Page 62 of State of the Union (First Family 3)

Chapter Twelve

“What’s up?” Sam asked Erica, a detective she liked and respected.

“Hearing rumblings that Ramsey is coming back to work while his firing is being appealed.”

Sam groaned. “Just when we thought we’d seen the last of that son of a bitch.”

“But he has rights, don’t you know.”

“Whatever. We have rights, too, and one of them is the right to come to work and not have to deal with assholes.”

Erica snorted out a laugh as she sat in Sam’s visitor chair. “Exactly. With all this shit about Stahl and his past cases coming to light, we don’t need people like Ramsey making the rest of us look bad.”

“Agreed. Hopefully, the appeal won’t go anywhere.”

“From your lips to God’s ears. So, tell me the truth. How was Camp David?”

“Pretty and rustic. What I saw of it, anyway. Nick loved it.”

“Did you?”

“I wanted to.”

“But?”

“I felt a little odd about being on a mountaintop, removed from everything here.”

“Odd. Is that another way of saying you were coming out of your skin?”

“Maybe,” Sam said, laughing. “I so want downtime with my family, but the isolation there was crazy. Which, of course, was exactly what Nick needed. I’ll suck it up occasionally so he can get out of La Casa Blanca.”

“Good plan. Is it all still surreal?”

“It’s becoming a little less so as we get used to it—as much as anyone gets used to it. Thankfully, they’re mostly leaving me to do my thing here and not expecting me to be a traditional first lady—not that there’s anything wrong with being a traditional first lady.”

“I get you. It’s not your thing.”

“No, it most definitely isn’t. I have a great team there helping to keep me engaged without me having to be engaged, if that makes sense.”

“It does, and it lets you have the best of both worlds. I’m gonna go and let you get home to your family.”

“Thanks for the info you brought us.”

“Let me know if anything comes of it. We’re still looking for the guy. He did a number on our victim. She was in the hospital for more than a week.”

“But she got away.”

“Because she had self-defense training. He took her by surprise, so she couldn’t fight back until after he’d assaulted her. She believes he intended to kill her, but she hasn’t been able to tell us much else. She’s severely traumatized.”

“Is that in the report?”

“Yep.”

“Thanks again.”

“You got it.”

After Erica left, Sam put her coat on and grabbed her bag, phone and keys. “I’m out,” she said to Dani, Gigi and Freddie. “And you,” she said, pointing to Freddie, “need to go home, too.”

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