Page 109 of State of the Union (First Family 3)

“I’d never repeat it, but I hear what you’re saying. Jeannie was like that for a few months after she was assaulted. As cops, we live under the assumption that we can take care of ourselves in all situations. It’s a shock to the system to realize that’s not always true.”

“I hadn’t thought of it quite like that, but you’re right.”

“I usually am.”

“God, I walked right into that, didn’t I?”

Sam flashed him a big grin. “That was a softball. Thanks for the insight. I’ll talk to her, too, and I won’t mention that I spoke to you.”

“That’d be appreciated. I’m walking a fine line in this new relationship between wanting to support her and wanting to protect her.”

“She’s lucky to have you.”

“I’m the lucky one, Lieutenant. Thanks for giving me a nudge in her direction when I needed it.”

“I do what I can for my people.”

Smiling, he stood. “Glad to be one of your people. I’ll keep you posted on the Stahl situation.”

As he was walking out, Gonzo came in. “What was that about?”

“I put him in charge of reviewing Stahl’s cold cases and convictions.”

“I would’ve done that.”

“I know, but I need you to be my legs in the field for a few more weeks. And that sounded weirder than I intended it to.”

Gonzo laughed. “I understood what you meant. What’re we doing about this rapist-murderer?”

“We’re writing a detailed justification for FDS that we’ll take to the mayor. Can you do the part about the two prior assaults? I’ll do Olsen and Woo.”

“I’ll do it right now.”

“Thanks.”

Sam spent the next several hours summarizing the report on Audrey Olsen’s rape and murder, focusing on the more brutal elements of the attack. While the perpetrator covered her mouth with his hand, he raped and sodomized her before strangling her.

If that one sentence wasn’t enough to convince the mayor to let them use FDS, Sam wasn’t sure anything would be.

She stood and went to the door. “Before we take this to the mayor, I want to talk to the two women who survived,” Sam said to Gonzo.

“They’ve already been thoroughly interviewed,” Gonzo said.

“Not by me.”

The next day, Sam asked Kaitlyn Oliver to come to her, since Kaitlyn lived in a third-floor walk-up in Foggy Bottom, and Sam couldn’t do stairs yet.

“I appreciate you coming in,” she said when Kaitlyn was seated at the conference room table with a bottle of water in front of her. They had turned the murder board around so Kaitlyn wouldn’t have to see the details of the Olsen and Woo cases.

Sam had asked Jeannie to join her, hoping Kaitlyn might be more comfortable speaking to two women. Not to mention Jeannie had survived a similar attack. “This is Detective Jeannie McBride.”

“I wish we were meeting under different circumstances,” Jeannie said.

Kaitlyn nodded. “Me, too.”

Sam noted that Kaitlyn’s hands trembled as she wrapped them around the bottle. “We’re sorry to have to put you through this again, but we just want to be sure that we have all the information.”

“I don’t mind. If it helps to catch him, I’ll do whatever you need.”