Fatal Deception (36 page)

Sam sent another text, this one to Nick. “On the way home. Got to meet with McBride, and then I want to get to the hospital to see Ang.”

“Be there shortly,” he responded. “Don’t go without me.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Sam said as she started the car and headed for Capitol Hill. As she drove, she debated when and what she should tell Derek Kavanaugh about what they’d uncovered. While she trusted her colleagues implicitly, she still feared a leak. It could even come from the Patterson camp, not that she expected that, but still... Derek shouldn’t hear the latest from the media.

With that in mind, she placed a call to him. “Hi, Derek,” she said when he answered. “It’s Sam again.” She could hear Maeve crying in the background. “Do you have a minute?”

“Sure, let me get my mom to help with Maeve.”

She listened to him speaking in the background as he settled the baby with her grandmother.

“I’m back.”

“So, listen, I think we’ve got this thing figured out.”

“Oh.” The single word conveyed a world of emotion—hope, fear, grief, despair.

“I have to warn you, it’ll be hard to hear.”

He let out a bitter-sounding laugh. “Worse than what I’ve already heard?”

“I suppose not.” Choosing her words carefully, Sam walked him through what they’d learned and the connection to the Patterson campaign.

“So they planted her with someone close to Nelson so they could spy on us?” he asked, incredulous. “It’s right out of Watergate, for God’s sake.”

“That’s our hypothesis at the moment. We’re still trying to prove it. We believe we have the man who killed Victoria in custody.”

“Who is he?” Derek asked in a small voice.

Sam told him about Jerry Smith, the Patterson family’s go-to guy for unsavory matters such as murder.

“If they went to all that trouble to plant her, why kill her right before the election? Isn’t this when she’d be most useful to them?”

“You would think. Maybe she clammed up, refused to provide damaging info or threatened to expose the entire scheme. Maybe she fell in love with her husband and didn’t want to cause him harm.”

“Yeah, sure,” he said bitterly. “That’s a likely scenario.”

“It’s as likely as any other, but we may never know for sure.”

“You don’t expect Smith to spill on the Patterson family, do you?”

“No. Even though they’re going to abandon him, his sense of loyalty runs deep. He won’t roll on them.”

“So he’ll walk for what he did to Vic?”

“I’m hoping we’ve got him nailed on the DNA, and we’re searching his room for evidence that ties him to Victoria. If we find a connection there, that’ll be enough to put him away for life. We’re still hoping to nail the people behind the scheme. We believe it’s one or both of Patterson’s sons and perhaps the man himself, but you need to prepare yourself for the possibility that we won’t get them.”

“So he’ll go on his merry way and possibly be elected president in November?”

“Oh, no. We’ll give the media enough to draw their own conclusions. There’s no way he’ll be president after we’re through with them.”

“Good. That’s good.” He paused, sighed. “All because of my goddamned job. From the minute I got home on Sunday and found her, I feared it would come back to my goddamned job in some way or another.”

“It’s not your fault, Derek. This was done to you. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Apparently, I fell for the wrong woman.”

“I hope,” Sam said, “when all the dust settles, you can remember the good times and try to forget the rest. There’s no point second-guessing everything. You’ll drive yourself crazy doing that.”

“Too late.”

“Derek, it’s really important that you not breathe a word of this to anyone—not your parents or Harry or especially your colleagues at the White House. We’re trying to build a case against the Patterson family, but if the word gets out, our job becomes a lot harder.”

“I understand. I won’t talk about the way my wife used me to pass political secrets to our rival.” He released another bitter-sounding laugh. “They must’ve been disappointed with what she fed them. We hardly ever talked about the campaign or work, for that matter. Like I told you before, in the rare hours we got to spend together, especially lately, we didn’t do much talking.”

“Speaking as a woman here, Derek, let me assure you, she wouldn’t have spent so much of her time that way if she didn’t really want to. Hold on to that, okay?”

“I’ll try.”

“Take care. I’ll be in touch as soon as I know more.”

“Thanks, Sam, for everything. You and Nick have been great during all of this.”

“We’ll be here for you and Maeve for as long as you need us, Derek. I promise.”

“I appreciate that,” he said, his voice heavy with emotion as they ended the call.

Pulling onto Ninth Street, Sam saw Jeannie’s car parked in front of her house. They met on the sidewalk by the ramp that led to Sam’s front door. Sam noticed that Jeannie looked deeply troubled, which made Sam’s stomach hurt. “Come in.”

Jeannie followed her up the ramp and into the cool comfort of Sam’s spacious home.

“Drink?” Sam asked.

“I wouldn’t say no to some ice water. It’s so freaking hot.”

“I hear it’s supposed to be for the foreseeable future. Thank God for AC.”

“No kidding.”

Sam filled two glasses and brought them to the kitchen table.

Jeannie pulled out a chair and sat, focused for a long time on the glass of water.

“Whatever it is, say it,” Sam said.

Jeannie hesitated for a long moment, and when she looked up at Sam, her eyes were tortured. “Does the name Steven Coyne mean anything to you?”

“Of course. He was my dad’s first partner. Killed in the line by a drive-by shooter. The case is unsolved.”

“Right.” Jeannie took a drink of her water. “Alice Fitzgerald was his widow.”

All the air left Sam’s body in one big whoosh. She stared at Jeannie, almost as if she hadn’t heard her right. “There’s no mention of that anywhere in the case files.”

“According to Dr. Morganthau, your dad and everyone else involved went to great lengths to keep Alice’s connection to the department out of the media. They didn’t want all the business about Steven’s murder resurrected when she was dealing with the loss of her son.”

Sam’s mind whirled as she tried to process this new information. “This was why he allowed Cameron to go into the military rather than pressing forward with an investigation that pointed directly at him.”

“Yes.”

“And Alice... I didn’t really know her, but my dad was close with a woman named Alice. Took care of her after her husband was killed.” In the deep recesses of her mind, Sam somehow knew there’d been something more to it than that, but she couldn’t remember what.

“That’s what Dr. Morganthau said.”

“Surely Chief Farnsworth knew about the connection to Coyne. And Captain Malone. Deputy Chief Conklin.” Sam’s heart beat fast as she thought back to the day her father was shot and the terrible argument they’d had over the Fitzgerald case. “This was why he told me to leave it alone. They all knew. They were taking care of one of their own. Jesus, Jeannie. If this got out, a lot of careers and reputations would’ve been ruined. No wonder he’s so mad at me.”

“It’s possible,” Jeannie ventured, “that the others didn’t know who the mother was. How closely in touch would they have stayed with Alice after her husband was killed? Perhaps only your dad knew she’d remarried and that it was her son who was missing.”

Sam pressed fingers to her suddenly aching temples. “It’s becoming clear to me that I might’ve gotten very lucky when you and Tyrone lied to me. What if we had dug into what we’d learned? What if we’d pursued this further and it got out that my dad intentionally protected a murderer—if Cameron was in fact the murderer? My dad’s reputation would be ruined. Hell, mine might’ve been too.”

“I’m sorry to have to tell you this. I knew it would be upsetting to you.”

“It’s certainly not your fault. I’m rescinding the suspension. You and Tyrone are back on duty tomorrow. I’ll make sure you’re paid for today.”

“You don’t have to do that, Lieutenant. At the end of the day, we did lie to you.”

“I’m going to forget that happened and count on the fact that it’ll never happen again.”

“It won’t. I’ve learned my lesson, and so has Will.”

“What do I say to my dad?” Sam asked as she heard the front door open and close.

“Babe?” Nick called. “Are you home?”

“In here,” Sam said.

He was pulling off his tie as he came into the kitchen, stopping short when he saw she wasn’t alone. “Oh, hey, Jeannie. How are you?”

“Fine, Senator. And you?”

“My name is Nick,” he said with a smile, “and I’m great now that I’m home from an endless day of boring hearings.” He took a closer look at Sam. “What’s wrong?”

Jeannie stood and carried her glass to the sink. “I’ve got to get going, Lieutenant. Call me if there’s anything I can do.”

“I will, thanks. See you tomorrow.” As Jeannie left the kitchen, Sam called after her. “Wait! I didn’t see the ring.”

Looking sheepish, she turned around and held out her left hand to show off the sparkler.

“Wow,” Sam said. “It’s gorgeous. Tell Michael I said he did good.”

“I will.”

“It’s beautiful, Jeannie,” Nick said, kissing her cheek. “Congratulations to you and Michael.”

Jeannie nearly swooned from the kiss and the kind words from Nick. He had that effect on women, even those happily engaged to someone else.

“Thank you both so much. You’ve been such good friends to us. I hope you’ll be able to dance at the wedding.”

“We wouldn’t miss it,” Sam said.

“I’ll see you tomorrow.”

When the front door clicked shut behind Jeannie, Nick sat down at the table and reached for Sam’s hand. “Why is your hand freezing?”

Still in a state of shock over what Jeannie had told her, Sam struggled to find the words. “I...I heard something. About my dad. It was... Sort of upsetting.”

“What is it?”

“If I tell you, you can’t ever repeat it. Ever.”

“Of course. That goes without saying. Tell me, baby.”

In a halting recitation, she filled him in on what Jeannie and Will had gleaned from their visit with the retired medical examiner.

“Whoa,” Nick said when she was finished.

“Yeah, exactly.”

“What do you do with this info?”

“That’s a very good question. Do I go to my dad and say, ‘I know what you did, and I get why you did it, but Jesus, Dad. You took one hell of a risk with your career and your reputation’?” She kneaded the tension from her temples. “I suddenly have a splitting headache.”

“Do you think there was more to his relationship with Alice than you know about?”

“Possibly. Remember what Tracy said about my mom moving out of the house during the Fitzgerald investigation. It doesn’t take much imagination to figure it had something to do with Alice.”

“Will you ask him about her?”

“I suppose I’ll have to. He’s been all up in my grill about the fact that we reopened the investigation in the first place. He’s going to want to know what’s going on.” She expelled a deep, shuddering breath. “I can’t imagine that conversation. Today was a really good day up until about twenty minutes ago. We got the guy who killed Victoria.” She brought him up to date on the details.

“Holy shit,” he whispered. “The Patterson campaign. Are you freaking kidding me?”

“Nope.”

“Does Derek know?”

“Yeah, I talked to him earlier. He said it was right out of Watergate.”

“No shit.” Nick got up and moved behind her, pushing her hands away as he took over the massaging of her temples. “Something like that would’ve taken years of planning to pull off. Derek and Vic were married for four years. Add in another year of dating... Unreal. I knew Patterson was ruthlessly ambitious, but this... Wow. Why did they kill her?”

“Our hypothesis is that either she clammed up or wanted out of whatever agreement they made with her initially. If she spilled the beans on what they’d done before the election, that’d ruin everything. They probably decided they couldn’t risk keeping her around.”

“I can’t believe the stuff some people will do to get what they want.”

“You can’t believe it because you’d rather win the old-fashioned way or go down fighting. This level of underhandedness goes against everything you believe in.

You can’t understand this because you don’t think like they do.”

“Thank God for that. Will you be able to pin this on Patterson or his sons?”

“That’s the great unknown at the moment. We’re hoping Smith will roll on them, but it’s not likely.”

“Even after it sinks in that he’s being hung out to dry?”

“Loyalty runs deep. I suspect he’d rather take the fall for all of them than be responsible for derailing the campaign.”

“He’s a fool.”

“Yep, but he’s a loyal fool. Of course, I’m only speculating. Who knows? Maybe he’ll sing like a canary and make it easy for us, but I don’t expect him to. We’ve also got the assistant to Colton Patterson on the hook for making calls to Victoria, so we can tie her to the campaign. Whether or not he’ll give up the ringleaders is also in question at the moment. We’ll get Patterson one way or the other—either in actual court or the court of public opinion. We can do a lot of damage by implying he and his sons were behind this.”

“His campaign will be over, that’s for sure.”

“As well it should be.”

Sam’s phone dinged with a text from Tracy: “Congrats Auntie Sam! Ella Holland Radcliffe arrived at five forty-two p.m. Weighing in at 8 lbs, 2 oz, 20 inches. She’s gorgeous! Mom is doing great! Get on over here!”

“Ang had the baby,” Sam said. “Ella Holland Radcliffe. They named her after my grandmother.”

He rested his hands on her shoulders. “Congratulations, Aunt Sam.”

“Same to you, Uncle Nick.”

“Hey, that’s right. I’m an uncle!”

“Yes, you are.” Sam patted his hands. “Let me up.” He backed away, and she stood, turning to him. “Now, let’s do this right.” She stepped into his outstretched arms and let him surround her with his love. The press of his chest against her face, the strong beat of his heart and the arms he kept tight around her went a long way toward fixing what ailed her. “We should get to the hospital.”