Page 115 of State of Grace (First Family 2)

“See you then.”

Twenty minutes later, she crawled into bed with Nick, who put an arm around her and drew her in close to him. She released a deep breath and tried to calm her racing mind so she could get some rest, but all she could think about was Bryson Thorn’s murder and what kind of shit storm might erupt in their lives as a result.

Gonzo’s first order of business was to speak with Thorn’s distraught wife. “Did you get her name?” he asked the Patrol officer who’d been first on the scene.

“It’s Tiffany. She said she came home from dinner with friends to find Bryson dead in the yard.”

“Did you ask about security cameras?”

“She said the security system was off because Bryson was home.”

“Of course it was. Please do a canvass of the property. See if you can find me a murder weapon.”

“Yes, sir.”

Gonzo walked over to speak to the woman who was being comforted by a female Patrol officer. Thorn’s wife reminded Gonzo of a Barbie doll, right down to the blonde hair that fell in perfect waves around her shoulders. “Mrs. Thorn, I’m Detective Sergeant Gonzales with the Metro PD. I’m very sorry for your loss.”

“Wh-who could’ve done this to him?” she asked between sobs, looking up at him with red, swollen eyes. “Everyone loved Bryson.”

Not everyone, Gonzo thought. “When was the last time you spoke to him?”

“Before I left for dinner with my girlfriends. He said he was going to make dinner for our son, and they were planning to watch a movie before bed.”

“And your son? Where is he?”

“Asleep in his bed.”

“What time does he usually go to bed?”

“Around eight thirty on school nights.”

“And you got home at what time?”

“At ten twenty. I noticed the time on my dash when I pulled into the driveway.”

That information gave Gonzo a timeline to work with. Thorn had been killed sometime between eight thirty and ten twenty. “Can you think of anyone who was at odds with him?”

“Other than your boss and her husband?” Tiffany asked with a hard edge to her voice. “They were suing him for a million dollars for violating the NDA at the party.”

Gonzo didn’t blame Sam and Nick one bit for enforcing the NDA and for trying to make it hurt after the trouble Thorn’s photos had caused for Nick in the first days of his presidency. “Anyone else?”

“You’re going to investigate them, right?”

“No, I’m not.”

She didn’t care for that response. “Powerful people always get a pass with things like this.”

“My boss and her husband are under twenty-four-hour-a-day protection from the Secret Service, which would make committing murder rather difficult.”

“That doesn’t mean they couldn’t hire it done,” she said forcefully, as if she honestly believed Sam and Nick would hire someone to kill her husband.

“I believe the lawsuit spoke for itself. They were far more interested in causing him financial pain than physical pain.”

“Believe what you want. You’ll never convince me they didn’t have something to do with this, and I’ll bet the media will be interested in that angle, too.”

“Is that your plan? To take your case to the media with zero proof of their involvement in the hope that the president and first lady will be convicted in the court of public opinion?”

She squirmed a bit under his intense stare. “How could it not be related to the lawsuit?”