Page 12 of State of Suspense

“A man named Kent Sanders.”

Sam recognized his name from the reports on the Fortier case. He was one of Congressman Bryant’s bodyguards and had taken an immunity deal to testify against his boss. “Where did he take you?” Sam already knew the answer but wanted to hear the details from Leslie.

“To a suite at the Washington Hilton. They told us to make ourselves at home and to order whatever we wanted from room service.”

“Did you ask why you were there?”

“Many times, but they just said Tom had asked them to keep us safe, so that’s what they were doing.”

“And Tom never told you why he’d asked that of them or what was going on?”

She shook her head.

“Had anything like this ever happened before?”

“No, never. I know he worried at times about how his work might endanger us, but he said we’d done everything we could to make our family safe, and we had to live our lives.”

“Did Tom come to the hotel at any point?”

“No, we never saw him again after he left for work that last morning when we were all here at home.”

“The people you were with at the hotel… Did you hear them talking about anything that might shed light on why you were there?”

“They were hardly ever in the room with us. The only time we saw them was when food was delivered.”

“Did you ask to leave?”

“A number of times. They said it wasn’t safe yet.”

“And they provided no details about the alleged threat?”

“None.”

“Did they take your phones?”

“They did. They said it was so we couldn’t be tracked and that it was for our own safety. I was allowed to speak to Tom once a day, which usually happened at night. Being without our phones was almost as difficult as being away from Tom. We felt very cut off from our lives.”

“Did you feel like you were in danger while you were in the custody of these people?”

“No, but I worried about Tom. If we were in danger, why wasn’t he there with us?”

“We’re looking into that. Did Tom mention anything special about his work in the days and weeks leading up to when you were taken into custody?”

“Nothing out of the ordinary. His work was always busy and intense, but he tried to leave it at the office when he was home with us.”

“Why were you taken to the ER after the FBI rescued you?”

“After our rescuers barged into the room, we were upset, so the agents thought it would be a good idea to have us checked out at the hospital.”

“Did they arrest the men who’d held you?”

“I think so. They were in an adjoining room, so I didn’t see that part.”

A teenage girl with long dark hair and her mother’s brown eyes appeared at the door. She wore a long-sleeved T-shirt with plaid pajama pants.

Her mother held out a hand to her. “Come sit with me, honey. This is my younger daughter, Aurora.”

“We’re very sorry for your loss,” Sam said to the girl.

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