Page 38 of State of Suspense

“I was in here then.”

“I’m aware.”

His gaze darted between her and Freddie. “Are you looking at Bryant for that?”

“Among others.”

“Bryant doesn’t have the balls to kill anyone, especially someone like Forrester. Besides, wasn’t he locked up, too?”

“Would he order it done?”

“Possibly, but that wouldn’t stop the investigation. Cox would just assign someone else to it.”

Sam’s antenna perked at the casual mention of Cox. “Do you know the AG?”

“I met him a couple of times. The congressman was friendly with him.”

Isn’t that interesting? “Friendly in what way?”

“The AG came to his weekly poker game, and they caught a few Feds games over the summer. That kind of thing.”

A tingle attacked Sam’s backbone, which happened any time she started to feel like she was on to something major in an investigation. “Did Tom Forrester ever come to the poker nights or baseball games?”

“A few times, here and there. Not as often as Cox, though. He and Bryant are tight.”

Sam was outraged that Cox hadn’t mentioned any of this to her and anxious over what she might have to do about it. How was it possible that her husband’s AG might figure prominently in a murder investigation? What a freaking nightmare that could turn out to be.

“If Cox was so tight with Bryant, why do you suppose he asked Forrester to investigate Bryant’s campaign finance irregularities?”

“I have no idea.”

“How long had Bryant and Cox been tight?”

“As long as I worked for Bryant, so for more than five years.”

“Had they become closer recently?”

Aaron thought about that for a second. “Yeah, I guess they had. Cox was definitely around more. I remember thinking that for someone with such a big job, he sure had a lot of free time to chill with Bryant.”

Sam was detecting something rotten. “Is there anything else you can tell us about Bryant, Cox and Forrester?”

“Just that there was a big argument among the three of them right before shit got real with Forrester’s family and all that.”

“Did you overhear the argument?”

“Not the specifics. Just the raised voices. Forrester and Cox left together and were visibly pissed.”

“Did you see them together again after that?”

“No. The next day, Bryant told us to pick up Forrester’s family and make them comfortable in a hotel. We were told to make it look like the order had come from Forrester because he was concerned for their safety.”

Son of a bitch, Sam thought. Cox is in this up to his eyeballs and totally obstructed their investigation. “This has been enormously helpful, Aaron.”

“I can’t help but wonder what might be in it for me.”

“I’ll confer with the AUSA, who’s observing, and see what we can do.”

“I’d appreciate that. I’m resigned to doing some time for Zach’s murder, but less is more.”

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