Page 161 of State of the Union (First Family 3)

“Pleasure, ma’am.”

“Sam.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Honestly. It’s just us. Call me Sam.”

“It’s not just us, ma’am. Young Jimmy is watching and learning.”

“Vernon would skin me alive if I called you anything other than ma’am, ma’am,” Jimmy said.

“Now you’re double-ma’aming me.”

The agents laughed.

“How was your day, ma’am?” Vernon asked, glancing at her in the mirror.

“I think we got our guy. And get this—he’s the son of a sergeant who hates my guts for reasons known only to him.”

“Wow,” Vernon said. “That’s complicated.”

“As hell, but if he raped and murdered those women, I’m going to nail him to the wall.”

“You’ve got DNA, right?”

“Yeah, but we need a sample from him that we didn’t get before he lawyered up, and it certainly won’t happen voluntarily now that the lawyer is involved.”

“What I don’t get,” Jimmy said, “is if he’s innocent, why wouldn’t he give the DNA to prove that?”

“There’s always a fear of being framed, I suppose,” Sam said, “but that’s a good question. If someone was tying me to rapes and murders I didn’t commit, I’d hand over my DNA to prove I had nothing to do with it. But people don’t trust us to always do the right thing, and with good reason, I suppose. That’s another way that the few bad apples ruin things for the rest of us.”

“Heard your friend Detective McBride is in line for a big promotion,” Vernon said, glancing at her in the mirror.

“Yeah, she is. I’m thrilled about it. She’s one of the best cops I’ve ever worked with. The department needs someone like her in a top-level role. She’ll make us all look good.”

“Did they ask you?” Jimmy asked.

“Twice, and I said ‘thanks, but no, thanks’ both times. I’d go mad in that job. My dad hated it at first. He grew into it, but the transition from street cop to desk jockey was rough for him. I’d never adjust to that.”

“I can’t see that for you,” Vernon said. “Hope that’s okay to say, ma’am.”

“It’s okay to say because it’s the truth. I’m doing the job I was born to do, and I know that sounds self-important or whatever, but it’s true.”

“We can see that, ma’am,” Vernon said. “You’re very good at it.”

“Thanks.” Ugh, she was going to have to replace Jeannie so soon after filling the spots left by Arnold’s death and Tyrone’s resignation. The thought of undertaking that process again thoroughly depressed her. Nothing ever stayed the same, as much as she might wish it would. Change made her twitchy. There’d been a lot of it lately, more so than at any other time in her life. From Arnold and her father dying, to the twins and Eli joining their family, to Nick’s new job and the subsequent move to the White House… It was a lot on top of a lot.

Tomorrow night, they would host a one-year remembrance for Detective Arnold on the anniversary of his tragic death. With that in mind, she put through a call to Gideon.

“Hi, Sam,” he said. “I was just about to text you.”

She was thankful that the chief usher at the White House was the one person in her new orbit who’d agreed to call her by her first name when it was just the two of them. “Hi there. I wanted to check in about tomorrow night.”

“I just went over the final plans with the kitchen, and we’re good to go for all of Detective Arnold’s favorites—pizza, hot dogs, chicken wings and chocolate cake.”

“That sounds perfect.”

“I also added salad for those concerned about their arteries.”