Page 22 of State of the Union (First Family 3)

“Thank you for your service.” Nick gestured to the White House photographer who’d accompanied them and posed for a photo with the young man. “I’ll make sure you get a copy of that.”

“Thank you so much, sir.”

After the sailor left, Captain Martin said, “You’ve made his entire career with that photo, sir. It means a lot to the team that runs Camp David to have you and your family here, Mr. President.”

“Please tell your crew they’re welcome to speak to us like the normal people we are, and pass along an invitation to anyone who’d like to play basketball with me tomorrow morning around ten.”

“I’ll do that, sir. I’m sure you’ll get a crowd.”

“Great, then we can have a tournament.”

“I’ll leave you to get settled.” She pointed to a phone on a side table. “Pick that up to let us know if you need anything at all. The White House has sent a full kitchen staff to take care of you, and they’ll have lunch ready within the hour.”

“Thank you again for the warm welcome,” Nick said, shaking her hand.

They called the kids in for the photo they took with Captain Martin before she and the photographer left them to get settled.

“What do you think?” Nick asked when the kids had gone to inspect their rooms.

“This is just what we need.”

He put his arms around her and held her tightly. “I couldn’t agree more.”

Chapter Five

Driving south on I-95 toward Richmond, Jeannie debated how much to tell her relatively new partner. Detective Matt O’Brien seemed like a good guy, but they hadn’t yet found the easy groove she’d had with her former partner, Detective Will Tyrone. He’d chosen to leave the force after their colleague Detective Arnold’s murder. But because she was taking Matt with her as she did something they’d been ordered not to do, she felt guilty about not telling him the truth about their mission.

However, she reasoned, by not telling him, he could say later that he hadn’t known.

Ugh, what to do? This reminded her of when she and Will had discovered that Skip Holland had ignored some rather significant evidence in another cold case and had kept that information from Sam out of respect for her father’s reputation. That had come back around to bite them in the ass—hard.

This mission could cost her much more, as the order to stand down on the Deasly case had come from the chief.

“Are you going to tell me why we’re going to Richmond?” Matt asked after twenty minutes of silence.

“I’m trying to decide whether I should. It would be better for you if you didn’t know.”

“I’m not sure what to do with that.”

Jeannie sighed. “Here’s the thing… I want to tell you, but I have no idea if I can trust you with information that I shouldn’t be giving you. Does that make sense?”

“Not even kinda, and yes, you can trust me. We’re partners, Jeannie. That means I’ve got your back. I know it’s been a rough year for you guys, losing Arnold and then having Tyrone decide to leave. But you can count on me. I swear it.”

“We could get in trouble for this—big trouble. We’re defying an order that came straight from the top by following leads to Richmond.”

Matt thought about that for a full minute. “Does the LT know where we’re going and why?”

“She does.”

After another long pause, he said, “Then I guess she’s out on whatever limb we’re on with us. Right?”

“I’ve been advised to proceed with extreme caution. This is a fact-finding mission. Once I know for sure I’ve found the person I’m looking for, then she and I are going to consult on next steps.”

“Isn’t she at Camp David?”

“She’s aware of what’s going on and is expecting my call later today. If, or when, this blows up in our faces, it would be better for you if you could say you were asked to come along but weren’t told where we were going or why.”

“And you think people will believe I did what I was told, got in the car and asked no questions?”