With Sam hopped up on ibuprofen and sporting ice packs on her hip and elbow, they spent a relaxing night with the kids, watching Christmas Vacation for the umpteenth time and laughing as if it was the first time they’d ever seen it. From the third-floor conservatory, they could see the snow blanketing the District.
She received several texts from Dani with updates about the investigation that she would deal with in the morning.
After the movie ended, Nick and Eli carried sleepy twins to bed while Sam and Scotty followed them via the elevator.
When Scotty extended his arm to her, Sam’s heart melted. “Hang on to me. We don’t want to make it worse than it already is.”
She hooked her arm through his. “Thanks, pal.”
Skippy pushed past them and nearly took Sam and Scotty with her.
“Good thing you were holding on to me,” Scotty said. “She’s a maniac. I can’t do a thing with her.”
“We need to get her some training.”
“Probably, but I’d hate to break her spirit.”
“We don’t want to break her spirit, but we do want her to behave.”
“I like that she’s the wildest puppy in town.”
“You would like that.”
“She keeps things interesting around here.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Do you care if I work a little this week when I’m supposed to be on vacation?”
“Why would I care?” he asked.
“Because I’m supposed to be hanging out with you.”
“I’m fourteen, Mom. It’s okay if you’re not with me all the time. I have a life of my own now.”
Sam wanted to scream with laughter, but he was dead serious, so she bit her lip.
“Plus, since it’s snowing, we’ll have plenty to do outside. There are snowmen to be made, snowball fights to be had, and Eli said he’s going to build us a snow fort. You hate being cold, so it’s better for all of us if you go to work. If you can walk tomorrow, that is.”
“That last part was unnecessary.”
“Was it, though?”
Sam laughed. “You’re just like your father.”
“You really think so?” he asked, looking up at her with big eyes.
“Oh, hell yes.”
“That’s really cool. I can’t think of anyone I’d rather be like than him. Or you, too, of course.”
“Please, God, don’t let you grow up to be like me.”
“That wouldn’t be so bad. We had a career day thing at school last week. Some guy from the FBI came in, and his presentation was sick. I’m not ruling out a career in law enforcement.”
“I’d rather you go into politics. It’s safer.”
“Eh, not really.”
“Yes, it is, and I need to believe that, so don’t argue with me.”
“Whatever you say, boss lady.” They got off the elevator, and he walked her down the hallway, stopping outside the door to her and Nick’s bedroom. “How about I tuck you in for a change tonight?”
“That’s the best offer I’ve had all day.”
“Somehow I doubt that, but we’re not talking about that.”
He was endlessly amusing, delightful, insightful, sweet and loving. She couldn’t imagine that any mother loved her son more than she loved this boy. After she painfully used the bathroom and brushed her teeth, Scotty helped her into bed and pulled the covers over her.
“You’re a mess.”
“Thank you. I know. Let me tell you what—I don’t care how old you are, falling sucks.”
“I’ll take your word for it. I haven’t done much falling.”
“Not yet, but you will when you get old and stupid like I am.”
He leaned over to kiss her cheek. “Sleep tight and don’t let the bedbugs bite.”
“Best tuck-in I ever got.”
“Lights out in ten minutes,” he said sternly, making her laugh again.
“Hey, Scotty?”
“Yeah?”
“I just want you to know… The day you showed up was one of the very best days of my entire life, and every day since then has been even better.”
“Thanks, Mom. Right back atcha.”
Nick came into the room and stopped short at the sight of Sam already in bed.
“I tucked her in,” Scotty said, “but no funny business tonight, Mr. President. She’s injured.”
“Yes, sir,” Nick said, his lips quivering from the effort it took not to laugh.
“And with that, I’m out.”
“Love you, buddy,” Nick said.
“Love you, too.”
“That boy…” Sam smiled. “He’s amazing. He insisted on tucking me in for a change, and he told me he doesn’t mind if I work a bit this week because, and I quote, ‘I’m fourteen and have a life of my own now.’”
“Stop it. He did not say that.”
“Yes, he did!”
“I love it.”
“And he said that while he hasn’t ruled out a career in politics, there was a sick presentation from the FBI at career day, and he’s thinking he could see himself as a federal agent. I told him politics is safer, but he said not always. I shut that right down, because I need to believe it’s way safer.”
“He’s growing up fast and will be making those decisions sooner rather than later.”
“I’m not ready for him to grow up.”
“Ready or not…” Nick ducked into the bathroom and returned five minutes later, wearing only a pair of flannel pajama pants. He got into bed and curled up to her, moving carefully so he wouldn’t cause her any pain.
“Did you set an alarm?” Sam asked.
“Yeah, for seven. I have a security briefing at eight.”
“No rest for the weary, huh?”
“More like no vacation from the horrors that go on in this world.”
“Right? We both see and hear the worst of the worst.”
“Someone’s gotta do it.”
“I guess,” she said.
“You know, someday it won’t be us doing it.”
“What do you mean?”
“Stop,” he said, laughing. “You won’t be working the streets at ninety.”
“Who says?”
“I say. We’re going to turn it over to other people one day, and we’ll get to do anything we want.”
“What’ll we do?”
“I have no idea.”
“Do you really want to be stuck with me full time without the job to keep me sane?”
“Um, well… Not really.”
“Great. Glad we had this conversation. You can do your retired thing, and I’ll keep you in the style to which you’ve become accustomed.”
“With butlers and ushers and chefs and florists?”
“On a cop’s salary?”
“Well, maybe not quite that level, but I can live happily with much less as long as I have you.”
“You know that our lives are never going to be normal, right?” she asked.
“Shut your mouth.”
“Nick… Tell me you know that after this, there’ll be presidential libraries and speaking tours and memoirs and endless obligations.”
“We’ll make it work.”
“Where have I heard that before? Was it when you promised you were going to do one year in the Senate and then we’d get back to normal?”
“Am I ever going to hear the end of that?”
“Not ever.”
“Good to know.”
“You hoodwinked me, and now I’m living in the freaking White House and trying to pretend that’s normal. People at my job are whistling the tune to ‘My Humps,’ and if you laugh, I’m getting out the rusty steak knife.”
His lips quivered, but lucky for him, he held back the laugh. “It’s perfectly normal.”
“You need to be very, very thankful that I love you so much, mister.”
Nick pushed himself up on an elbow. “I’m thankful every minute of every day that you love me so much.” He punctuated that with a soft, sweet kiss. “You’re the best thing to ever happen to me.”
“Likewise, even if you’re a lying hoodwinker.”
Smiling, he kissed her again. “And you love me.”
“God help me, but yes, I do.”
Sam dreamed about Audrey and other victims who’d crossed her path. She dreamed of Stahl, Ramsey and Conklin. Good people, evil people, coexisting in the same community, and her in the middle of it, charged with bringing order to the chaos. Nick’s alarm ended the dream abruptly, startling her and reminding her of the painful injuries she’d sustained the day before.
Her sharp gasp had Nick sitting up. “Is it worse?”
It was much worse. How was that possible? “I, um, I’m not sure.”
“Wait for me.” He got out of bed and came around to help her sit up.
She wanted to scream from the pain.
“Babe, you need a doctor.”
“No. I don’t want to deal with it. I’ve got a body in the morgue that needs my attention.”
“If you have a broken hip, you’re not going to be much good to her.”
“It’s not broken. It’s just a bruise.” When she tried to straighten her injured arm, she immediately regretted that, too. Sam wanted to scream from frustration as much as the pain. She had too much to do to deal with this crap.
“Samantha, you need a doctor. Let me arrange to have you taken to GW. We can call ahead to your buddy Dr. Anderson.”
“I don’t want to.”
“Yes, I know.”
“Help me up.”
He took hold of her uninjured arm and helped her stand.
The second she put weight on her right leg, she nearly passed out from the pain radiating from her hip. But when she sat back down, it wasn’t any better. “Mother-effer.”
“Let me talk to Brant. We’ll get you to the hospital.”
“No ambulances or production.”
“Got it.”
While he took care of that, she placed a call to Carlucci.
“Morning,” Dani said. “I was just about to call to see if you’re going to make it in today.”
As a rule, cops didn’t get snow days. “I was planning to, but I fell on the ice yesterday and can’t seem to sit or stand, so my husband is making me get it checked.”
“Oh damn. That sucks.”
“Yes, it does. Where are we with Olsen?”
“Lindsey ran the DNA, and it matched the case Lucas brought us yesterday, but of course, the owner of the DNA isn’t in the system.”
“Because we never get that lucky.”
“Right? However, we have his DNA from another case that dates back almost two months. It’s like Lucas’s case, where the woman fought back hard and managed to get away, but not before he raped her.”
“So, we have a serial rapist on our hands who’s just escalated to murder.” Sam wanted to talk to his previous victims to get as much information as she could, which was what she’d be doing today if not for these goddamned injuries.
“With no way to know if that’s his first murder.”
“Right. Where was the older case from two months ago?”
“Dupont Circle.”
“Which is not far from the park. Talk to Malone about putting out a warning.”
“Will do. We also went through everything on Audrey’s phone, and nothing stood out except an exchange on Slack with a coworker who disagreed with her approach to a parent and told her so in no uncertain terms.”
“What’s Slack?”
“An internal messaging app that companies use for their employees to communicate.”
“Ah, okay. Was the coworker male or female?”
“Male.”
“I want to talk to him.”
“I figured you would, so I tracked down his info. The school is closed because of the holiday break. He’s probably home today.”
“How much snow did we get?”
“Fourteen inches.”
“Seriously? Everything must be closed.”
“It is, and the mayor is asking nonessential personnel to stay off the roads.”
Nick came back into the room. “All set. The Secret Service will take us to GW.”
“Hang on, Dani.” To Nick, she said, “You have your security briefing.”
“I put it off until eleven.”
“You don’t have to come.”
“Yes, I do, or you’ll have Vernon take you to HQ rather than GW.”
She scowled at him and then heard Carlucci cracking up. “You’d better not be laughing at what he said.”
“I heard nothing.”
“Why does everyone in my life lie to my face or my ear?”
“It’s how we manage you,” Nick said. “Now let’s get going.”
“I’ve got to go,” Sam said to Dani as she scowled at her husband. “Pass everything off to Gonzo and the others. Tell them I’ll be in as soon as I can.”
“Will do. Hope it’s nothing serious.”
“It had better not be.” Sam slapped her phone closed and let Nick help her into leggings, a sweater and boots. She was in a cold sweat from the pain by the time she was dressed.
Nick reached for her cell phone. “Give your friend Dr. Anderson a call and ask him to get us in with a minimum of fuss.”
Sam put through the call, even though it was the very last thing she wanted to do.
“How’s my favorite first lady today?” Anderson asked when he answered the call.
“It seems that I might’ve busted my ass.”
“What’s that?”
“I fell on the ice at work yesterday and can’t put any weight on my right leg today.”
“Oh shit. Can you get here?”
“That’s the plan. The Secret Service is bringing me because the ball and chain insists on coming.”
Nick sent her a filthy look as Anderson laughed.
He told her which entrance to use and to call when they were getting close.
“Thanks.”
“Anything for my favorite patient.”
“Now that’s just a damned lie.”
He was laughing when she ended the call.
“Everyone is a comedian,” she said to Nick. “I have to pee and brush my teeth.”
He helped her up and then put his arm around her to act like a crutch on her right side. “Ball and chain, huh?”
“If the chain fits...” Moving carefully, they made their way to the bathroom, where she discovered sitting on a toilet was no more pleasant than sitting on the bed. In fact, it was much less pleasant than the bed had been. By the time she finished, she had tears in her eyes. She reached back to flush. “I might need you to get me up.”
“Here I come.”
He helped her off the toilet like that was no big deal, but it was mortifying.
Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I’m so fucking pissed with myself about this. It’s bad enough when I get hurt on the job, but this was just so stupid.”
Nick kissed away her tears. “Accidents happen to the best of us, babe.”
“When do they happen to you?” she asked as he helped her to the sink to brush her teeth.
“I had that thing with the ribs playing hockey last winter, remember?”
“One time. It happens to me monthly. I’ve got too much shit to do to deal with this. We’ve got a serial rapist on the loose who just killed someone.” The whole thing was infuriating. “How am I supposed to get downstairs?”
“The ushers are bringing up a wheelchair.”
“You can’t let me be photographed in that chair.”
“I told them to clear the area.”
“My hero,” she said tearfully as she kissed him.
“Don’t worry about anything. Let’s just rule out a fracture, and then you can go about your business making everyone’s day.”
“That’s my specialty, especially when they’re murdering scumbags.”