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“They’re not to be disturbed for any reason,” Sam said.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Sam wanted to snap back at her, to tell her not to call her ma’am, but that would be pointless. As the second lady, she was ma’am to the Secret Service whether she wanted to be or not. There were battles that could be fought and won, but that wasn’t one of them. Besides, she had enough on her plate at the moment without taking on Nick’s detail.
Was it petty to let the woman bug her? Of course it was. Melinda was only doing her job, but why had her young, sexy husband warranted a young, sexy female agent on his detail? Sam wondered if there was someone she could complain to and get Melinda reassigned. But she’d never do that, especially as a law enforcement officer herself. It was hard enough working in the old boys’ club without making life difficult for a female colleague.
So she would keep her mouth shut and put up with Melinda’s presence in her home and her eyes on Nick, but she didn’t have to like it.
Traffic was light on Sunday afternoon, and she made good time on her way to Arlington, keeping half an eye on the rearview mirror looking for a tail that didn’t materialize. If Hamilton was having her followed, he wasn’t being obvious about it. There was no way anyone could get near her car outside the house with the Secret Service all over the place, and the car had been home since she brought Josh there the other day. For once, having the place crawling with Secret Service was coming in handy.
Well, that time they stopped Stahl from killing her on her own doorstep had been rather convenient too.
She kept an eye in the mirror as she took the 14th Street Bridge out of the city into Northern Virginia and headed for the Crystal City exit. That the Crystal Gateway Marriott was right next door to the Crystal City Marriott perplexed her as it always did. Who’d had the big idea to give two hotels practically the same name? Freddie had said Gateway, hadn’t he?
She pulled up to the main door and flashed her badge to the valet on duty. “I won’t be long.”
His eyes bugged when he recognized her.
Sam was long gone before he stopped gawking. Inside, she used a house phone to ask the operator to connect her with Freddie Cruz’s room. He answered on the first ring.
“Yeah.”
“It’s me. Where are you?”
“Room 718.”
“On my way.”
“Were you tailed?”
“Not that I could tell.”
“Okay.”
Sam took the elevator to the seventh floor and followed the hallway signs to the room. She knocked once, and Freddie opened the door. With one look she could see he was harried and annoyed.
“Thank God you’re here,” he said in a low growl. “He’s driving me nuts.”
Josh was pacing the small room, energy coming off his body in waves that were nearly visible. With his face a scary shade of red, he looked like he was about to blow from the pressure building inside him.
“Josh,” Sam said, since he hadn’t seemed to notice her arrival.
Whirling around, he said, “You gotta let me out of here. He’s going to find me. I’m like a sitting duck here.”
“Calm down—”
“Don’t tell me to calm down! You don’t know him! You don’t know what he’s capable of!”
“Why don’t you tell me?”
His lips tightened as he shook his head. “Take my word for it.”
“I wish I could, but I just met you on Friday, and his reputation is legendary, so you’ll have to forgive me if I need more to go on.”
He took a series of deep breaths, obviously trying to calm himself down. “He raised me, and I’m terrified of him. What else do you need to know?”
“Specifics. Why are you terrified of him?”
“He’s ruthless. Nothing I ever did was good enough for him. If I screwed up, he beat the shit out of me. If I mouthed off, he beat the shit out of me.”
“Just you, or your siblings too?”
“I don’t know if he ever hit them. They’re older than me, and by the time I was old enough to be his punching bag they were out of the house.”
“And you never asked them?”
Shaking his head, he said, “Until now, I’ve never told anyone that he hit me.”
“Did your mother know?”
“I think she did, but she never said anything, and she certainly didn’t try to stop it.”
“So she wasn’t in the room when he hit you?”
“Never. It was only ever the two of us.”
“Why didn’t you tell me this the other day?”
“Because! It’s not something I just blab about. I know who he is and what people think of him. Who’s going to believe me over him?”
“I believe you, Josh.”
He stopped moving, and his shoulders sagged, as if he’d been relieved of a weighty burden. “You do? Really?”
“Yeah, I do. I’ve been in this business a lot of years, and I know the difference between someone who’s playing the sympathy card and someone who’s been the victim of violence.”
At that, he stood up straighter again. “I am not a victim. I’m a survivor. Huge difference.”
“You’re right. There is a huge difference.”
“I can’t stay here. He’s going to find me, and when he does, he’ll kill me.”
Sam exchanged glances with Freddie, who looked as tense as she felt. “Give me a minute to talk to my partner, okay? We’ll figure something out.”
Josh didn’t acknowledge her question or her statement, so Sam turned and took Freddie by the arm. “Hallway.”
They stepped outside the room.
“You’ve got a key?”
“Yeah.”
She nodded toward the alcove next to the elevators, which was just around the corner from the room. “What’s your take?” she asked when they were out of earshot of the room.
“I believe him. He’s legitimately terrified.”
“I agree. I think it’s time to call in the brass on this. I didn’t want to until we were sure we had something, but his fear is enough for me to involve the department. This is way above my pay grade.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that. How do we explain what we’ve done so far?”
“I’ll figure that out on the way to Farnsworth’s house.”
“You’re going to his house?”
“That’s where I’m most likely to find him on a Sunday afternoon, and PS I grew up going to his house, remember?”
“Since I wasn’t actually there, no, I don’t remember.”
“Very funny. I’m suspended, so they have to cut me out of this, but you’ll keep me in the loop, understood?”
“Of course. What do we tell Josh?”
“That I’m going to talk to my chief to figure out how to keep him safe while investigating his claims.”
“He’s gonna freak. He’s been ranting that people are going to find out the truth about Troy Hamilton and how someone’s going to kill him.”
“You think he’s mentally ill?”
“No, I think he’s truly terrified. When the calls from his father started, he did a one-eighty. Before that he was calm, we were chilling, watching TV. After the calls, he was unhinged. I’ve seen nothing that smacks of mental illness, and I’d recognize it if I saw it.” The comment was a reminder that Freddie’s father, who’d recently reentered his life after a twenty-year absence, suffered from bipolar disorder.
“I’ll talk to him and explain the plan. Your job is to keep him calm until I get back.”
“Lucky me.” They rounded the corner and Freddie withdrew the keycard from his pocket to open the door to an empty room. “Aw, shit, he’s gone.”
“Check the bathroom,” Sam said, her heart sinking.
“Gone.”
“Fuck.” She rushed out of the room and ran for the stairwell at the end of the hallway, well aware that he had a decent head start on them. Freddie’s pounding footsteps followed behind her. They went down seven flights and burst into the lobby, startling an older couple.
“You’re the second lady!” the man said.
Ignoring him, Sam said to Freddie, “Take the back.” She ran for the main doors, hoping for a glimpse of Josh before he disappeared, but there was no sign of him. Motherfucker. She jogged to the corner of Fifteenth Street, but he wasn’t there either. Goddamn it.
Freddie came out the front door and ran over to her. “Anything?”
“No.”
Sam powered up her phone and tried to call Josh, but the call went straight to voicemail. She left a message, begging him to call her, to trust her to keep him safe, and then slapped the phone closed.
“So what now?”
“Now I do what I probably should’ve done on Friday,” she said grimly. “I’m going to Farnsworth.”
“What should I do?”
“Grab your stuff and anything of Josh’s out of the room and go home.. I’ll call you after I see the chief.”
“You were trying to help him, Sam. You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“Maybe so, but if he turns up dead, that’s on me.”
“No, it’s on the person who kills him.”
“Let’s hope we can find him before anything happens.”
“Since I’ve got nothing going on at home until later when Elin gets back, I’m heading to HQ. Hit me up there when you know what the plan is.”
“What do I tell the Rollings family if he turns out to be their son and I can’t find him?”
“We’ll find him.”
As Sam trudged to her car, her stomach aching the way it used to when she was strung out on diet cola, she wished she shared his certainty.
CHAPTER NINE (#ulink_5cf0727a-1873-505f-9294-7de7f00236a9)
JOE AND MARTI FARNSWORTH lived in a modest home in the city’s Kingman Park neighborhood, known for its brick-fronted townhouses and social activism. The chief believed in living among the people he served, and they had resided in the same house for more than thirty years. Sam and her sisters had been frequent guests there, for holidays, barbecues and even an occasional sleepover.
Uncle Joe and Aunt Marti had been like family to the Holland girls, which is why Sam didn’t think twice about going to the chief’s home on a Sunday afternoon. Marti answered the door, her face lighting up with pleasure at the sight of Sam. They’d last seen each other at Nick’s inauguration.
Sam returned Marti’s warm embrace.
“What a lovely surprise! Joe and I were talking about you and Nick last night. We heard he was in the hospital! Is he all right?”
“He’s much better. He and Scotty have been laid low by the flu.”
“Aww, the poor guys.”
“The good news is I finally have definitive proof that Nick is not superhuman.”
Marti laughed as she linked her arm through Sam’s to lead her into the family room where Joe was face-first in the Redskins game. “Earth to honey, we have a visitor.”
Joe tore his gaze off the TV and did a double take when he saw Sam with Marti.
“Sorry to bother you at home, sir.”
“Oh, stop that, Sam,” Marti said. “He’s Uncle Joe here.”
