Page 72 of State of Alert

“How would anyone know what that’s like until it happens?”

“I’m not—in any way—expressing regret about who I chose to marry.”

“I know that, Sam. Thanks toSNL, the whole world knows how devoted you are to each other.”

Sam cringed. “FreakingSNL.”

“I was in the car the other day when ‘My Humps’ came on. I had to pull over because I was laughing so hard.”

Glaring at him, she said, “That’s great. Thanks for sharing.”

His laughter filled her small office. “Sorry,” he said, wheezing. “It’s so flipping funny.”

“Sure it is.”

He cleared his throat and made an obvious effort to get himself together.

“Will you do something for me, Cap?”

“Anything for you, kid.”

“If the day comes when you think I’m more trouble than I’m worth around here, or that my presence is endangering the people I work with, will you tell me?”

“That’s not going to?—”

“Will you please just tell me if that day comes?”

“Yeah, I will, but today’s not that day. I want you to consider the fact that the only reason you were in that comms truck to begin with is that you had the brilliant idea to lure Harlan Peckham out of hiding by using his next obvious victim. You put the whole thing together. You made the connection between Forrester, Hill and Judge Sawyer and the case that was made against his parents. Without you, we’d still be trying to figure out who had a reason to kill Tom. You make a difference here every single day. I know it's harder now, but you’re figuring it out, and those people out there… They’d kill for you.”

His kind words touched her deeply. “You’ll tell me if it becomes untenable.”

“I will. I promise.”

“Thank you.”

“Any time.”

As he was leaving the office, Freddie came to the door. “Myerson’s attorney is here.”

“Let’s go have a chat.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Sam enjoyed how the Myersons startled as she and Freddie burst into the room. Good. She hoped they were a little nervous about how this might go. Not that she relished putting murder victims’ families through the wringer, but she’d picked up a vibe from the eldest daughter, and she’d learned to trust her instincts on these things.

She recognized Roland Dunning, the same defense attorney representing former Deputy Chief Paul Conklin, the rat fink who’d sat on information about her father’s shooting for four years before coming clean after her dad died. Sam hadn’t expected that punch to the gut today, and it briefly threw her off her game.

“Roland Dunning for the Myersons.” He placed a gold-embossed business card on the table as if they didn’t know exactly who he was and who he represented.

Sam ignored him and his card, focusing on Frank and Zoe while Jada sat off to the side. “Are you ready to talk now?”

“We’re ready,” Frank said with a stern look for Zoe.

Freddie engaged the recording device on the table that would capture audio and video and recited a list of who was in the room and which case they were discussing.

“Zoe, were you angry enough with your mother to want her dead?” Sam asked.

“What the hell kind of question is that to ask the child of a murder victim?” Dunning asked.

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