by Marie Force
“No more than I can cure your messiness, my friend,” Harry said with a smile.
Sam flipped Harry the bird.
“Do you want to sit?” Harry asked, offering her his chair.
“No, I need to pace.”
“How’s Derek?” Nick asked.
“He was doing okay until we started talking about how they met and got together.”
“At the gym,” Nick and Harry said together.
“We were there,” Nick said, filling her in. “He was instantly attracted.”
“But it took him forever and lots of urging from us to work up the nerve to ask her out,” Harry added.
“I did some recon work for him and asked her if she’d consider going out with him,” Nick said.
“Remember how mad he was with you about that? He said something about how this wasn’t junior high, for crying out loud.”
Nick smiled at the memory. “He was only mad until I told him she’d been waiting for him to ask.”
“His parents desperately want to speak to him,” Harry said to Sam, holding up Derek’s phone as Agent Hill appeared in the doorway.
“Do you mind if I take the phone in to him and sit with him while he calls his folks?” Nick asked.
“Go ahead,” Sam said. “He’s no help to us in his current condition.”
Nick got up, pressed a kiss to Sam’s forehead and gave her a quick squeeze that he made sure Hill saw before he left the office to go to Derek. He didn’t like the way that agent looked at his wife. He didn’t like it one bit.
* * *
“I was going to call you tomorrow,” Harry said to Sam when they were alone.
Hill had wandered into the pit to make a call.
“What about?” Sam asked the handsome, dark-haired doctor with the adorable dimples. He’d become her good friend since she’d been with Nick.
“Close the door.”
Wondering why he was being so secretive, she did as he asked.
“I had a note pop up on my calendar on Friday that your three-month birth-control shot is wearing off this week. You’ll need to either renew it or be aware that you could conceive at any time.”
Sam had managed to keep the looming date in a far back corner of her mind as she enjoyed the first few months of marriage without having to contend with “the issue” that hung over her the rest of the time. It had been a brief but refreshing respite from “the question” of what to do now that she knew the plumbing actually worked.
Before she suffered her fourth miscarriage in February after an altercation with a murder suspect, she’d been under the impression that she could no longer conceive. That she was, in fact, able to get pregnant after all had been on her mind constantly since then.
“Sam?”
She forced herself to look at him, to answer. “Three months never went by so fast.”
“Time flies when you’re madly in love and newly married.” He glanced at the doorway and then at her. “I know this is hardly the time or the place, but if you want to talk, you know where I am.”
Sam nodded. “Thanks.”
Nick knocked on the office door a few minutes later.
“Come in,” Sam said.
“Derek’s off the phone.” He took a closer look at her. “What’s wrong?” he asked, glancing from her to Harry and then to her again.
“Nothing,” Sam said, making an effort to shake off the ache that Harry’s reminder had resurrected. As he’d said, this was neither the time nor the place.
Nick held out a hand to her.
She took it and let him lead her down the hallway toward the interrogation room. Since the area was mostly deserted that Sunday evening, she allowed him to get away with it.
“What's the matter?” he asked, his expression full of concern.
“We’ll talk about it later, okay?”
“If you’re okay, I’m okay,” he said, but she could tell he was annoyed by her evasion.
“Oh for Christ’s sake,” Hill said when he stepped into the hallway and caught sight of them standing close to each other holding hands. “If you’re quite finished snuggling with your husband, Lieutenant, do you mind if we get back to work?”
“Fuck off, Hill. The victim was a friend of ours.”
Hill immediately sobered. “My apologies. I’ll be in the room when you’re ready to continue.”
Sam leaned her forehead against Nick’s splendid chest. “I shouldn’t have said that. Now I’ll have to apologize, and I hate that.”
Nick chuckled softly and gave her a final squeeze. “You can do it.”
She raised her head to look at him. “How’d it go with Derek’s parents?”
“Terrible. They’re beside themselves, of course. He was able to keep them from coming here for the time being, but they need to do something. I told them we’d call when he’s done here. They’ll come and pick him up.”
“That’s good. He shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“Isn’t there something he could be doing to help find Maeve? It’s driving him crazy that he’s stuck here while she’s missing.”
“I can’t think of anything, but the minute I do, I’ll let him know.”
“Thanks, babe.”
“You could probably go home. We’ll be wrapping this up soon, and his parents will come for him.”
“I’ll wait for you. I also want to be here for Derek if he needs me.”
Sam patted his chest. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Take your time.”
Chief Farnsworth approached them, looking frazzled. Sam couldn’t think of a single other instance in which the chief had looked quite so undone.
“Sir? Are you all right?”
“I received a call from the president. Of the United States.”
“Oh.” Sam had met the president and first lady several times since she’d been with Nick. In fact, she’d gotten engaged in their rose garden. “What did he say?”
“He’s very upset about what’s happened to Victoria Kavanaugh and wanted to know what we’re doing to find her killer as well as the baby. He also assured me that Mr. Kavanaugh was with the White House staff at Camp David all weekend, in case we were wondering.”
“That closes the alibi loop,” Sam said.
“Doesn’t get much better than having the president vouch for you,” the chief said. “He wanted me to convey his deepest sympathy to Mr. Kavanaugh. Would you mind?”
“Sure, go ahead,” Sam said. To Nick, she said, “I’ll catch up to you.”
“I’ll be here.”
Chapter Four
They searched for Maeve Kavanaugh all night. Once the Amber Alert was issued, tips began pouring in. The Special Victims detectives investigated every one, but as the clock struck one the next morning, they had to admit they were no closer to finding the baby than they’d been hours earlier, and fatigue was making them all less than effective.
“I want you to go home, get a few hours of sleep and report back at zero six thirty,” Farnsworth said to Sam, Cruz, Hill, Ramsey and Harper. “Turn everything over to third shift for now. Release Mr. Kavanaugh with orders to stay local and ask him not to do anything to find his daughter unless he clears it with us first.”
Sam nodded in agreement.
“Thank you all for your good work today,” Farnsworth said as he dismissed them.
Sam returned to the interrogation room where Nick and Harry were keeping Derek company.
“Anything?” Derek asked, standing.
“I’m sorry, but no,” Sam said. “We’ve got tips coming in since the alert was issued, and we’re following up on all of them. It could take some time...”
Her news deflated Derek, and he dropped back into his chair. “Which is the one thing we don’t have.” He turned to Nick and Harry. “What if she’s dead too? What’ll I do then?”
“Don’t go there,” Harry said. “There’s no reason to believe she’s dead.”
“I’ve gone over it and over
it in my mind,” Derek said. “I can’t think of anyone who would have reason to hurt us like this. Vic didn’t have an enemy in the world, and I don’t either. My business is rough and tumble, but I’m not. You guys know that.”
“Sure we do.” Nick placed a comforting hand on Derek’s shoulder. “It might’ve been totally random. Someone who saw her somewhere... You don’t know.”
“In the morning, I’ve arranged for you to walk through the house with the crime scene detectives to see if anything valuable was taken,” Sam said. “A robbery would at least give us a motive.”
“Do you think this was a robbery gone bad?” Derek asked, seeming almost hopeful at the thought.
Sam weighed whether she should tell him the truth—that the walk-through was a formality—or what he wanted to hear. “I’m not leaning toward a robbery,” she said tentatively. “Victoria was badly beaten, and Maeve was taken. A robber would want to get in and get out with the goods. He wouldn’t beat her like that or take her child. This feels personal to me.”
Derek’s shoulders sagged at that news. “I can’t think of anyone who hated us this much. I don’t get it.”
“Sam and her team will get to the bottom of it,” Nick assured him.
“That won’t bring Vic back,” Derek said with a bitter edge to his voice. “Will it?”
His comment struck at the heart of what made her job so difficult. Sure, she could get justice for victims’ families, but she could never bring back the person they’d lost or undo the damage murder had done to their lives.
“You’re free to go for now, Derek,” Sam said. “We’d like you to remain local, however, and if you take any steps to locate Maeve, we ask that you clear them with us first.”
“Is my parents’ house in Herndon local enough?”
“That’s fine.” She pulled a pad from her back pocket and produced a pen. “Write down their address and your cell number for me.”
Derek wrote down the information and handed the pad back to her.
“I’ll need to speak with you in the morning after you do the walk-through of the house,” Agent Hill said to Derek. “We’ve got a lot of ground to cover on any possible tie-ins to your work.”
Resigned, Derek grimaced. “Fine.”
“I’ll give you a ride to your folks’ place,” Harry said. “Save them the trip at this hour.”
As Harry guided him from the room, Derek stopped in front of Sam. “Find my baby girl. Please find her.”
Sam squeezed his arm. “I’ll do my best and so will everyone in this department.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m here if you need me,” Nick said, hugging Derek. “Anything you need. Any time you need it.”
“Thanks,” Derek said, his voice catching. “You’ve all been great.”
“We’re so sorry about Vic,” Nick said.
Nodding, he left with Harry.
“Hill,” Sam said.
On his way out the door, the agent turned to her and raised an eyebrow in question.
“I apologize for what I said before and for being short with you. It’s been a really upsetting day.”
“No harm done, but I have to ask—should you be leading this investigation if she was a friend?”
“We weren’t close. Our husbands are friends. That’s how I knew her.”
“All right, then. See you in the morning.”
“See you then.” When they were alone, Sam said to Nick, “That was uncomfortable.”
“You handled it well.”
“Let’s go home for a few hours.” Before him, she would’ve worked all night on a case like this. Now, knowing Nick wouldn’t leave until she did, she put him ahead of the case. He had a busy week of work and campaigning before Scotty arrived and couldn’t afford a night without sleep. Putting him first was the single biggest change she’d made to what used to be a one-track life.
With his arm around her shoulders, they stepped out of the chill of HQ into oppressive heat and humidity. The second they were outside, a pack of reporters descended.
Sam fended them off by telling them there’d be a briefing at zero seven hundred but nothing before then.
Nick escorted her through the mob to his car and held the passenger door for her.
“Vultures,” she muttered as the reporters chased the car out of the parking lot.
“It’ll be a big story in light of Derek’s job,” Nick said.
“Yeah,” Sam said. The intense media interest would only make a complicated case more so.
All the way home, Sam replayed the last few hours, thinking over what she’d learned about Victoria, Derek, their routine, their lives. Nothing at all stood out as a thread that could be pulled to unravel the answers they needed to find a killer—and a kidnapper.
The thought of what that sweet baby might be forced to endure made Sam shudder with fear and revulsion. She knew all too well how inhumane people could be.
“What’s wrong, babe?” Nick asked, reaching for her hand as he drove them through deserted streets in the capital city.
She held on to his hand, comforted by his steady presence. “I’m thinking about Maeve. When stuff like this happens, it makes me almost thankful I’ve never been able to have kids of my own. I don’t know how Derek was able to function the way he did tonight. I’d be out of my freaking mind.”
“I’m sure he is. He’s very good about remaining calm and composed. I’ve never seen him rattled, let alone totally unglued like he was today.”
“The poor guy. It’s such an awful thing.”
“You really have no leads at all as to where Maeve might be?”
“Not yet, and with every hour that passes, it becomes less likely that we’ll find her alive.”
“God.”
When they got home, Nick turned off the alarm and headed for the kitchen. “I don’t know about you, but I’m starving.”
“I could eat something.”
Working together, they made turkey sandwiches. He poured himself a cola and an ice water for her.
“It’s not fair that you get to drink that when I’m stuck with water,” she said as she polished off the sandwich.
“I’m not the one who nearly blew a hole in my stomach mainlining diet cola for years.”
“It’s probably healed by now, so I could have an occasional one, right?”
“Once an addict, always an addict.”
“Sometimes you’re absolutely no fun,” she said as she put their plates in the dishwasher.
His arms encircled her from behind as his lips found the spot on her neck that turned her to putty every time. “Other times, I’m a lot of fun. You’ve said so yourself.”
Smiling, Sam turned and put her arms around him. Resting her head on his chest, she held on tight as he did the same. She breathed in his scent, the scent of home, thankful as always for everything he’d brought to her life. Knowing he was there to hang on to made even the most nightmarish days bearable.
They held each other for a long time before Nick kissed the top of her head, took her hand and led her upstairs.
“I need a shower,” Sam said.
“So do I.”
She eyed him suspiciously. “Is that right?”
“Yep,” he said with a smile that was the picture of innocence. When he pulled off his shirt, the ripple of washboard abs had Sam licking her lips.
“What’re you looking at?”
“One of my favorite things.”
He rolled his eyes, embarrassed as always when she made comments about his supreme hotness.
“How about showing me some of my favorite things?” He tugged at her shirt, helped her out of it and then removed her bra with expertise and finesse that boggled her mind. “There they are.”
“Nick...”
“Hmm?”
She followed him into the bathroom and shed the rest of her clothes while he adjusted the water. “Is it wrong that I feel so happy to be here with you, to be doing what we always do, wh
en our friends’ lives have been ripped apart?”
“It’s not wrong, babe. You’ve spent hours doing everything you could for Derek and the case. It’s okay now to take a few hours for you.” He ushered her ahead of him into the shower and got busy washing her back. “You’re no good to him or anyone if you’re running on fumes.”
“The whole time I was talking to Derek, all I kept thinking was what would I do if that ever happened to me, if I came home and found you...” She shuddered. It simply didn’t bear thinking about.
His lips were soft against the back of her shoulder. “That’s how I feel every time you walk out the door to go to work. I wonder, will this be the day I get the call that something has happened to you? And then I try to imagine how I’d ever live without you.”
Sam turned into his embrace, clinging to him in a way she didn’t usually, needing his reassurance more than normal. The loss of someone they knew, someone who’d been every bit as in love with her husband as Sam was with hers, made this case that much more personal.
“It’s an awful feeling,” she said.
“Yes, it is.”
“I’m sorry if I haven’t taken it seriously enough, that you have to live with worry the way you do.”
“I knew what I was signing on for.” He smiled down at her, seeming to study her face in great detail, before he placed one hand on her cheek and touched his lips to hers softly and reverently. “I’m thankful for every minute we get to spend together. Even when you’re driving me crazy, which is most of the time, they’re the best minutes I’ve ever spent with anyone.”
“I feel the same way, even when you’re driving me crazy with your anal-retentive freakazoidisms.”
Laughing, he maneuvered her against the wall of the shower and kissed her with more serious intent.
Sam looped her arms around his neck, pressed her breasts to his chest and hooked her leg around his. She ran her tongue back and forth over his bottom lip, drawing a gasp from him. “Make love to me, Nick.” As she said the words, Harry’s warning from earlier made her question whether she was still protected. But at that moment, all that mattered was being as close to Nick as possible.
With his hands on her bottom, he lifted her and brought her down on his erection, filling her the way only he could.