Page 188 of State of Denial

“Have a good weekend,” she said as they parted company outside the morgue.

“You, too,” Gonzo said.

Sam called Vernon on her cell. “I need a favor.”

“What can I do for you?”

“I need to stop at one of our safe houses in a vehicle that can’t be easily identified as Secret Service. Is that possible?”

“Let me make a call, and I’ll get right back to you.”

“Thanks.”

Sam waited ten minutes for him to call her back.

“We’ve got a vehicle on the way. It’ll be here in ten minutes.”

“Thanks, Vernon.”

“Sure thing.”

The vehicle wasa white Mercedes SUV.

“Fancy,” Sam said as she got into the back seat.

“I’m glad you like it,” Vernon said. “It’s mine. My wife calls it my midlife-crisis car.”

Sam laughed. “I think I’d like her.”

“Oh, you definitely would. And vice versa.”

Saying his wife would like her, she realized, was one of the best compliments he could pay her.

“Where to?” he asked when he got into the driver’s seat, next to Jimmy in the passenger seat.

Sam gave him the address that was six blocks from their Ninth Street home. “Make sure we’re not followed, okay?”

“Always do.”

As Vernon drove her out of the parking lot, she took a long look at the building where so much of her life had taken place and felt satisfaction from another tough case closed, another job well done by the men and women she worked with.

Did they always get it right? Not by a long shot, but as long as they continued to give each of their victims their absolute best effort while they cleaned up the messes of the past, they’d be able to sleep at night.

That was all they could ask of themselves as they showed up every day to do a job most people would find repellent. Hell,shefound it repellent on many a day. But it was a job that needed to be done. While they put away people who’d committed the most despicable of crimes, hopefully their work also served as a deterrent to others who might commit similar crimes.

Vernon brought the car to a stop outside a familiar house. Sam recalled keeping Selina Rameriz safe there during an earlier investigation.

“I won’t be long,” she said to Vernon as he held the door for her.

“Take your time, ma’am.”

Sam went up the stairs and showed her badge to the officer on duty.

He opened the door for her.

Inside, Sam asked another officer if she could speak to Isaiah.

“He’s in the living room, ma’am. Watching a movie.”

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