Page 70 of State of Alert

“Excellent, thank you. Detective Cruz, will you please go relieve the family members of their phones and deliver them to Lieutenant Archelotta?”

Freddie took a copy of the printed warrant from Malone. “Will do.”

“Assume Haggerty and the CSU team have the laptops and other devices covered?” Sam asked Malone.

“You assume correctly. They’re still processing the scene.”

“What’s going on at Stahl’s house?” Sam asked hesitantly. She tried to never think about the bodies that’d been found there or how those victims had been murdered by a man who’d taken the same oath to uphold the law that she had.

“The forensic team will be wrapping up their work thisweek. Then we’ll sit down and go over everything we’ve got and meet with the U.S. Attorney’s team about additional charges.”

“Any word on who the new USA will be?”

“I’m hearing the president plans to appoint Catherine McDermott. She’ll have to be confirmed by the Senate.”

Again, how bizarre was it to hear one of her colleagues refer to an action by the president, who happened to be Sam’s husband? “What do we know about her?”

“She’s the former Attorney General of Oregon, known for being extremely by the book with a take-no-prisoners approach.”

“Charming.” Sam glanced over her shoulder at her team hard at work on the Myerson case. “Do you have a minute?”

“Sure.”

“Your place or mine?”

“Yours is closer.”

They went into Sam’s office, and she closed the door before taking the seat behind her desk.

“What’s on your mind?”

“You’re up to speed on what’s gone down with Juan Rodriguez?”

“I am. It’s unbelievable.”

“It is, but I wanted to talk to you about something else.” She tried to collect her thoughts.

“Yesterday, when I went to the church to observe the operation involving Judge Sawyer, I was in the Emergency Response trailer where Captain Ruiz holds court.”

“Speaking of charming.”

“Yes, she’s a piece of work who doesn’t think too much of me, apparently.”

“Why do you say that?”

“She treated me like I was radioactive or something, and as I watched and listened to the operation go down outside the church, I felt incredibly impotent. While my team was out there putting themselves in danger, I was locked away in thetrailer, unable to help them because my face would ruin everything if the perp got a good enough look at it.”

“And yet, you were the one who ended up arresting him.”

“That was a lucky break.”

“A lucky break that led to the arrest of the man who murdered a U.S. Attorney, who happened to be our friend and colleague, and shot our friend and colleague Agent Hill.”

“I’m glad we got him. Don’t get me wrong.”

“Yougot him. There was nowein the arrest.”

“The whole team worked on that case, put themselves in danger to see it through. He was at the church and made us. He could’ve shot and killed Cori Sawyer or any member of our team, while I sat on the sidelines, out of harm’s way, with my lead Secret Service agent by my side.”

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