Page 69 of State of Suspense

“My sister, Donna.” He recited her phone number. “She keeps in touch with the kids.”

Sam wrote down the number and handed the paper to Freddie, who left to pass the info on to Jesse Best. “What’s your relationship with Reginald Cox?”

“The AG?”

No, the mayor of Phoenix. “Yes.”

“I’ve known him almost as long as I’ve been in Washington. He was a prominent lawyer before becoming the AG. I met him at a few dinner parties back in the day.”

“And you became friends with him?”

He shifted in his seat the way people did when something made them uncomfortable. “Acquaintances.”

“Did he play cards at your house every week?”

The question shocked him. “What? No.”

“We have witnesses who say he did.”

“I mean, like, I knew him, but we weren’t buddies or anything.”

“Weren’t you?”

“No!”

“Did it make you mad when he asked his pal—and yours—Forrester to investigate your campaign finance irregularities?”

Judging by the way Bryant’s already red face turned an alarming shade of purple, he’d cared very much about that. “That was a wild-goose chase. There was no there there.”

“So you say, but according to Forrester’s team, he’d found significant concerns that he’d reported directly to Cox.” As far as she knew, that wasn’t true, but Bryant didn’t need to know that.

Freddie returned to the room and took his seat next to her.

“What did he find?” Bryant asked, sputtering. “That’s bullshit. I run a clean operation.”

Sam didn’t believe that for a second, but he probably knew how to make it look clean even if it wasn’t. “I’m not sure of the details. All I know is that Forrester had reported to Cox that he was finding irregularities.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.”

“Don’t shoot the messenger.”

Bryant sat back in his chair, fuming. “What’s the point of this anyway?”

“I want to know about your friendship with Forrester and Cox.”

“Friendship? I wasn’t friends with Forrester. Not after he started trying to ruin my life!”

“Where’d you go after you were released on bail?”

“Home. I went straight home.”

“We have people working on tracking the pings on your cell phone. Are we going to find anyone associated with you anywhere near Constitution Avenue at the time of Forrester’s shooting?”

“No, you won’t. I wouldn’t have had any idea where to find him.”

“Even after your thugs took his family hostage?”

The lawyer glanced at him nervously. “What is she talking about, Congressman?”

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