by Marie Force
“Knock it off,” he said in a low growl, his lips close to her ear.
“What am I doing?”
“You’re having impure thoughts in the White House.”
She snorted out a laugh. “I’m hardly the first person to have impure thoughts in the White House.”
They arrived at the lobby far too quickly, and he gave her another tight squeeze before he released her. “Thanks for this. You have no idea how much I needed to see you.”
“I have a slight idea.” She smiled up at him. “Don’t let her get you down. She’s nothing to you, and she can’t touch us unless we let her.”
“Keep reminding me of that.”
“I will.” Sam didn’t care that people were watching. She didn’t care that they were in the freaking White House or that he was the vice president. Right now, he was only her husband, and he’d been hurt again by a woman who should’ve protected him rather than hurt him. She went up on tiptoes to kiss him. “Call me if you need me.”
“You do the same.”
“See you later.”
“Yes, you will.”
She felt him watching her as she went through the security checkpoint, where she reclaimed her service weapon and emerged into the blistering July heat. What she wouldn’t give to make good on her threat to throttle Nicoletta, but she’d never embarrass Nick by getting into a physical altercation with his mother. So she was left to dream about how thrilling it would be to beat the crap out of her.
Sam sent a text to Gonzo.
Meet you at PA & H.
On my way.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
AT THE CORNER, Sam watched for Gonzo while keeping an eye on her surroundings. With whoever had threatened their family still out there and still possibly intent on doing them harm, this was no time to let down her guard. While she waited, she sent a text to Avery asking if there was any news about Shelby or the investigation.
Baby was born twenty minutes ago. I hear it’s a boy. My team is pursuing another lead in the investigation. Will let you know what I hear.
Sam passed the news about the baby along to Nick in a text. To Avery, she replied, Thanks for the update. She still won’t talk to you?
No. I’m getting ready to leave and head to the office. I’ll check in later.
Sam couldn’t help but feel sorry for the guy. He’d been looking forward to the baby’s arrival. To have been completely shut out of the birth had to be heartbreaking, even if she could also see the situation from Shelby’s point of view.
Nick responded to her text.
We should go over there tonight to see her, even if she thinks she doesn’t want us to.
Probably. In truth, Sam dreaded the idea of having to face Shelby. She hated being even peripherally involved in what’d happened between her and Avery.
A horn tooted, drawing her attention to Gonzo’s car as he pulled up to the curb.
“How much you charge for an hour?” he joked when she got in the car.
“More than you can afford, Officer.”
“I have no doubt.”
“Speak to me about Lucy’s neighbor.”
“Her name is Adele Jacobs, age forty-two. She’s lived next door to Lucy in Foggy Bottom for three years, and they’ve become friendly. She inferred that Lucy had a new boyfriend she was excited about, and they were spending a lot of time together. I asked her to describe the guy, and she described Peter.”
“Very interesting that our girl Lucy never mentioned that when we talked to her the other day.”
“I thought so too. I did some checking around, and she’s working today.” He directed the car toward the Wisconsin Avenue showroom. “I assume you’ve heard the shit about Nick’s mother and the interview.”
“Yep. It’s all a bunch of bullshit, of course.”
“Oh, good. I was kinda worried when I heard them say he’d been married before.”
Sam conveyed the story of Nick’s high school girlfriend.
“Wow. That’s amazing and not at all surprising, knowing him. I can see him doing something like that, even as a teenager.”
“Yeah, he’s pretty great.”
“What did you think when you first heard about him possibly being married before?”
“I didn’t know what to think.”
“He’d never told you about the hospital wedding?”
She shook her head. “I think he’d sort of put it away in a box where he didn’t think about it, because it was too painful.”
“I’m sure it was.”
Eager to change the subject, Sam said, “How’s Alex doing since he came home?”
“Okay.”
“Just okay?”
“He was up a lot during the night, crying and clingy. I’m kinda spent today. It was a long night.”
“Ah, damn, I’m so sorry. I feel terrible. I know Nick does too.”
“What I don’t get is why they let everyone out when they still haven’t caught the person who made the threat.”
“They took us in at Nick’s request. He was in Iran and freaking out about something happening to us while he was there.”
“So he sort of overreacted?”
“I think it was more that he made the best call he could under the circumstances, but if he’d been here, he might not have gone so far.”
“That makes sense. I mean, if he has that option at his disposal, why not use it if he feels the threat warrants it?”
“As long as he doesn’t make a habit out of it. I almost lost my mind being stuck down there completely sealed off from the rest of the world.”
“I’m glad I didn’t have to be there with you.”
“Love you too.”
He laughed. “Well, seriously...”
“It’s nice to hear you laugh and joke again. I’ve missed that.”
After a long pause, he said, “I feel guilty all the time because I’m here and he isn’t.”
“He wouldn’t want that.”
“Still...”
“I know.”
“I want to do something so people don’t forget him. Raise money or start a foundation or a road race or...something. I can’t bear the idea of people going on with their lives like he was never here.”
“I like that idea. I like it a lot. Why don’t we sit down with his folks and put together some ideas of what we can do.”
“We?”
“Unless you’d rather I wasn’t involved, which I can certainly understand with all the BS in my life lately.”
“Of course I’d want you involved, but I wasn’t sure you could fit one more thing into your ridiculous schedule.”
“I can fit that in. Name the time and place, and I’ll be there. Nick would probably say the same thing.”
“It would mean a lot to have the two of you involved.”
“I just want to say... And I don’t mean to get schmoopy or anything.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
“Just listen.” Sam took a moment to get her thoughts straight before continuing. “I admire the way you’ve handled yourself in the aftermath of A.J.’s death.”
He huffed out a sound that might’ve been a laugh if they’d been talking about anything else. “I feel like I’ve been a total train wreck in all aspects of my life since that night.”
“You haven’t been. Not even kinda. You’ve held up admirably. Better than I would’ve if it’d happened to me.”
“I pray it never happens to you or anyone we care about. Wouldn’t wish it on my worst enemy. Hell, I wouldn’t wish it on Stahl or Ramsey.”
Mention of her worst enemies made Sam laugh. “Well, maybe on Stahl...”
“Yeah, I’ll give you that. Any word on the s
on of a bitch lately?”
“Nope. Last I heard, he’s rotting away in jail while he awaits trial. That’ll probably be early next year. I’m looking forward to testifying and putting him away for life.”
“What about the grand jury on Ramsey?”
“No word there, but he said it would take months. I’ll be glad when that’s resolved one way or the other.”
“There’s no way they’ll indict you after they hear what he said to you and put it in the context of what Stahl did.”
“I guess we’ll see. Fact is, I did punch him, he did fall backward down the stairs and broke his wrist and suffered a concussion. That’s not nothing, so they could possibly indict.”
“They never will. Forrester knew what he was doing handing the case over to the people to decide. They love you. They’ll never indict you. If anything, they might recommend an indictment of him for dragging out the emotional distress after you were nearly murdered by a colleague.”
“Wouldn’t that be something?”
“I wouldn’t worry about it. Nothing’s going to come of it.”
“I hope you’re right.”
He parallel-parked on Wisconsin Avenue, about a block from the Good Night store. “How you want to play this?” he asked as they walked the short distance.
“Let me take the lead,” Sam said. “Jump in if need be.”
“Got it.”
They walked into the store, and the oldest of the male salespeople that Sam had met the other day greeted them.
“Back again?” he asked.
Sam and Gonzo flashed their badges out of habit. “May we speak to Lucy, please?”
“Ah, sure. She’s in the back. Right this way.” He led them past the cubicles, where the other salespeople took great interest in them as they went by on the way to a break room where Lucy was flipping through a magazine while drinking coffee. She looked up at them, and in the instant before Lucy remembered to school her features, Sam saw fear.
Sam glanced at the man who’d led them back. “Thanks.”
He’d obviously planned to stay, but Sam stared him down until he left the room, closing the door behind him.
“Did you find the person who killed Peter?” Lucy asked.
“Not yet, but we did learn that he was more to you than you let on the last time we were here.”
Lucy’s cheeks flushed with color. “Oh. Um...”
Sam took one of the other chairs, turned it around and straddled it so she was facing Lucy at her level. “You know what I can’t stand?”
“Wh-what?”
“People who waste my time. That really irritates the living hell out of me, and you know what happens when I get irritated?”
Lucy’s chin quivered as she shook her head.
“Tell her, Gonzo.”
“She gets mean.”
Sam held back a laugh. She’d been going for angry or ornery, but mean had the desired effect. Tears spilled from Lucy’s big blue eyes.
“I... I’m so sorry. I never meant to waste your time. They have rules here—strict rules. We weren’t allowed to date. I didn’t want to lose my job by telling you we’d been seeing each other outside of work.”
“I understand that you couldn’t tell me that while I was here,” Sam said. “But I left my card. You could’ve called me after.”
“I was afraid it would get out and I’d be fired. I need this job.”
“Fair enough. So, clean slate as of this minute. I won’t hold you wasting my time against you, but only if you level with me now.”
“Will you have to tell them I was dating him?”
“I’ll do my best to keep that quiet, but if you have information material to the investigation, I can’t promise they’ll never find out.”
“I... I...”
Sam slapped her hand down on the table, making Lucy jump a foot. “The man you were dating was tortured, Lucy. Do you know what they did to him?”
Shaking her head, she began to actively sob. “Don’t tell me. Please don’t tell me.”
Sam waited her out, gave her a chance to pull herself together.
“What do you know, Lucy?”
“He...he was a good man.”
That was debatable, but Sam wasn’t about to say that when Lucy was finally talking.
“He tried to do the right thing, but he had these friends who were a bad influence on him. I kept trying to tell him they were no good, but he said I didn’t really know them.”
“Were these friends capable of torturing him to death?”
She hiccupped as another sob escaped from her tightly clenched jaw. “I don’t know. Maybe.”
Sam pushed her notebook across the table. “Write down their names.”
“If I do that, they’ll know I told you, and they’ll come after me.”
“We’ll put you into protective custody.”
“I’ll lose my job!”
“Which is worse? Losing your job or your life?”
Lucy sobbed pathetically for a few more minutes.
Sam waited her out.
Finally, Lucy seemed to realize her options were limited and their protection was her best hope of staying alive. She wiped her face on her sleeve and reached for the notebook. After she finished writing and pushed it across the table, Sam tore off the page and handed it to Gonzo. He took it and left the room.
“I want you to tell me everything, from the first second you met him until the last time you saw him. Leave nothing out.”
“Everything?”
“Everything.” When she hesitated, Sam said, “Shall we do this downtown?”
“N-no.” Lucy glanced at Sam tentatively. “You want to know all this because you’re his ex-wife, right?”
“Hardly. I couldn’t care less who he dated or who he fucked or anything else he did. I want to know who murdered him.”
“He hated you.”
Sam laughed. “Is that what he told you?”
She nodded.
“He hated me so much that he followed me around for years after we split. He hated me so much that when I started seeing someone else, he tried to blow up both our cars. He hated me so much that the night before my wedding he attacked me outside my home, pulling a gun on me, all so he could tell me our relationship would never be over. That’s the guy you were tied up with, so in reality, you may have dodged a bullet.”
Lucy swallowed convulsively. “He couldn’t have done those things. If he had, he would’ve been in prison.”
“He got off on a technicality. Our bad. But he did do it. His prints were all over the bombs.” Sam gave her a moment to absorb that info. “Start from the beginning.”
“We...we met here. He started about three months after me, and they asked me to train him. I liked him right away. He was funny and sweet. After the first week, he said he owed me dinner to thank me for showing him the ropes. I reminded him that associates aren’t allowed to date. He said it wasn’t a date, and I felt stupid, like I’d read him wrong or something. Then he winked to tell me I hadn’t been wrong. He had been asking me out. I knew I shouldn’t go, but I liked him. I liked him more than I’d liked any guy in a long time.”
Sam’s gut churned with bitter memories of that guy, the smooth-talking charmer who’d pretended to be her friend while he kept the love of her life from getting in touch with her.
“We went to dinner that night and started hanging out after work a lot. It was pretty casual at first, but after a couple of weeks I could tell he wanted more. By then I was having pretty strong feelings for him, and it was getting harder to hide that at work. I was hesitant, but he was very persuasive.”
Sure he was, Sam thought. He wanted to get laid.
“We...we had sex for the first time about th
ree weeks after he started here, and after that we spent most nights together, except when he was out with his friends. They had poker and games they went to.”
Sam took notes as Lucy told the story. “Where did you spend the night? His place or yours?”
“Usually his. I have a roommate and he didn’t. We had more privacy at his place.”
“When was the last time you saw him?”
“We went out for dinner last Tuesday night after work, and he said he had some friends in town last week and weekend and would be tied up until Sunday night. He was going to call me Sunday, but I never heard from him. Then he didn’t show up to work on Monday, and I started to worry. I kept calling him, but he didn’t answer.”
“Did you go over there to check on him?”
“I was going to after work, but then we heard he’d been found dead.”
“How did you hear that?”
“One of the other guys we work with called to tell us.”
“Which guy?”
“Phil Kent. He works nights.”
“Did he say how he heard about it?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t talk to him. Kenny did. He’s the guy who brought you back here.”
Sam made a note. “I’d like to see your phone and the texts you exchanged with Peter the last few days before he died.”
“That’s private.”
“I can get a warrant if you’d like.”
Lucy bit her lip as she thought it over. Then she took her phone out of her pocket and tapped on the screen before handing it over to Sam, who scrolled through the messages she’d exchanged with Peter, most of them logistics about where they were meeting for dinner. Wednesday morning he’d texted to thank Lucy for a great night.
I’m still thinking about that thing you did with your tongue, he’d written.
Lucy had responded with a winking emoji, and that was the last contact she’d had with him by text.
Sam pushed the phone back across the table. “You’re going to want to shut that down so no one can track you while you’re in protective custody.”
“Is that really necessary?”
“You tell me. You’re the one who said you were afraid of the guys Peter hung out with. Do you feel the need to be protected if you’re the one who sends the cops to them?”