Nick went downstairs and headed for the West Wing in a rage of disbelief directed at both his wife and his mother. How could Sam have done something like that and not even told him about it? What the hell was she thinking sending the FBI after his mother? Talk about crossing the lines of personal and professional with Avery Hill.
Nick’s feelings for the woman who’d given birth to him were complicated, especially since she’d done nothing but cause him grief his entire life. Naturally, Sam felt protective of him and wanted her gone, but this…
Motherfucker.
He couldn’t begin to wrap his head around the potential disaster this would bring down on his fledgling administration.
Since Terry had Secret Service protection as his chief of staff, and they got him where he needed to be quickly, he arrived in the Oval Office fifteen minutes after Nick called.
“What’s up?”
Sitting behind the Resolute desk, Nick put his feet up. “You aren’t going to believe it.”
“Try me.”
“A while back, Sam asked Avery to take an ‘informal’ look at what my mother might be up to.”
“And…”
“How do you think operating a high-end escort service for the senior set in Ohio will be received?”
“Are you kidding me?” Terry asked in disbelief as he sat in a chair next to the desk.
“I so wish I was.”
“Holy. Fuck.”
Nick could see that, like him, Terry was struggling to process the news and the impact it would have on everything they’d been working so hard to accomplish.
“I don’t even know what to say,” Terry finally said.
“Me either.”
“Is there any chance Avery would back off the investigation?”
“Doubtful. The FBI isn’t known for turning a blind eye to crime.”
“Perhaps if the request came from the president himself?”
“I’m not doing that, Terry. That could cause an even bigger scandal if it got out. If she’s arrested, I suppose I can simply say once again that I have no relationship and have never had any relationship with her, and I fully support any prosecution the FBI and U.S. Attorney choose to pursue.”
“That could work,” Terry said. “It immediately separates you from her—and it’s also consistent with past statements you’ve made about your nonrelationship with her.”
“But it’ll still be a fucking circus if the mother of the sitting president gets arrested for prostitution—and a circus my own wife brought down on me.”
“Were you the president when she asked Avery to take a look at your mother?”
“No, but still… Even me being VP would’ve made this big news.”
“I’m sure Sam’s only goal was to remove her from your life.”
“It was, but I’m pissed that she did this without telling me.”
“Maybe that was because she was hoping it wouldn’t amount to anything.”
“Yeah, probably.”
“There’s no sense getting pissed at her, Mr. President.”
Nick scowled at him. “Call me Nick when it’s just us.”
“Nick… Don’t let this come between you and Sam. She was trying to help you get rid of your mother, which has long been your goal.”
“I suppose having her locked up in a federal prison accomplishes that goal.”
“We’ll set up a network interview, if it comes to that, for you to once again tell the story of how she’s barely been part of your life.”
“I really hope it doesn’t come to that.”
Sam was sick to her stomach and everywhere else as she left the White House to return to HQ. He’d never been so enraged with her. Even when she’d pushed him out of the way of a woman with a gun in Eastern Market the first week they were together, it hadn’t been like this.
He was furious—and with good reason.
Her phone rang with a call from Freddie. “Hey, how’s Elin?”
“She’s sleeping, but I heard about Gigi shooting Cam’s ex, and I’m wondering if they’re okay.”
“As far as I could tell, they’re shocked, but it was a clear-cut case of self-defense since Jaycee got into her home and threatened her with a knife, among other things.”
“What other things?”
“She sexually assaulted her.”
“Oh my God.”
“Yeah, but Gigi kept her wits about her and survived against a crazy woman with a knife.”
“Thank God she’s okay. I texted them but haven’t heard back. I hope they’re okay.”
“They will be. In time.”
“Why do you sound weird?” Freddie asked.
“It’s been one hell of a day.”
“How so besides that?”
“I just had a big fight with Nick.”
“Wait. What? You guys don’t fight.”
“Sometimes we do, but not like this. He’s furious with me.”
“How come?”
“A while ago,” Sam said, sighing, “I asked Avery to take an informal look at Nick’s mother on a hunch she was up to no good since she hadn’t tried to shake Nick down for money lately. They found she’s running a high-end escort service in Ohio.”
“No way.”
“Yes way. Just when Nick is making progress in getting people to talk about something other than his inexperience or his age or all the other reasons he shouldn’t be president, this will undercut everything.”
“You couldn’t have known that would happen when you asked, or that he’d end up being president.”
“No, but now he has a mess to clean up that I created, and he’s mad, Freddie. Really, really mad.”
“He’ll get over it. He loves you and knows you had only his best interest in mind when you asked Avery to get involved.”
“I hope you’re right about that.”
“Come on, Sam. This is you and Nick, the most stupidly in-love couple any of us has ever met.”
“Stupidly, huh?” she asked with a small smile.
“So stupidly. He might’ve been surprised and upset, but he’ll get over that. You know he will.”
“I guess we’ll see. In the meantime, I’m on my way back to HQ to talk to a drug kingpin that Narcotics has been after for years who may or may not factor into our case.”
“Do you need help? I can come in. Elin’s asleep for the night.”
“That’s okay. Captain Malone is back and will be there.”
“I’m glad he’s back. That’s a relief.”
“It is, but Faith said something today about the USA looking into the Ramsey shooting just to make sure all the bases are covered in light of the department’s history with Sergeant Ramsey.”
“Oh damn.”
“It won’t come to anything. Everyone who was there can attest that it was either him or the woman he was holding hostage. We chose to save her. It was a no-brainer.”
“What about Gigi shooting Jaycee? Will that be a no-brainer, too?”
“I really hope so.”
“Me, too. I’ll be back in the morning. Elin wants to go to work and get back to normal, so that’s what we’re doing.”
“I’ll see you then and remind her I’m here if she wants to talk.”
“She appreciated that offer earlier. I don’t think she’s ready to talk about it yet, even to me.”
“She’ll get there. It’ll take some time.”
“That’s what I hear. Thanks for the support. It helps.”
“Any time. I’m almost back to HQ. I’ll see you in the morning.”
“See you then—and don’t worry about this thing with Nick. You guys are as solid as it gets. He’ll get over it.”
“I sure hope so.”
“He will.”
“Thanks. See you.”
Sam closed her phone and tried to find her calm to get back into work mode after the upsetting encounter with Nick. But there was no calm to be had when things were unsettled with him. They were so rarely out of sync that it came as a shock to her entire system to realize he was seriously—and legitimately—furious with her.
She made a quick call to Avery.
“Hey,” he said. “What’s up?”
“Sorry to call so late.”
“It’s fine.”
“So, this thing with Nick’s mom. Any chance I can call you off the scent?”
“I’ve got field agents in Ohio who’ve dedicated hundreds of hours to what’s turning out to be a very big deal. Calling them off now would be almost impossible—and it would be a bigger stink than the indictment if it got out that you made this phone call in the first place.”
Sam’s heart sank at hearing that. “Nick wasn’t president when I asked you to investigate her, and now… The timing is horrible for him.”
“I’m sorry about that, Sam. I really am, but this train left the station quite some time ago, and there’s no getting it back.”
“I thought you might say that. What kind of charges is she looking at?”
“I’m not at liberty to discuss an active investigation—and it’s in your best interest to be able to say you had no idea of the particulars. I’m sure you understand.”
“I do.”
“I’m sorry if this will cause heartburn for you guys, especially right now, but you were right to point me in her direction. That’s all I can say.”
Sam felt sicker by the minute. “Understood. Have a good night, Avery.”
“You do the same.”
There was no chance she’d have a good night as long as Nick was upset with her.
“We can go to the main entrance at this hour,” Sam said to Vernon.
“Sounds good.”
They pulled up to the curb a few minutes later, and Vernon held the door for Sam.
“I’ll try to make this quick.”
“Take your time.”
As she made her way inside, her hip and her neck ached like a bitch.
She knocked on the door to Malone’s office. “Ready?”
“Yep. He’s in interview one.”
“Is Faith here?”
“Waiting in observation.”
As they made their way to the interview rooms, Faith came toward them.
“Stand down,” she said. “He took something. EMS is on the way, but he was foaming at the mouth and convulsing.”
“How in the hell did this happen?” Malone asked.
“I assume he had something with him just in case he needed it,” Faith said.
EMS arrived a short time later and declared Lawton dead.
Fucking hell. Just when they were getting somewhere.
Sam and Malone interviewed the Patrol officers who’d been assigned to guard Lawton after he entered the interview room.
Officers Keeney and Watts were familiar to Sam and had earned her respect in earlier investigations.
“We uncuffed him as we always do once they’re in the room,” Keeney said, “and a minute later, he was convulsing.”
“You did a thorough search on the way in?” Sam asked.
“We did,” Watts said, seeming rattled. “Pockets were emptied, his wallet and phone confiscated. All the usual stuff.”
“Let’s get a warrant to dump the phone,” Sam said.
“I’ll take care of that,” Malone said as the EMTs wheeled Lawton to the morgue. “First thing tomorrow, I need you to brief the media on what happened with Dominguez earlier and now this.”
“Okay. I need some time to figure out how losing Lawton impacts the case.”
“Yeah, that’s fine, I guess. Brief when you’re ready. Go ahead home. I’ll take care of updating Cooper and Farnsworth on what happened with Lawton.”
Sam didn’t need to be told twice. She hadn’t even removed her coat, so she headed for the main door and was in the warm back seat of the SUV in a matter of minutes. “Our guy took his own life. Let’s go home.” Frustration beat through her like a bass drum. Spencer had been dead nearly a week, and she was no closer to answers than she’d been when it first happened.
She called Gonzo.
“Hey,” he said, sounding sleepy.
“Lawton just offed himself in interview one—before we talked to him.”
“Whoa, really?”
“We’re back to square one with nothing more than we had a week ago.”
“I’ve got a few things that may come to fruition.”
“When?”
“Soon, I hope. It’s tough, Sam. These people operate in the shadows. Their whole goal is to steer clear of us, not to grab our attention.”
“I wanted to be able to tell Spencer’s family, when I see them at the wake, that we got the people who poisoned him.”
“We’ll get them, but it might not happen as quickly as we’d like it to.”
“We both know there’s a big chance we’ll never get them. This isn’t like other cases. We need criminals to help us, and how likely is that to happen?”
“Everyone is working their sources. Something will pop.”
“Any time now.”
“I know it’s hard to be patient when this strikes so close to home. It’s hard for me to be patient, and Angela is only my friend. I can’t imagine how you must feel.”
“I’m outraged that someone is selling fucking poison in my town to super vulnerable people. I want that person stopped.”
“We’re on it. Working it from every front. It might be time to involve Narcotics more seriously. They might have better intel than we do.”
“I guess. I’ll talk to Cooper in the morning and make it clear he isn’t taking over my investigation.”
“This might be time to not care who gets the credit. Whatever it takes.”
“Let’s reconvene in the AM and do what we always do when things stall out,” Sam said.
“Start over.”
“Yep. I’ll be here until two tomorrow. Let the others know that we’re starting at eight, and it isn’t mandatory, but OT is on the table if they want it.”
“Will do. Try to get some rest, Sam.”
She didn’t tell him there was no way that was happening unless she worked things out with Nick, and that didn’t seem likely. “You, too,” she said before closing the phone.
“May I make a suggestion?” Vernon asked.
“Always.”
“Bring DEA in on this one. They might be able to help.”
It went against everything she believed in to ask the Feds for help, but Vernon was right. Sometimes they could do things she couldn’t. “That’s a good idea, and I should’ve done it sooner.”
“No time like the present.”
“I need to remind people about the tip line, too,” Sam said. “Someone knows who’s selling laced pills. We just need one tip to blow the whole thing wide open.”
When she got home, LeRoy greeted her at the door.
“Can you tell me where the president is, LeRoy?”
“I believe he’s in the Oval, ma’am.”
“Thank you.” She turned to Vernon and Jimmy, who’d followed her inside. “Go home and get some sleep. I’m in for the night.” If she got called out overnight, she could request another detail.
“Yes, ma’am,” Vernon said. “We’ll be back to take you to work in the morning.”
“See you then.”