Page 125 of State of Suspense

“Go for it. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy the White House hospitality. Have a nice evening.”

“What was that about?” Nick asked.

“Bryant shouldn’t be here.”

Nick made eye contact with Brant and tipped his head to request a word with his lead agent.

“Yes, sir?”

“Congressman Bryant’s invitation should’ve been rescinded after he was charged with crimes. Will you see to removing him?”

Brant frowned. “Right away, sir.”

Nick placed a hand on Sam’s lower back. “All set.”

“Power is sexy on you.”

“Stop.”

“Seriously hot.” Sam never got tired of how flustered he became when she commented on his hotness.

As they greeted more guests, Sam watched the Secret Service escort Bryant from the event, not making any effort to be discreet about it.

After catching the filthy look he directed her way as he was marched toward the exit, she waggled her fingers at him.

“What the hell was Bryant doing here?” Gonzo asked when she was able to break away from the formalities to have a word with her team.

“I believe he slipped through the Shelby-had-a-baby, Terry-is-home-with-Lindsey cracks in the fortress.”

“It was kind of fun watching him be tossed out on his ass,” Gonzo said.

“For me as well. What’s the latest?”

“First of all, the Davies hearing was postponed to tomorrow after the judge had an asthma attack.” They’d learned that Stahl had framed Eric Davies on rape charges after he complained about Stahl after a traffic stop years earlier. Davies had been in prison for sixteen years because of fabricated charges.

“Oh jeez. That poor guy has to spend another night in jail.”

“I know. That’s what we were saying earlier. Second, we can’t find any sign that O’Walsh, the golf pro, ever existed. We think it’s possible he was working under an assumed name.”

“Great. Now what?”

“We’re tracking down some coworkers who knew him to see what they can tell us. More to come on that. I tracked down the rest of Bryant’s now-former employees and discovered they’d all returned to Wisconsin the minute they heard he was arrested. One of them told me that they’d been disgusted by him for a while, but when they heard he ordered their friend and colleague Zach killed and to make it look like Zach was Bryant’s son, that was it for them. We’ve confirmed that most of them were gone that same night.”

“Thanks for closing that loop. At least we know now there wasn’t some other member of his team on the loose who might’ve killed Tom.”

“We also looked into Cox’s assistant, Henry Allston, and there’s not much to be found online.”

“By not much…”

“Hardly anything. No school info, no job history, not much of anything other than being part of a winning Little League baseball team when he was a kid.”

Sam scanned the huge tent and found Cox at one of the VIP tables in the front. He was laughing at something the man next to him had said.

“I’ll have a talk with the AG and see what he can tell me about his assistant.”

“Here?” Freddie asked.

“It’s not like he’s going to invite me back to his place after our last conversation.”

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