Page 127 of State of Affairs (First Family 1)

She told herself he was full of shit, as usual, but that didn’t take the sting out of the harsh words. “Consider the source,” she muttered to herself as she stepped into the pit, where her detectives were hard at work.

“Bring me up to speed,” Sam said, startling her team with her sudden presence. She loved when that happened.

“We have the five suspects involved in the rape and murder in custody,” Freddie said. “Each of them is pointing the finger at the others on the murder. Hopefully, we’ll get the DNA report today from the rape kit so we can start matching it to the samples we took last night.”

“We’ve probably got enough to charge them all with felony murder and sexual assault,” Sam said. “Let’s get one of the AUSAs over here to lay it out.”

“I’ll make the call,” Gonzo said, getting up to leave the room.

“Which one of them had the connection to Calvin Worthington?” Sam asked Freddie.

Freddie put a photo of a Hispanic man on the table and pushed it toward her. “Javier Lopez.”

“What do we know about him?”

“Sealed juvie record, got snagged for an armed B and E nine years ago and did three years at Jessup. He was a year ahead of Calvin in high school.”

“Did we ever talk to him about it?”

“Interestingly enough, we never talked to any of the classmates who were in trouble at the time.”

Lieutenant Stahl had been the lead detective. His partner at the time, Detective Morse, left the department in the ensuing years.

“Let’s track down Stahl’s partner. I want some insight before I talk to Lopez.”

“I’ll work on that,” Jeannie said.

“Captain, can you lean on the lab to get that rape kit processed?” Sam asked Captain Malone, who’d come in a minute after she did.

“I did this morning. They promised me something by noon.”

“In the meantime, Cam and Matt, work on filling out the board with what we know about our five suspects,” Sam said to Green and O’Brien, “and shoot me anything that pops. Let’s get out and work the case.”

As her detectives saw to her orders, she signaled for Malone to remain for a minute. She led him into her office, turned on the lights and gestured for him to close the door. “I had an interesting conversation with Hill yesterday.” Sam went around her desk and faced the captain.

“About what?” Malone asked.

Sam forced herself to make eye contact with her mentor, boss and friend. “Hector Reese.” She gave him a minute to think about how he knew that name and watched his eyes widen with recollection. “Hill asked me who else knows about what went down in the interrogation room. I dodged the question, but I wanted to give you a heads-up that he’s on that scent.”

“Probably helped along by someone with an agenda,” Malone said bitterly.

“No doubt. If it comes out, I’ll take the full blame. I did it. I shouldn’t have. I knew it then, and I know it now. My only excuse is that I was running on emotion over finding the person who’d shot Freddie and the possibility of a break in my dad’s case.”

“I won’t let you take the fall alone, Lieutenant. I knew what you were going to do, could’ve stopped it and didn’t.”

“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to a fall for either of us. Had a run-in with my BFF Ramsey just now. He says the union is going to take up the disruption of my continued presence here at its next meeting. Apparently, and I’m quoting him, I’m not wanted here.”

“Which, of course, you know is complete bullshit.”

“The media is a huge problem. I understand it’s pissing people off. It’s pissing me off. Nick said they can send more Secret Service over here to clear them out.”

“The chief has Patrol on it too. Try not to worry. It’ll die down when they realize they aren’t getting anything from you.”

“How can they still hope that’s going to happen? I’ve never once given them anything about Nick. Why do they think I'm suddenly going to get chatty with them now that he’s president?”

“Hope springs eternal.”

“I could never do that job, stand around all day waiting for something that’s not going to happen.”