Page 183 of State of Alert

“Not yet, but he knows we’re anxious. I’m sure we’ll hear from him tomorrow.”

“I hope so. Scotty has caught wind of that situation and was asking me about it.”

“What’d you tell him?”

“The truth. He’s very pleased by the possibility of adoption.”

“As am I.”

“Same. I want that done yesterday so we can move on without having to worry about any of this crap again.”

“I agree,” Nick said. “It made me so sad to learn they’re after the kids’ money. How can anyone be so callous about those two perfect angels?”

“I don’t know. It’s definitely their loss.”

“And our gain. Thank God you were there that night in the hospital and stepped up for them before they could become a meal ticket for relatives who don’t give a shit about them.”

“I was thinking about that earlier. If we hadn’t brought Scotty into our lives, we wouldn’t have been licensed foster parents, and it would’ve been a whole lot more complicated to bring them home.”

“Everything happens for a reason.”

Sam yawned loudly. “Sorry.”

“Am I boring you?”

She laughed. “Not at all. I’m just out of gas.”

“Go to sleep and have sweet dreams.”

“You, too.”

“I’m gonna dream about my sexy wife and a weekend at Camp David together.”

“Hurry home. We love you and miss you.”

“Love you and miss you, too. Night.”

“Night.”

Sam didn’t want to hang up, but she could barely keep her eyes open. She fell asleep with the BlackBerry pressed to her chest, over the heart that beat only for him.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Sam was up early to get the kids fed and off to school before she headed to work. Her first order of business was to see what Frank Myerson wanted.

When he and Dunning were settled in interview two, she and Freddie went to meet with them. While Freddie engaged the recording device, she sat across from Frank and stared him down.

He looked away.

“You asked for this meeting, Mr. Myerson. What can we do for you?”

“I… I want to confess to the murder of my wife.”

Sam hadn’t expected that. She sat back in her chair, noting that Dunning didn’t seem surprised by Frank’s confession. “Where’s this coming from all of a sudden? What happened to ‘I didn’t kill my wife? I loved her more than anything’?”

“I do love her more than anything,” he said tearfully, “but our lives had become untenable. She was so inflexible with the girls. All we did was fight because she refused to listen to anyone else’s point of view. We were governed by a murder that happened more than twenty-five years ago, before any of us knew her.”

“So you thought it would make everything better to commit another murder?”

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