Chapter Twenty

Michael climbed down the fire escape outside Sam’s bedroom window, satisfied that he hadn’t had to break in and intervene. Fortunately, it had stopped sleeting, but the temperature now dipped into the teens. His hands and feet had gone to pins and needles. He trusted muscle memory to keep his numb grip on the slippery iron rungs as he descended.

He’d rushed over to Sam’s as soon as he’d gotten the signal that the door to her condo had opened. Either Jessie had been leaving, she’d let someone in, or someone uninvited had come to visit. He’d jumped out of bed, thrown on his clothes, and made it to the fire-escape landing within two minutes. Not a two-minute drill he wanted to repeat anytime soon.

He’d known that Jessie had her gun. It was a comfort and a worry to him as he’d stood outside the window listening to her and Talmont’s conversation through his Bluetooth. Her phone must have been next to the bed.

Michael dropped from the fire-escape ladder and onto frozen pavement. He jogged down the alley and out to Swann Street, up and around the corner to 19th. Talmont was leaving, and Michael wanted to make sure he left for good. The senator’s black Lexus was parked on the street. Stationing himself beyond the car, Michael moved into the shadows, to a position where he could see the giant paned-glass front door of Sam’s townhouse.

Within moments, Talmont came into view in the foyer, looking haggard beneath the light and glimmering crystals of the chandelier. Jessie followed him. He opened the door, then the wrought-iron gate, and gingerly took the two steps. He made his way carefully down the icy brick walk, took a right, and headed for his car.

Jessie closed the gate and stood in the open doorway while Talmont started the car and drove away. Her lavender nightgown revealed long, shapely legs—right up to the tops of her thighs. A darker purple robe hung open, drooping from her shoulders, her hands in its pockets. The ends of its untied sash dangled at her sides. No wonder Talmont had come on to her. She looked captivating in clothes, as Ian had said, but in a nightgown…

Michael wanted to get closer to her, and he wanted her to know she was safe. Thoughts of Croft and his contract weren’t enough to discourage him right now. He emerged from the shadows and moved to the end of the brick walk.

Jessie cocked her head.

“You all right?” he asked.

“Michael?”

He walked slowly toward her with his hands in sight. She had the gun and, by now, was probably good and ready to use it. He stopped before the two steps that led up to the door, leaving the scrolls and bars of the wrought-iron gate between them.

“No one warned me that Sam had visiting hours,” she said. “Do you have a key, too?”

Yes.

He did his best to look confused. “What do you mean?”

“I’m sleeping and…someone lets himself in, then you show up. It’s the middle of the night.” She combed her hand through her hair. Layers wisped around her face and fell across her shoulders.

Warmth surged through Michael’s body despite the cold. He stepped up to the gate. “Someone let himself in?”

She jutted her chin toward the space where Talmont’s car had been parked. “Yes,” she said with an edge in her voice. “The man who just left.”

“Who was he?”

She pressed her eyes closed and tipped her head back, her shadowed face catching the light from the chandelier above. After a moment, she leveled her gaze on him. “Look me in the eye and tell me you don’t know who he was.”

Michael shook his head. “I can’t see your eyes. And it’s freezing out here. Can I come in, at least into the foyer, and we can close the door?”

She bit her bottom lip and narrowed her eyes, then backed away from the gate. “All right.”

Michael stepped inside the foyer and closed the door. Jessie backed toward Sam’s condo looking cornered and suspicious.

“I saw Senator Talmont leave.” Michael pulled off his gloves and stuffed them in his coat pockets.

“And what are you doing here?”

“I’m working on something that involves him. Now it looks like it might involve you, too.”

She considered this, then slipped her hands out of her pockets and crossed her arms. Satiny fabric pressed against her breasts.

Michael risked a glance. “Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?”

She almost smiled. “You think I would have let you in here without some kind of protection?”

“You know how to shoot?”

“Aim and pull the trigger.”

Michael gave her a pained look. “Comforting.”

“So what are you working on that involves Talmont?”

“Did he hurt you?”

She looked away. Michael wondered if she was thinking of Talmont’s claim that Croft had called her insensitive and heartless.

“I ask,” he said, “because I’m suspicious about Sam’s death and Talmont’s potential involvement.”

Jessie narrowed her eyes, but he saw something in them that looked like hope. “Meaning?”

“I think there was foul play and a tidy cover-up—and I have a feeling that you do, too.”

Her face went white. “How would you know that?”

“In my line of work I see a lot of things that other people might not notice. And I have a network of resources.”

Jessie suddenly seemed to become self-conscious. She tugged her robe tightly around her and tied the sash. The gun hung heavily in her pocket. “Who are you working for? The guy who’s opposing Talmont in the next election?”

If you only knew.

Michael clenched his teeth, forcing himself to think before he spoke. He needed her to trust him, so, ironically, telling her the truth was not an option. “I want to find out what happened to Sam,” he said, “and here’s what I know. I know about her extortion scheme and the senators. That’s plenty of motive for each of them. But the alibis of Senators Olney and Ketter check out. Olney was in Texas for a photo op with an oil rig. Ketter was at Georgetown Medical Center passing a kidney stone.”

“Talmont was with his wife.”

“You asked him?” Michael had to ask, even though he already knew the answer.

Jessie nodded. “Do you know about his affair with Sam?”

“Way more than I want to know.”

She lowered her eyebrows and her gaze fixed on him as if she’d locked on a target. He felt more scrutinized than he had when he’d been vetted for the Secret Service. Sweat prickled beneath the layers of his T-shirt, fleece, and coat.

“There’s one thing I need to know,” she said finally.

Michael feared she was going to ask him again whom he was working for. “Just one?” He smiled.

Her mouth turned up at the corners and her eyes brightened, but she looked no less determined. She stayed silent as her expression became serious again.

“Did you have a…relationship with Sam?” she asked, with heart-wrenching vulnerability in her eyes.

Michael stepped toward her, deliberately but cautiously, and she held his gaze. “No.” He slowly raised his hand to her face, smoothed his fingers down her flawless cheek, then swept them beneath her chin. “I was never involved with Sam. I’m much more intrigued by her sister.”

Jessie’s lips parted slightly.

Michael channeled all the discipline he’d ever practiced to keep himself from kissing her.

“I’ve got two things on my mind right now,” he said. “Justice, and you. And not necessarily in that order.”

Before he pushed things too far, Michael turned away from her and left.