally asked Forrester to look into Bryant’s campaign finance issues,” Gonzo said, “and where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire. The theory is that when Bryant caught wind that Forrester was closing in on his nefarious network of drugs, guns, gambling, hookers, etc., he panicked and ordered his goons to kidnap Forrester’s family. Then he used the leverage to get Forrester to back off or lose his loved ones.”
“How was that related to the arrest of Bryant’s son?”
“It wasn’t,” Gonzo said. “But when the congressman heard we had his son in custody, he used the safety of his wife and daughters against Forrester to get the USA to order the release of Randy Bryant.”
“And the reason he did that was because Bryant still had his family.”
“Right,” Gonzo said.
“Bryant must be in it pretty deep if he’d go so far as to kidnap the family of a U.S. Attorney,” Sam said.
“That’s the thinking,” Gonzo said.
“How can this not be related to Bryant?” Freddie asked.
“It probably is, but we still have to fully investigate,” Sam said. “Where’s Bryant now?”
“He was released on bond, as was Kent Sanders, who agreed to cooperate for immunity. The rest of his guys are still in custody.”
“The same thugs he would’ve sent to do Forrester?”
“Yeah.”
Sam processed that information. “Would Bryant have done it himself?”
“I just can’t picture that,” Gonzo said. “He’s a weasel who sends others to do his dirty work. I don’t think he’d have the stones.”
Which meant the most obvious suspect was looking less so already.
“Let’s start at Forrester’s office and then go see his family,” Sam said.
With O’Brien and Charles working on finding the new owner of Stahl’s storage unit facility and Green away for the weekend, Sam, Freddie and Gonzo left for the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Sam waited until they were in the back of her Secret Service SUV before she said, “I want to thank you both for taking the lead on the last two cases. I didn’t realize how badly I needed a break until you gave me the chance to take one, and I appreciate knowing I can leave things in your capable hands. That means everything to me.”
“We’d say it was no problem, but…”
Sam and Freddie laughed at Gonzo’s comment.
“I know it was a load of trouble.”
“We handled it,” Gonzo said. “I gotta say, though… That Fortier case was one of the crazier ones I’ve been involved in. Forrester orders us to release Randy Bryant even though we’ve got him dead to rights on the murder-for-hire of Rachel Fortier. Then Randy’s dead, but wait, it’s not him. It’s another of his father’s stooges dressed to make us think it’s Randy—even carrying Randy’s student ID—but his face is bashed in so we can’t ID him by sight. When the mother told me Randy was sleeping in his bed in Milwaukee, I thought I’d lost my mind.”
“The reports made my head spin trying to keep up with the narrative,” Sam said. “Where are we with getting the real Randy back here to face the charges?”
“His mother promised to bring him here by tomorrow,” Gonzo said.
“You believe she will?”
“She’s been straight with me through the whole thing. I have no reason to believe otherwise. She knows we’ll send the marshals after him if he doesn’t turn himself in.”
“I’ll feel better once he’s back in custody. What’s to stop her from taking him and leaving the country?”
“We tagged both their passports, just in case,” Freddie said.
“Good thinking.”
They arrived at the U.S. Attorney’s D Street Northwest office, surrendered their weapons at security and walked through the metal detector.
Sam led the way to Forrester’s third-floor suite. Once there, they followed voices to the conference room, where the staff gathered.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Faith Miller stood to greet them with hugs.
“We’re so sorry, Faith,” Sam said.
“Thank you. Needless to say, we’re in shock.”
“We can’t imagine.” Gonzo hugged her. “Tom was a good guy.”
“He was the best. We loved him.”
Her sisters, Hope and Charity, came over to them, and they exchanged hugs and condolences.
Sam rarely saw the identical Miller triplets together and was amazed once again by their striking resemblance, even if they sported different hair and clothing styles. One of them had told her years ago how rare identical triplets were. As someone who’d endured fertility struggles, Sam couldn’t believe such things were even possible.
“May we speak in private?” Sam asked.
The other staffers were huddled in subdued groups, comforting one another.
“Sure,” Faith said.
They followed the sisters to a smaller conference room.
Sam closed the door. “Again, please accept our heartfelt sympathy. We hate to intrude at a time like this, but you know how critical the early hours are in a homicide investigation.”
“We do.” Hope wore her hair longer than the other two. All three were dressed more casually than Sam had ever seen them, as they’d been home for the weekend when they received the news about their boss’s murder. “We’ll do anything we can to help find the person who did this to Tom.”
“First, we’d like to know everything there is to know about his dealings with Congressman Bryant.”
“I wondered if you’d look in that direction first,” Faith said.
“Are there other directions we should be taking?” Gonzo asked.
“As always, this office is involved in a number of complex prosecutions,” Charity said, “but the situation with Bryant had occupied much of Tom’s time recently.” She was the curviest of the three. Sam had watched more than a few men go stupid in the head at the sight of her.
“How can we find out what was happening with the Bryant investigation?” Sam asked.
“Other than the basic info I already gave to Gonzo, I haven’t found anything more in his office or on his computer,” Faith said, “even though we knew he was working on it. When he and his family first went missing, we looked through everything. There was nothing about Bryant.”
“Did that strike you as odd?”
“To have no paper trail at all?” Hope asked. “Definitely.”
“Is it possible he was asked to do the investigation without leaving a trail?” Gonzo asked.
“It’s possible, yes,” Faith said, “but not really feasible. Tom was brilliant, but even he couldn’t keep track of something that complicated in his head.”
“So you think there’s a record somewhere?” Sam asked.
“If there is, we can’t find it here,” Charity said. “We want to look at his house for it.”
“That’s our next stop. Would one of you mind coming with us?”
“I’ll go,” Faith said. “I pulled a warrant because I figured you’d want to start there, too.”
Sam appreciated working with people who knew what they were doing. “That saves some time.”
“Hope and I will continue to sift through other cases for leads,” Charity said.
“That’d be helpful,” Sam said.
“Whatever we can do to find his killer,” Hope said tearfully.
“Thank you.” Sam hugged Hope. “Hang in there.”
“We’re trying.”
They walked out of the building with Faith a few minutes later.
Vernon and Jimmy waited at the curb and jumped out to open doors for them. They’d allowed Sam to go into the U.S. Attorney’s Office unescorted since it was a secure facility.
“This doesn’t suck,” Faith said when they were settled in cozy warmth in back seats that faced each other.
“Not at all,” Sam said. “Do we have Forrester’s address?”
Faith recited the Gaithersburg address for Vernon.
Sam settled in for the forty-five-minute ride to the Maryland suburb. “Why didn’t Tom have a driver and security?”
“He had both, but he’d chosen to go out on his own the last few days.”
“I did a search for information about murdered prosecutors.” Freddie looked up from his phone. “Even though police officer killings are on the rise, prosecutor murders are extremely rare. There’s an association for District Attorneys that reported thirteen prosecutor deaths in one hundred years, but that stat is from ten years ago. Most of them are state and local DAs. There’s one unsolved U.S. Attorney murder in Seattle.”
Faith nodded. “We receive regular briefings on that case. Happened twenty years ago. The department uses that cold case as a reminder to stay vigilant. The Seattle police and FBI continue to investigate.”
“Had you heard of any threats to Tom or experienced an uptick in threats at your office?” Gonzo asked.
“We receive threats every day from people who feel they’re being unfairly prosecuted or railroaded or fill in the blank on how we’re abusing our power. Most of them are idle threats. Some we report to the FBI for further investigation.”
Sam sent a text to Avery. I found a way you can help us. Faith Miller said some threats received by their office are sent to you guys for investigation. Can you look into that and let me know if anything stands out?
I’ll get right on that.
Thanks. How are Shelby and the baby?
Wonderful. Coming home (to your place, that is) this afternoon.
Can’t wait to see them.
“Avery is taking a look at that angle,” Sam said.
“What’s our plan with Forrester’s family?” Faith asked. “Word is they’re in rough shape from their own ordeal, and that was before they found out he’d been murdered.”
“Have we gotten a statement from them since the kidnapping?” Sam asked Gonzo.
He shook his head. “They were too upset to talk. They were taken to GW’s ER after being rescued from the hotel where they were held. They spent last night there for observation and were sent home this morning only to learn Tom had been killed.”
“Who told them the news?” Sam asked.
“Tom’s top deputy, Conlon Young.”
“Why don’t I know that name?”
“He doesn’t work on cases. He’s the head administrative officer. He assigns cases, tracks every development, makes sure filing deadlines are met, in addition to many other things critical to efficiency and effectiveness.”
“I never gave much thought to how that happened.”
“It’s a critical role that keeps us from screwing things up. When Gonzo called me to tell me the news about Tom, I immediately called Conlon. He went to the Forresters’ house to notify the family. As far as I know, he’s still there. He and his wife, Nikki, are close with Tom and Leslie.” Faith glanced out the window as the city whizzed by in a blur of people, buildings and vehicles. “I still can’t believe he’s dead.”
Sam empathized with her after having lost Detective Arnold, her dad and then her brother-in-law. She was still processing Spencer’s death, weeks later. “It’ll take a while for it to seem real.”
“I suppose you’re right.”
“Tell me about his arrangement with the AG on the Bryant case,” Sam said.
“I don’t know much about that.”
“Would Young know?”
“If anyone in the office has the lowdown on that, it would be him. It was highly unusual for Tom to take on anything without at least some staff support.”
Sam made a note to herself. Find out why the AG wanted Forrester to handle the Bryant case personally. As she wrote that, she experienced a twinge of anxiety over possibly having to speak to the Attorney General, a member of Nick’s cabinet, about a case. That struck far too close for comfort, not that anything would stop her from talking to him if it came to that.
She hoped it didn’t.
The Forresters lived in a gated community with stately brick homes. “Where were the wife and kids when they were taken hostage?” Sam asked.
“At home.”
“How’s that possible in a gated neighborhood?”
“While you’re talking with the family, I’ll double back on the security people,” Freddie said.
Vernon used his Secret Service credentials and Sam’s badge to gain access to the neighborhood. He stopped the SUV at the curb of one of the larger brick homes on the street. It had third-floor dormers, black shutters and an elegant look to it.
As they got out of the vehicle, Sam noted a driveway full of cars, which meant the word was out among Tom’s family and friends.
Sam glanced at Faith. “We’ll need to speak privately to his wife—and daughters if their mother agrees.”
“I’ll do what I can to make that happen.”
Freddie took off at a jog toward the security facility at the entrance to the neighborhood.
Sam, Faith and Gonzo were met at the door by a middle-aged man who looked like he’d been crying.
Faith took the lead. “Conlon Young, meet Lieutenant Holland and Sergeant Gonzales.”
“Come in.” Young led them to a formal living room. “How can we help you, Detectives?”
“We’d like to speak with Mrs. Forrester,” Sam said.
Young was shaking his head before she finished saying the word Mrs. “She’s not available for that right now.”
Sam bit back the urge to snap at him. “Mr. Young, as I’m sure you’re aware, the initial hours in a homicide investigation are the most critical. Since Mrs. Forrester and her daughters were caught up in something involving her husband’s work, it would be extremely helpful if we could talk to them.”
“They’re distraught. We all are.”
“I understand.”
“Do you?”
Taken aback by his tone, Sam said, “As a matter of fact, I do.” She stared at him without blinking. “Believe it or not, family members and close friends are always distraught after the murder of a loved one. We still need to talk to the people closest to the victim as soon as possible.”
Young obviously didn’t care for her comment, but thankfully, he didn’t argue the point. “Give me a minute.” He left the room.
Faith grimaced. “I’m sorry. He’s upset.”
“I understand.” The guy had immediately rubbed Sam the wrong way, and not just because he’d objected to her request. As someone who worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he’d know better than most how these things worked.
They waited a long time, long enough that Freddie returned from checking in with the neighborhood security personnel. “They said they aren’t allowed to talk to us directly. He gave me a card for the main office.”
“Let’s request a warrant for last week’s logs and any footage they have,” Sam said.
“I thought you might say that, so I called Malone to get that moving.”
“You’re the best.”
“I know, right?”
“While you’re basking in the glow of your own glory, see what they have here at the house for security and request a warrant for any info we can get from there, too.”
“I, uh, already did that, too. There’s a sign out front with the name of the security company.”
“Damn, he’s good,” Gonzo said.
“Learned from the best.”
“His sucking up is also exceptional.” Sam glanced at Faith. “Sorry for the banter. It keeps us sane.”
“I understand. No apologies needed.”
“What’s taking so long?”
“I’ll find out,” Faith said as she rose to leave the room.
“I already hate this case,” Sam said.
“That took longer than usual,” Gonzo said.
“Don’t make me laugh. It’s disrespectful.”
She hoped they came back soon, because this day was getting away from them, and they had miles yet to go.