by Marie Force
“Right.”
“I want to know where they were those other two nights too.” Sam consulted her watch. Almost seven o’clock. “Let’s turn the canvas over to second shift and pick this up in the morning. We’ll meet at HQ at seven and bring everyone up to speed on what we have so far. I’ll talk to Malone about putting out an alert to immigrant women in the city, just in case this isn’t related to where they worked.”
“You don’t think it’s unrelated, though, do you?”
Sam rested her hands on her hips. “I’m leaning toward related, but I’ve learned not to make assumptions until I know more.”
“We’ll hit it hard in the morning,” Freddie said.
“You bet we will.”
She handed him the slip of paper with Maria’s family contact information. “Until then, I need you to make a phone call.”
Freddie glanced at the paper. “Ugh. Do I have to?”
“Someone does, and just in case they don’t speak English, you get the short straw. While you’re at it, give JoAnn Smithson a call too. Let her know about Maria.”
“Oh gee, lucky me.” He snatched the paper from her. “I hate making these calls.”
“Don’t we all, Detective? Don’t we all?”
Sam spent an hour at HQ updating the murder board and making notes about what she knew about the two victims, which wasn’t much. Regina was thirty, Maria twenty-eight. Both had been in the country for about two years. Both had applied for permanent citizenship. Sam knew Regina’s application had been denied, but Maria’s status was unclear. She wondered if Senator Lightfeather would know and decided to pay him a visit on the way home.
After consulting with Captain Malone, she issued an alert to the media to warn young immigrant women living in the city to be vigilant in and around their places of residence. She didn’t mention the similarities between the two murders, lest she set off hysteria in the city. Hopefully, they could apprehend the perpetrator before that became necessary.
On her way to the Washington Hilton on Connecticut Avenue, she received a call from Darren Tabor.
“No comment,” she said as she activated the speaker on her phone.
“I haven’t asked the question yet.”
“Just because Nick and I gave you one exclusive doesn’t mean you can randomly call me any time you want.” Sam had reluctantly agreed to sit for a joint interview with Nick after their engagement. They’d granted the interview to Tabor because he’d given them a heads-up that the Reporter tabloid planned to run a story about Sam’s long-ago near-abortion and figured they owed him one. Now they were even—at least as far as Sam was concerned.
“I made you look really good in that article,” Tabor said.
Sam snorted. “I don’t need your help to look really good.”
Laughing, Tabor said, “You might want to work on your self-esteem, Lieutenant. I hate to see you so down on yourself.”
Sam choked back a chuckle. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction.
“Just saw your alert to immigrant women,” Tabor said. “What else can you tell me?”
“Nothing yet.”
“Do you have a second victim?”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“You must if you saw fit to issue the alert.”
“Don’t you dare report that, Darren. I’m not confirming anything.”
“That’s okay. I can check the logs. They’ll tell me what you’re not.”
“I’ll leave you to make your own conclusions.”
“What’s Lightfeather’s status?”
“I told you all earlier—he’s been cleared on any involvement in the murder of Regina Argueta de Castro.”
“You can’t do your favorite reporter a favor and confirm they were involved?”
“Give it a rest, Darren. I’m outta here.” She shut off the phone and pulled up to the Washington Hilton a few minutes later. Flashing her badge to the bellhop who met her, Sam said, “I’ll be just a few minutes.”
“The person you no doubt wish to see is on the seventh floor.”
“Thank you.” Now why couldn’t everyone be that cooperative toward the police?
Sam took the elevator to the seventh floor and made her way to the room at the end of the hallway where two of her colleagues stood watch outside the door. “How goes it?” she asked them.
“Pretty quiet, Lieutenant.”
“Is the wife here yet?”
“Arrived about thirty minutes ago.”
“Any fireworks?”
The two young men smirked.
“That’s one way to describe it. She is not happy with him.”
“With good reason,” Sam said as she knocked on the door.
Annette Lightfeather opened the door and blanched at the sight of Sam’s badge. “Yes?”
“Mrs. Lightfeather, I’m Detective Lieutenant Sam Holland. I’d like to speak to your husband, please.”
“I understood that he’d been cleared of any involvement in the…the—”
“Murder of Regina Argueta de Castro.”
The attractive woman swallowed hard. “Yes.” Her eyes were red and raw, as if she’d cried her way across the country. Sam couldn’t blame her. In her place, Sam would probably never stop crying.
“I have some follow-up questions I’d like to ask him.”
Annette gestured for her to come in.
Henry sat on the sofa, head in his hands.
“Senator,” Sam said.
His head shot up, and his eyes widened when he saw her there. “Lieutenant. Have you found the person who killed Regina?”
Annette’s lips tightened into an expression of supreme dismay. Her attractive face was totally transformed by rage.
“I’m afraid not,” Sam said. “In fact, there’s been a second murder. Were you acquainted with Regina’s friend Maria Espanosa?”
Henry gasped and his mouth fell open in apparent shock. “Not Maria too!”
“Were you also sleeping with her?” Annette’s voice was one note shy of a shriek.
“Of course not,” Henry said haltingly. “She was a close friend of Regina’s.”
“What was Maria’s immigration status?”
He glanced at his wife and then at Sam. “Like Regina, she’d applied for permanent residency but had been denied.”
“Did you intervene on her behalf as well?” Sam asked.
As Annette watched the proceedings, her expression shifted from dismay to disbelief. “You went to INS for her?” she asked.
“I made some phone calls,” Henry said. “That’s all it was. Phone calls.”
“For your lover,” Annette spat back at him. “Did she make you feel like the big powerful man?”
“Mrs. Lightfeather.” Sam wished the floor would open up and swallow her. She’d rather be anywhere else on earth than in the midst of their marital meltdown. “I understand you’re upset—”
“Upset? You think I’m upset? While I’m at home raising our five children, he’s here banging the cleaning lady in his office? I’m not upset, Lieutenant. I’m livid.”
“Annette—”
“Shut up, Henry. Just shut up.” She stormed from the suite’s living room and slammed the bedroom door.
Sam let an uncomfortable minute pass before she ventured a glance at Henry. The guy looked awful. Under most circumstances, Sam had sympathy for someone who’d lost a loved one in a violent manner. In this case, however, she was having trouble working up the usual level of sympathy.
“I, um, I know this is a difficult time for you, Senator, but I wondered if you might be willing to answer a few more questions.”
Sighing, he gestured for her to go ahead.
Sam sat in a high-backed chair facing him. “How well did you know Maria?”
“I’d met her a few times. When Regina and I took a break from our relationship, Maria cleaned my office. I just don’t understand why anyone would want to hurt them. They were hard-working women who only wanted to better thems
elves and their families. What could anyone have against them?”
“I don’t know yet, but we’re going to find out. What was Maria’s immigration status?”
“It was similar to Regina’s. She’d been denied permanent residency, and we’d appealed it.”
“Did Regina ask you to do that?”
He nodded. “Once again, I had to be careful not to get too involved because neither of them was my constituent. However, I did make a few calls to see if there was anything that could be done. Last I heard, both applications were under review. We were hopeful for a positive outcome.”
“I know you told your wife you weren’t involved with Maria.” She cleared her throat. “Too. Is that the truth?”
Henry gaped at her. “Yes! I swear to God, it was only Regina.”
“Have you assisted any of Regina’s other friends with their immigration status?”
He shook his head. “Just Maria.”
“Did Maria have any friends, boyfriends, anyone in the city she was close to that you know of?”
“I think it was just Regina. They relied on each other, kept to themselves for the most part.”
Having gotten what she came for, Sam stood. “I appreciate the additional information. I have to remind you to stay put until we close the case.”
“The media’s caught wind of the affair. Believe me, I’m not going anywhere.” He walked Sam to the door. “I know what you must think of me, Lieutenant.”
Sam turned to him. “What I think of you has no bearing on the fact that I’m going to do my job and get justice for two women who were killed in my city.”
“I’m not a bad person. I just made a bad mistake.”
“So you’ve decided that falling in love with Regina was a mistake?” For some reason, Sam took perverse pleasure in picking at the scab. “That’s not what you said last night.”
He glanced over his shoulder, as if to gauge whether his wife might be able to hear him. “I loved her,” he said in a hoarse whisper. “And I don’t regret that. I do regret the pain my mistake in judgment is causing my wife and family. I deeply regret that.”
“I’m sure you do,” Sam said. “I’ll be in touch.”
Chapter 10
Sam arrived at home just as Nick’s driver was dropping him off. From inside her car, she watched him emerge from the Town Car, still wearing the tuxedo from the fundraiser. He leaned into the car to say something to the driver, and as he closed the door, he glanced over to find her watching him. A smile lit up his face.
Sam got out of her car and met him on the sidewalk.
He was carrying his overcoat, a garment bag and briefcase but still managed to slide an arm around her and kiss her forehead.
Sam leaned into his embrace, breathing in the clean fresh scent of home.
“Long day, huh?” he asked.
“For both of us.”
He guided her into the house and hung their coats in the closet. Tugging off the bow tie and releasing the top button on his shirt, he went into the kitchen. “How about a glass of wine?”
Sam sat on the sofa and put her feet up on the coffee table. “Yes, please.”
“Coming right up.” He returned a few minutes later with two glasses of pinot grigio and put them on the table. “First things first.” Sitting next to her, he reached for her and kissed her gently. “There,” he said against her lips. “That’s what I’ve been needing for hours now.”
Sam ran her fingers over the stubble on his jaw and urged him into another kiss. He stretched out on top of her as one kiss became two and then three. Sam’s fingers were buried in his soft hair as his lips moved from her mouth to her face and then her neck.
“I missed you today,” he whispered, sending sensation darting through her.
She raised her hips and pressed against his erection, drawing a gasp from him. “So I can tell.”
“I didn’t plan to jump you the minute we walked in the door.”
“You didn’t. You were just saying hello.”
That smile of his was so potent. She wondered if he had any idea what it did to her.
“Exactly,” he said. “Now how about that wine?” He helped her sit up and handed a glass to her.
Sam curled her legs under her and watched the play of muscles in his chest and arms as he removed the tuxedo jacket and reached for his own glass. “How’d the fundraiser go?”
“One-point-five million. Judson seemed happy,” he said, referring to the chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party.
“Whoa. That’s amazing!”
“You should’ve seen the people who turned out for the rally at VCU. They had to move it outside to Monroe Park. Even though it was freezing, we still filled the place up.”
“You’re on fire, Senator. I’m so proud.”
He shrugged off the compliment. “How’s the case?”
“Doubly complicated. We’ve got a second vic. Same M.O. Worked with Regina.”
“Who was it?”
“Maria Espanosa.”
“Oh, no! Not Maria.” He sagged into the sofa. “She’s so sweet. She cleans our office.”
Sam winced at his reaction. “Did you know her well?”
“Just to say hello to. She was very quiet, kept to herself, but she did a great job. How anyone could harm her…it’s just hard to believe.”
And even though she was hardly a friend, it was another loss on top of so many others he’d sustained recently. Sam caressed his face. “I’m sorry to just drop it on you that way. I wasn’t thinking that you might know her.”
“It’s really sad.”
“Talk to me about anchor babies.”
Startled, he said, “What about them?”
“Regina was pregnant.”
His eyes went wide. “Was it Henry’s?”
“He says it was.”
“Damn. What a mess.”
“Freddie introduced the anchor baby concept to me earlier. I hadn’t heard about it before.”
“It’s a major issue. The numbers have exploded in the last few years. Lots of immigrant women have resorted to getting pregnant to stay in the country. Babies born on U.S. soil are automatically citizens and ‘anchor’ their mothers to the U.S.”
“I see.”
“The law can’t be changed without amending the Constitution. There was some talk about closing that loophole in the 14th Amendment when we were pushing O’Connor-Martin through, but nothing came of it.”
“So Regina’s baby would’ve kept her in the country?”
“Most likely. The INS isn’t out to separate babies from their mothers. The country has no appetite for that kind of enforcement.”
“I’ll bet she got pregnant on purpose. She told Henry she was on the pill, and he said he saw them in her purse, but I wonder if she was taking them.”
“So you think he was duped?”
“Hard to say. The emotion could’ve been real, but no doubt she got exactly what she wanted from him on that sofa.”
“Jeez. What was he thinking?”
“Not much I suppose.” She took a closer look at him and saw the fatigue and weariness he worked so hard to hide from her. “You need some sleep, Senator.”
“Are we going to talk about it?”
“About what?”
He raised an eyebrow.
“Oh. Peter.” For a while there, she’d almost forgotten about it. Almost. Sam wanted to reassure Nick. She wanted to tell him they had nothing to worry about. That’s what she would’ve done a few weeks ago. But she’d been working on not keeping things from him, and that included her own worries.
“Talk to me, Sam. You have to be spun up about it.”
“I’m trying not to think about it until I have to.”
“How does he even have a case for dismissal? He tried to kill you.”
“No one’s questioning that. They’re questioning the evidence gathering.” Sam fiddled with her fingers. “If this comes to pass, it’ll kill Cruz, Gonzo and Arnold. If
they jumped the gun, it was only because he came at me.”
He reached for her hand and laced his fingers through hers. “I don’t want you to worry. If it happens, we’ll deal with it together.”
“And that makes it bearable.” She leaned her head on his shoulder. “It does kind of freak me out to think of him on the streets again. Stalking me—and you.”
“He won’t get anywhere near you.” A shudder rippled through his big frame. “God, just the thought of him on the loose makes me crazy. I’ll do everything I can to make sure it doesn’t happen.”
“I said it before, but please don’t do anything foolish on my behalf.”
“Who else would I do foolish things for?”
“Don’t make jokes.”
“I’m not joking, Sam. I know you can more than take care of yourself, but you can’t expect me to sit idly by and let that maniac come after you again.”
Just the thought of it made Sam sick. “Let’s talk about something else—anything else.”
After taking a sip of his wine, he put the glass on the table and turned to her. “I met a really neat kid today.” He told her about Scotty and the instant bond he’d felt with him.
“Why does talking about him make you look so sad?”
“Does it?” he asked, seeming surprised.
She nodded.
Nick hesitated for a moment. “Meeting him brought back a lot of memories.” He combed his fingers through the long hair he released from the clip she wore to work. “Not all of them good.”
His difficult childhood was something he didn’t often speak of.
Sam put down her wineglass and reached for him, cradling his head against her chest.
“Would you mind too terribly if I became friends with a twelve-year-old? I know our lives are so chaotic, and there’s so much going on, but now that I’ve met him, there’s no way I can just forget about him.”
“Of course I wouldn’t mind. He sounds like a terrific kid.”
“He really is. I want you to meet him.”
“I’d like that.” She smoothed her hand over his hair and kissed his forehead. “What do you say we get some sleep?”
“Mmm.”
“Upstairs.”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Nick…”