Page 179 of State of the Union (First Family 3)

“I love this for you, sweetheart.”

“Thanks. I think…”

“Try to relax and just enjoy it. Falling in love is the sweetest thing in life, and I so want you to experience that.”

Brooke suspected she’d fallen in love quite some time ago. Now she just had to figure out what she was going to do about it.

Chapter Thirty-Four

On Monday morning, Sam met Tracy outside the U.S. District Court on Constitution Avenue for the preliminary hearing in their father’s murder case. The charges had been upgraded to murder after he’d died of his wounds, four years after being shot on the job in a case that’d remained unsolved until after his death.

Celia and Angela had decided to let Sam and Tracy represent the family.

Sam hugged her sister. “How’re you doing?”

“I’ll be better when this is done.”

“It’s just a formality. The U.S. Attorney presents the evidence, establishes probable cause that the defendants should be tried, and then it should be bound over for trial.”

“There’s no chance it won’t go to trial, is there?”

“Only if they plead out.”

“What does that mean?”

“Accept a deal in which they’d plead guilty to the charges in exchange for a lesser sentence than they’d get if convicted at trial. We’d have to agree to that, and I haven’t heard anything about a deal being on the table. The defense might approach the prosecution about a deal after they hear the mountain of evidence.”

With Vernon and Jimmy escorting them, they headed for the stairs as someone called out to Sam.

She turned to see Alice Coyne Fitzgerald waving to her.

Sam waited for Alice to catch up and then hugged her. “I wasn’t sure you’d be here.”

“I won’t miss a second of seeing the men who killed my Steven—and Skip—brought to justice.” Skip’s first partner and close friend had been shot on the job decades ago, and his killer had remained at large until Sam and her team tied his shooting to Skip’s.

“Alice, this is my sister Tracy.”

“I remember you as a little girl,” Alice said, smiling at Tracy.

Tracy shook the woman’s hand. “I remember you, too. It’s nice to see you, although the circumstances suck.”

“They do, but I’ve waited a long time for justice for Steven. I’m ready for this.”

Sam wasn’t sure she was ready to see the three men who’d been charged with killing her father, even if it had taken four years as a quadriplegic before he’d succumbed.

“It’s surreal,” she whispered to Tracy as reporters gathered outside the courthouse called to her, looking for a comment.

“What is?”

“That we’re actually going to court to confront the men who shot Dad. For a long time, I thought that might never happen.”

“It’s thanks to you that it finally did.”

“Me and a lot of others.”

“But mostly you.”

“Did you get to talk to Brooke?”