“THAT WAS BRUTAL,” Freddie said when they were outside.
“I still feel sorry for the guy even though he wasted our time.”
“Me too.”
“Call Malone and have him run the names Kramer gave us.”
While Freddie did that, Sam drove them back to HQ so they could interview Simmons.
“He’s on it,” Freddie said when he ended the call with the captain.
“I feel like we’re spinning our wheels.”
“I do too. You think anything will come of the info from Kramer?”
“Probably not. It could be a legit opportunity that had nothing at all to do with his wife being killed. I mean, think about it. He gave them money for their top-secret project. What would be the motive in taking out his wife and three other innocent people? There isn’t one.”
“But we’re still going to follow up, right?”
“Yep, but mark my words, it won’t lead us anywhere.”
They returned to HQ and went straight to the interrogation room where Simmons and his attorney were waiting.
“How’re we going to play this?” Freddie asked.
“I’ll take the lead. I want to get the hell out of here.”
“Let’s do it.”
Sam walked in first with Freddie following and introduced herself and her partner to the young dark-haired woman who sat next to a surly-looking Trace Simmons.
“I’m Mary Beth Phillips from the public defender’s office.”
She didn’t look old enough to be out of high school, let alone law school, Sam thought as she took a seat across the table from them while Freddie remained standing by the door.
“Talk to me about Tamara Jackson,” Sam said.
Simmons’s eyes bugged. “What about her?”
“You heard her brother was killed in a drive-by shooting?”
“Is that what this is about? You think I had something to do with that? I would never do anything to hurt her. I love her. She’s one of the few good things in my miserable fucking life.”
Sam looked on in stunned amazement as tears filled his eyes. “She said you threatened her, slapped her and said nasty crap about her mother.”
“I swear to God,” he said in a hushed voice. “It wasn’t me.”
Strangely enough, Sam believed him. “Have you heard any rumblings on the street about who might’ve been behind the shootings?”
“Nah, I ain’t heard nothing about it.”
“If we release you and you hear something, I’ll expect you to let me know.” Sam slid her card across the table to him. “Understand?”
“Yeah, I got ya. Can I go now?”
Sam stared at him for a long moment, hoping she was doing the right thing by trusting her gut. “We’re good on this, but there were drugs found at the house.”
He threw up his hands. “They ain’t mine.”
“Then that means they’re your sister’s?”
“I know nothing about no drugs.”
“You can expect to hear from my colleagues about that.”
“They know where to find me.” Without another word to Sam or his attorney, he got up and left the room.
Mary Beth seemed to sag from relief, or that was how it appeared to Sam.
“How’d a nice girl like you end up defending guys like him?” Sam asked her.
“Someone’s got to do it. Why not me?”
Impressed by her sassy comeback, Sam said, “Well, I guess I’ll be seeing you around campus.”
“I guess you will. And for what it’s worth, I’m a big fan of your work—and your husband.”
“Thank you.” Sam never knew what to say to comments like that.
Mary Beth took off down the hallway, and Sam turned to Freddie. “I hope I did the right thing there.”
“For what it’s worth, I believed him too.”
“It’s worth a lot.”
Malone joined them. “Simmons was a dead end?”
Sam nodded. “He seemed genuinely shocked that we suspected him. Said he loves Tamara Jackson, that she’s one of the few good things in his life, and he’d never do anything to hurt her. We both believed him and told him he’d be hearing more about the drugs that were found in his house. He says they aren’t his, so we need to look at the sister for that.”
The captain sighed and ran his fingers through his wiry gray hair. “That takes us back to square one. Nothing popped on any of the names you got from Joe Kramer. What’s your feeling on that angle?”
“As I said to Detective Cruz, what would be the motive? He invested in their project. Why would that lead to his wife and three other innocent people being gunned down?”
“I can’t see how it would,” Malone said.
“Let’s see what Jeannie finds tonight on former and current military and law enforcement sharpshooters in the area,” Sam said. “The one thing that stands out to me is the skill it would take to shoot someone with such deadly accuracy while traveling at a high rate of speed. We need to find out who would have those skills.”
“Agreed.”
“I’ll have Carlucci and Dominguez pick up that angle from McBride overnight and see where we are in the morning,” Sam said. To Cruz, she added, “Write up the reports and call it a day, Detective.”
“Do you mind if I report from home?”
“Not at all.”
“All right then. I’ll see you both in the morning, if not before.”
After he walked away, Sam looked up at Malone. “You think whoever did this is done?”
“I want to think that, but I have a nagging feeling he’s just getting started.”
“Me too,” Sam said, shivering from the frigid AC as much as the sense of foreboding that overtook her.
* * *
SAM ARRIVED AT home just as Nick’s motorcade pulled onto Ninth Street. Standing on the curb, she waited for him.
His face lit up with pleasure at the sight of her. He put his arm around her and kissed her right there on the sidewalk, in full view of the neighbors and his detail. “There’s my nonfelon wife. I’m so glad I’m not going to have to visit you in prison, although I bet the conjugal visits would’ve been hot.” With his lips pressed against her temple as he walked them up the ramp, he whispered, “Maybe we can play conjugal visit later?”
Sam elbowed him in the gut even as she laughed at his outrageousness.
“So that’s a yes to conjugal?”
“We’ll see.”
“Can we skip dinner and go straight to bed?”
“Behave. We have a grumpy first-day-of-school boy to deal with first.”
His low groan made her laugh.
“You’re very randy tonight, Mr. Vice President.”
“I’m randy every night that I get to have you in my bed.”
“Shhh.” She glanced at Melinda, who watched them the way she always did—as if she wished she could see her sexy subject naked. Sam wanted to claw her eyes out. Shouldn’t she be off duty by now?
Nick nudged Sam into the kitchen and pressed her up against the counter for a deep, sensual kiss that had her thinking about bedtime. He rubbed his hard cock against her belly and put his hands on her ass to pull her in closer to him.
Sam’s mind went blank as the stress of the day gave way to overwhelming desire.
“God, I needed that.” He shifted his attention to her neck where he seemed to breathe her in. “I was so fucking relieved to officially hear there isn’t going to be an indictment.”
Sam clung to him, tipping her head to give him better access to her neck. “You don’t swear. That’s my thing.”
“The occasion calls for a good fucking.”
Sam lost it laughing. “In your world, all occasions call for a good fucking.”
“Only when you’re around, my love.” He kissed her forehead, her nose and then her lips again. “I can never, ever get enough of you.”
“Thank God for that.” She drew him into another kiss just as Scotty came into the kitchen.
“Oh for God’s sake.” He spun around to leave.
“Come back,” Sam said. “We were done.”
“Speak for yourself,” Nick muttered, pressing his cock against her.
Sam wriggled free of him and went after their son.
“A man ought to be able to walk into the kitchen of his own home without having to see that,” Scotty said indignantly.
Sam mussed his hair and kissed his cheek. “A man should, yes. A boy, however, is stuck with parents who love each other. Sorry to say.”
“It’s a terrible burden.”
“I know, and I’d apologize except that your dad is such an excellent kisser.”
“Too far,” Scotty said with a scowl. “All I wanted to know was what’s for dinner. I got way more info than I needed.”
With her hands on his shoulders Sam steered him back into the kitchen, where Nick sat at the table looking innocent when she knew he had to still be hard. She waggled her brows at him before peeking in the oven to see what Shelby had left for dinner. “Looks like lasagna.”
“Yes,” Scotty said with a fist pump. “That’s the first piece of good news I’ve had all day.”
“I have another bit of good news for you,” Sam said.
“What’s that?”
“Remember when I accidentally-on-purpose punched Sergeant Ramsey?”
“After he said crappy shit to you about Stahl,” Scotty said, nodding. “What about it?”
“First of all, don’t say shit or you’ll owe the swear jar. Second of all, I found out today I’m not going to be charged with assaulting him.”
“They couldn’t charge you because there wasn’t a jury in America who wouldn’t agree he had it coming,” Scotty said emphatically.
“Still, they could’ve charged me because it was technically assault, and it’s a good reminder that physical violence isn’t the way to solve our problems. I’ve learned a big lesson from this.”
“But if you had it to do over again, you’d probably still punch him,” Scotty said. “Or at least I hope you would.”
Sam looked to Nick for help and found him smirking at the mess she’d gotten herself into. “Listen, buddy. I don’t always set the best example for you, but I hope you know that I wouldn’t approve of you punching someone who said something you didn’t like.”
“If someone ever said to me what Ramsey said to you, I would punch him. Just so you’re prepared if that ever happens.”
“Um...” Sam glanced again at Nick, whose brows were raised in amusement and possibly despair as she dug a deeper hole for herself. “I really don’t want you to feel like you have to fight my battles for me.”
“I don’t feel that way. But if someone ever says something so vicious about either of you to me, I won’t be responsible for my actions.”
“Scotty,” Nick said in his sternest dad voice, “while your mom and I appreciate your loyalty to us, we can’t condone any plan that has you leading with your fists. That’s not the way to resolve disputes, as your mom has discovered. She could’ve been indicted and charged with felony assault. If she’d been convicted, that would’ve been the end of her career as a police officer, not to mention she could’ve gone to jail. Sometimes all it takes is one good hit to kill someone. She got lucky that the nasty sergeant wasn’t killed when he fell down the stairs. When she hit him, she didn’t intend to kill him, but that could’ve happened, and if it had, she would have been indicted and charged. You see what I’m saying?”
“Yeah, I do.”
“Resist the urge to punch,” Nick said. “Both of you.”
“Yes, Dad,” Sam said sarcastically. To Scotty, she added, “But your dad is right. It’s no way to behave, and I shouldn’t have done it for all the reasons Dad listed as well as the fact that it’s just wrong. My job is to uphold the law, not break it. I put myself and the department in a very bad spot with what I did, and I regret that.”
“I get what you’re saying. Can we eat now?”
“We sure can.” Sam rolled her eyes at Nick, who grinned at her, no doubt loving the fact that she’d gotten herself into yet another maternal jam. Over dinner, they listened to a litany of eighth grade complaints that focused primarily on the much-harder algebra and the introductory Spanish that was going to be yet another nightmare.
After they cleaned up the kitchen, they sent Scotty off to shower and finish his homework with promises that he could watch the Feds game if he got everything done.
“I love him soooo much,” Nick said when they were alone again.
“You love that he makes me squirm as I try to keep him from behaving badly the way his mother does.”
“That’s my favorite thing ever.”
“Ever?” she asked with a coy smile. “More than playing conjugal visit?”
He swallowed hard. “Can I let you know after?”
Sam laughed and wiped up the countertop around the sink. “Speaking of visits, what did Graham have to say today?”
Over a glass of wine, Nick filled her in on their conversation. “He thinks I’m crazy to not be giddy over the idea of being president, not that he’d ever say that.”
“He’s never lived in a house crawling with Secret Service, so he has no idea what it’s like.”
“True. I get that he wants the stars and the moon for me and would do anything within his power to make it happen, but I made it clear to him that I have to want it, and I’m not sure I do.”
“He must’ve been heartbroken to hear that.”
“He was. I felt bad.”
Sam reached for his hand. “Don’t feel bad. It’s got to be your decision and not forced on you. It’s a huge deal to take on if your heart truly isn’t in it.”
“It has to be our decision, and I couldn’t agree more about making sure my heart is in it. I told him I’m ready to step up if I have to, but I’m really hoping it doesn’t come to that.”
“From your lips to God’s ears,” Sam said, shuddering at the thought of him suddenly becoming president.
“We don’t need to worry about that tonight,” Nick said. “Let’s go watch some baseball with our boy, and then have us some conjugal love.”
“You’re obsessed.”
He patted her ass on the way out of the kitchen. “Guilty as charged, my love. Now punish me.”
* * *
LEAVE IT TO NICK to make the conjugal visit fantasy the hottest thing since the advent of the loft. Infusing the entire encounter with a sense of urgency, he had her believing their bedroom was a jail cell under surveillance, and they had to take full advantage of every minute they had before they were once again wrenched apart.
“How much longer do we have?” he asked as he throbbed deep inside her.
“Can’t be more than fifteen minutes.”
“We’d better make it count.”
“Why is this so damned hot?”
“Shhh, don’t let them hear you. They’ll kick me out before we get to finish, and then we’ll have to be frustrated for weeks until we can do this again. I can only jack off so much before I injure myself.”
She cracked up. “What do you think about when you jack off?”
“You,” he whispered against her lips. He took her hands and raised them over her head, linking their fingers. “I think about your soft skin and your tight, wet pussy and how incredible it feels to be inside you. It’s the best feeling in the whole world. Sometimes I think I’ll die from wanting you.”
“You’re going to make me come.”
“That’s the plan.”
“Don’t stop.”
“I’ll never stop.”
“Tell me you’re faithful to me between visits. I couldn’t bear the thought of you doing this with anyone but me.”
“There’s only you. There could only ever be you.”
“You’ll wait for me, won’t you?”
“I’d wait forever for you.”
“Every night,” she whispered against his ear, “I think of you and how I wish I could touch you and love you. I have to touch myself because I burn for you.”
He groaned and got impossibly harder inside her. Releasing her hands, he reached under her to grasp her ass, his fingers digging into the dense flesh as he hammered into her. “Don’t make me go alone, babe. I need you so bad.”
“I’m here. I’m right here.” She fisted a handful of his hair and pulled him deeper into her with the other hand.
Her cell phone rang, and she ignored it, which was something she never did. But some things should never be interrupted. “We have to hurry,” she said, adding urgency to her tone. “They’re coming to take me.”
“No,” he said, picking up the pace, “not yet. It’s not enough. It’s never enough.”
“God, you’re so big and hot inside me. I feel like I’m being impaled by you.”
“Samantha... Come for me. I want to hear you scream.”
“I can’t,” she said on a moan. “They’ll hear me, and I’ll get in trouble. The guards... They’ll want what only you should have.”
“I’ll kill them if they touch you.” He reached down to where they were joined and caressed her clit, making her explode around his cock, silently, her fingers digging into the muscles of his back as she held on for dear life.
“Jesus,” he whispered on a long exhale as he let himself go, surging into her over and over again until his body went slack above her.
“Holy shit,” she said when she could speak again.
“No kidding.” Laughing, he said, “What the hell was that?”
“It’s a new game called conjugal visit. All the cool kids are playing it.”
He rested his forehead on hers, gazing down at her with heat in his gorgeous hazel eyes. “The thought of being separated from you for any reason, even a pretend reason, makes me insane. I’d never survive it. You have to promise you’ll behave so no one can ever take you away from me.”
“Define behave.”
“Seriously, Samantha. Promise me.”
“I promise. I’ve learned my lesson. I’ll assault with my words rather than my fists.”
“That’s my girl,” he said, closing his eyes.
Sam ran her fingers through his hair, so caught up in the moment with him she forgot that she’d missed a call until her phone rang again. “Ugh, I have to get that.”
Nick withdrew from her and kissed her once before he let her go.
She retrieved the phone from the bedside table, groaning at the sight of the word Dispatch on the caller ID.
“Holland.”
“Lieutenant, we’ve had another drive-by shooting.”
“Where?”
“Near the playground on V Street.”
Sam’s stomach dropped when she heard playground.
“A father and his six-year-old daughter were leaving the park when the daughter was shot and killed.”
“Oh my God. Okay, I’m on my way.” She closed the phone and got out of bed, heading for the shower.
“What happened?”
“Our drive-by shooter has taken out a six-year-old girl.”
“Are you kidding me? How could anyone...”
“I know, babe. I’ve got to go.” She raced for the shower, and he joined her, his arms sliding around her from behind.
“This’ll be a tough one.”
“They all are.”
“This will be worse than most.”
“I know.” She already felt sick, and she hadn’t even seen the tiny victim yet. “We don’t have the first clue who is doing this or why. It’s so frustrating.”
“You’ll figure it out. You always do.”
“But how many people will have to die before we figure it out?”
Because he couldn’t possibly answer that question, he didn’t try. He only held her closer, infusing her with his love and support when she needed it most.
“I have to go.”
“I know,” he said, but he only held her tighter.
“You have to let me go.”
“I know.”
“Nick...”
He released her, and she turned to face him, reaching up to bring him down for a kiss.
“Tonight was so amazing.”
“Yes, it was, but it’s always amazing with you.” He framed her face in his big hands. “Take care of my wife out there. She means everything to me.”
“I will. Try to get some sleep.”
His wry smile told her sleep would prove elusive for him tonight. The insomnia was apt to be with them until after the hearings were concluded. The medication Harry had prescribed hadn’t helped, which had been disappointing.
“Don’t worry about me,” he said. “You have bigger things to be concerned with.”
“Nothing is more important than you and Scotty.”
“Right now, a little girl and her family need you. Go on ahead. I’ll be fine.” He patted her on the ass as he sent her from the shower to get ready to face a new nightmare.