Page 53 of State of Suspense

“Thank you, Mr. President.”

“Keep us posted on how she’s doing and give her our love.”

“I will, sir. Thank you again.”

“Anything for family. I’ll check on you in the morning.”

The line went dead.

He smiled at Lindsey. “Well, I guess you’ve got yourself a full-time nurse.”

“No one I’d rather have.”

Chapter Ten

By the time they arrived back at HQ, Sam was in serious pain, but made an intense effort to hide that from Freddie, Vernon and Jimmy. She had to push through this day, move the Forrester case along and get ready for tomorrow’s first lady duties. In her mind, there was no option other than to forge ahead.

Vernon and Jimmy, who normally remained outside while she was working, led the way into HQ, as if they didn’t trust that she’d allow Harry to check her before resuming the investigation.

“What’re you guys doing?” she asked them.

“Our jobs,” Vernon said.

She gritted her teeth as she walked into the morgue entrance, stopping to confer with Byron. “Any word on Lindsey?”

“Nothing yet. Terry is with her, and they promised to update us later. She asked me to get back here because we’re so in the weeds with the Stahl case.”

“Keep me in the loop if you hear anything.”

“I will.”

She left the morgue and continued the trek to the pit, which had never seemed farther away than it did now.

“What’s going on?” Freddie asked in a low tone that couldn’t be overheard.

“Nothing.”

“Sam.”

She turned her formidable glare on him. “Nothing. End it.” Thankfully, he backed off as they reached the pit, where Harry leaned against the wall outside her office, checking his phone.

“Hey,” she said. “Thanks for coming by. How’s Lindsey?”

He did a quick visual assessment and then frowned. “She’s doing okay, but you, on the other hand…”

“Hush. Come in.”

With her left hand, she fished her keys out of her right front pants pocket, which wasn’t as easy to do as it might seem.

“Jesus, Sam.”

“Please… If you care about me at all, don’t say another word out here.”

He followed her into the office and closed the door.

“I’m up against it, Harry. We’ve got the Feds trying to take over our investigation, the Canadians coming to town, and there is no way I can be out of commission right now. Can you patch me up until I get through tomorrow?”

“I can try.” He reached for a medical bag she hadn’t noticed. “Where should we start?”

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