Fatal Jeopardy

by Marie Force

  “I want you to know I’m incredibly flattered to be sitting in this room, in this building, talking to the president of the United States about something so far outside my reality I feel like I must be dreaming. No matter what I decide, please know how deeply honored I am to have been asked.”

  “I appreciate your candor, Senator. It’s one of the things I most admire about you. We’ve certainly taken enough of your time when the Senate is in recess and you’re probably wishing you were home with your family.” Nelson stood and extended his hand.

  Nick rose and shook his hand and Ambrose’s too. “Thank you, Mr. President. I’ll be in touch.”

  “I’ll look forward to hearing from you. Tom, if you would, please give the senator my direct number.”

  “Of course, Mr. President,” Hanigan said as he and Derek escorted Nick and Terry from the Oval Office.

  “I didn’t want to say this in there,” Hanigan said when they were in his office. “But Halliwell wanted to be here for the meeting, but the president said no. He didn’t want to overwhelm you with DNC pressure on top of the pressure he was already exerting. But you should know the party leadership is incredibly jazzed about the idea of you as VP.”

  “That’s good to know,” Nick said, feeling like an elephant was sitting on his chest.

  Hanigan handed him a business card with the president’s direct line written on the back. “Thanks for coming in.”

  Nick shook hands with him. “Thanks for having me. I think.”

  Hanigan chuckled at the comment as he shook hands with Terry. “We’ll be waiting to hear from you, so don’t take too long to think it over.”

  “I understand the urgency.”

  Derek walked them out. “Pretty crazy, huh?”

  “That’s one word for it,” Nick said to the man who’d been his friend for almost as long as Nick had worked in Washington. They’d come up through the ranks together as congressional staffers and had forged a close friendship in the process. “I’m really excited for you, Nick,” he said in a low tone that couldn’t be overheard. “Couldn’t happen to a better guy.”

  Nick shook Derek’s hand. “That means a lot coming from you, my friend. Thank you. Hope to see you on Thanksgiving.”

  “I’ll be by at some point.”

  “We’ll be there.”

  Nick and Terry walked out of the White House into the November darkness that arrived earlier every day this time of year. The air was moist with drizzle, and the temperature had dropped with the sun. Nick buttoned his overcoat against the chill.

  “Holy. Shit,” Terry said when they’d cleared the White House gates.

  “Tell me how you really feel,” Nick said.

  “This is freaking incredible! Are you going to do it?”

  “I don’t know. I need to talk to Sam, and right now, more than anything, I want to talk to your dad.”

  “Then let’s go to the farm, Senator.”

  * * *

  As Sam and the others emerged from their meeting, Freddie was returning to the pit.

  “How’s our friend Hoda?” Sam asked him.

  “As predicted, the intake process took some of the piss and vinegar out of her. She’s in interrogation two with Officer Bailey keeping an eye on her until we’re ready to talk.”

  “You ought to get in there and talk to her before she starts screaming about lawyers,” Sam said.

  “You’re not coming?”

  “As much as I’d love to rip that little bitch to shreds, she’s tied to Brooke’s case, and I don’t want to do anything that would endanger that.”

  Freddie dabbed at his eyes dramatically. “I think our little lieutenant is finally growing up,” he said to Gonzo, who busted up laughing.

  “I’m not amused,” Sam said, even though she had to admit it was pretty funny. She’d never give him the satisfaction of knowing that, however.

  “I assume you’ll be observing,” Gonzo said.

  “You assume correctly. Based on what we know about the timeline, she may have witnessed the homicide, so you’ll want to get one of the Millers down here too.”

  “I’ll call up there now,” Freddie said.

  Ten minutes later, the click of Assistant U.S. Attorney Faith Miller’s stiletto heels preceded her into the pit. “What’ve we got?”

  They brought her up to speed on Hoda’s involvement in the case.

  “It’s possible she might’ve seen everything,” Sam concluded. “Based on what she said to me about saving Brooke’s life, I also believe she was the one who got Brooke out of there after the killings went down. Other than Brooke, Hoda is the only one we’ve been able to identify who might’ve been there when the killing happened and got out alive. I’m willing to deal on the malicious mischief charges associated with her busting Brooke out of school and the attempted murder charges in exchange for what she saw at the Springers’ house.” Sam paused before she added, “Despite her bluster, she’s an eighteen-year-old kid who got in way over her head, so let’s go at it with kindness until we have a reason to get tough with her.”

  “I want to hear what she has to say,” Faith said, “but I tend to agree with the lieutenant about lesser charges in exchange for an eyewitness account to what happened in the Springers’ basement.”

  “We’ll see what we can do,” Gonzo said. “Let’s get to it, Cruz.”

  Freddie chased a bag of peanut M&M’s with a bottle of cola and followed Gonzo into the hallway that led to the interrogation rooms.

  “Is he always eating?” Faith asked. “Or is it only when I’m around?”

  “Sadly, it’s all the time,” Sam replied as she followed Faith to the observation room. “I swear I gain weight just by working with him.”

  “He sure does wear it well.”

  “That he does. I tell him all the time that I hope I’m around to see his metabolism grind to a halt the way mine has.” Sam clicked on the intercom so they could listen in to the interview with Hoda.

  She was dressed in an orange jumpsuit. Her face was puffy and swollen from crying, and she slumped in her chair, showing much less bravado than she’d displayed earlier. Just as Sam had suspected, being booked on formal charges had taken the girl down a few pegs.

  Gonzo introduced himself and reintroduced Cruz and went through the motions of getting her permission to record the interview.

  “I’m going to be honest with you, Hoda,” Gonzo said, diving right in. “You’re in a shitload of trouble. Do you understand you’re looking at attempted murder charges for firing at my lieutenant?”

  “Yes,” she muttered.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you.”

  “Yes! I know it was stupid, and it’s a big deal.”

  “Do you know if you’re convicted on the charges, you’re looking at a long stay in prison, and that with four cops as witnesses to the shooting, the conviction would be a slam dunk?”

  Hoda swiped angrily at the tears that ran down her face. Sam had little doubt that Hoda was furious with herself for allowing her emotions to get the better of her. In some strange, odd way, Sam could identify with this kid with the chip on her shoulder. She hadn’t been that different when she was eighteen. Only the fact that she hadn’t been allowed to run wild had kept her from taking the path Hoda was on. “I know I’m in trouble. So what’s the point of this conversation?”

  “The point is, we believe you know what happened at the Springers’ house the other night, and we’re willing to consider lesser charges for you if you’re able to help us get justice for the nine kids who were murdered.”

  She was shaking her head before he finished speaking. “I don’t know anything about that.”

  “We think you do.”

  She continued to shake her head, but the tears pouring from her eyes told ano
ther story.

  “Did you see who killed all those kids?”

  “No,” she said, wiping up the flood of tears.

  “Hoda...I know this is really hard, but if you saw something and you don’t tell us, it’s possible they could get away with it. We haven’t found a murder weapon. We have no sign of forced entry. We can’t find anyone else, other than you and Brooke, who was drugged up and out of it, who were still there when the murders happened.”

  Hoda put her face in her hands as she continued to shake her head.

  “Someone got Brooke out of there. We think that someone was you. Want to know how I think it went down?”

  “No.”

  “Let me tell you anyway,” Gonzo continued, speaking in a gentle, soothing tone. “I think Brooke went in the bedroom with Todd while you stayed out with the others, drinking, popping some pills, maybe fooling around with one of the guys. Perhaps you went into the bathroom and were in there when things went bad. Maybe they never saw you in there, but you saw them. You know who they were. You know what happened, don’t you, Hoda?”

  She laid her head down on her arms and sobbed.

  Freddie moved to the other side of the room and sat next to her, patting her back with the compassion Sam had come to expect from her kindhearted partner.

  “The poor kid,” Faith said. “Imagine witnessing that.”

  While Sam was empathetic to what Hoda had seen, she still wanted to hear the full story from her.

  “Hoda,” Freddie said. “I understand how upsetting this is for you and how horrifying the images have to be that are trapped in your mind forever. But if you tell us what you saw, maybe you’ll feel better. Maybe you’ll get some peace if you help us get justice for the kids who were killed.”

  “I can’t say it,” she said between sobs.

  “What can’t you say?” Freddie asked.

  “I can’t say what I saw because then he’ll want to kill me too.”

  “We won’t let that happen,” Freddie said. “We’ll take care of you, Hoda. You have my word on that.”

  “I shot at you and your partner. Why are you being so nice to me?”

  “Because I believe you witnessed something no one should ever have to see, and that made you do something you wouldn’t ordinarily do.”

  “I’m sorry I shot at your lieutenant. I was so scared, and I didn’t want to have to go with you.”

  “I understand. Can you tell me what happened Friday night?”

  She sat up, wiped her face and seemed resigned now to her fate, even as her chest continued to heave with sobs. “You know about me going to get Brooke at her school, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “She wanted so badly to see Todd, and I wanted to help her. We weren’t sure if it would work, but it did.”

  “What time did you arrive at Hugo’s house?”

  “Around nine thirty or so?”

  “And what did you do once you got there?”

  Hoda shrugged. “Had some drinks and stuff. Hung out, listened to music.”

  “You both took some of the pills Hugo had provided?”

  She nodded. “It was Molly. We’d done it before.”

  Hearing Brooke had done Molly before, Sam closed her eyes and shook her head in dismay.

  “What happened then?”

  “Brooke went to hook up with Todd in the bedroom. I stayed in the other room. I was kind of hanging with Kevin, making out and stuff. After a while Todd came out and some of the other guys went in the back bedroom. I had to go to the bathroom, and I think I fell asleep or something while I was in there. I woke up when I heard someone screaming. The music was really loud, but I could hear screaming. So I opened the door a crack to see what was going on.” Her voice broke on those words and new tears tumbled down her cheeks.

  “It’s okay, Hoda,” Freddie said, offering her a drink of water. “Take your time.”

  She drank a couple of mouthfuls of water and wiped her face. “Hugo’s brother, Billy, was there. They were right outside the bathroom door so I could hear them. Billy was screaming at Hugo about stealing from him, and how he was in deep shit because Hugo had taken stuff from his apartment. Billy said, ‘You don’t even know what you’ve done.’ Hugo told him to fuck off and leave him alone. He went back to fooling around with the girl he was with. Billy went upstairs and came back down with a knife and just went sick. He started with Hugo, and he went around the room. The music was so loud, no one could really hear anything, and the lights were off except for some candles they had burning. I thought it was over and then a girl came out of the bedroom, and Billy saw her, so he went in there. I was so scared he was going to see me, so I stayed really quiet, even though I was crying and freaking out about Brooke cuz I knew she was in that bedroom. He came out of there, and was breathing really hard. I was still peeking through the crack in the bathroom door. I held my breath, and I was praying so hard he wouldn’t see me.

  “And then he went upstairs, and I heard the front door open. As soon as I knew he was gone, I ran for my phone and asked my friend Davey to come get me. I went into the bedroom to find Brooke.” Hoda wiped her face and took another sip of water. “There was blood everywhere, but someone had put a comforter over her, so he didn’t see her. I could feel her chest moving so I grabbed a sheet and wrapped it around her and dragged her out of there. I went into the garage and waited for Davey to come. He showed up with one of his friends and he helped me get her out of there.”

  “Did Davey know what you’d seen in the Springers’ house?”

  Hoda shook her head. “I didn’t tell anyone. Even Nico doesn’t know why I was so upset.”

  “Why did you and Davey take Brooke to her aunt’s house?”

  “Because her aunt would know what to do. Brooke’s mom tends to freak out over the slightest thing, but Brooke always said her aunt was kind of cool. Plus she’s a cop, so it just seemed like the right thing to do. We watched for them to come home. If they didn’t come soon, we were going to call nine-one-one.”

  Sam tucked her trembling hands under her arms so Faith wouldn’t see how undone she was after hearing how close Brooke had come to being murdered. “What do you think?” Sam asked Faith.

  “It’s going to be tough to go on the testimony of an eighteen-year-old who admits she was high on Molly and had been drinking before she became the lone witness to mass murder. It’ll be a stretch to sell her as a credible witness to a jury.”

  “But she had the wherewithal to get herself and Brooke out of there, to call for help, to take Brooke to my house, to wait to make sure we came home and found her. That shows capacity, even if it was diminished.”

  “Still...I’m not convinced it’s enough to go after Bill Springer’s son for murder.”

  “And now we get to the crux of the matter.”

  “He’d shred her in court, and you know it, Sam. Her story would be so full of holes we’d be able sail an aircraft carrier through it by the time he was finished with her.”

  Sam couldn’t deny that Faith made a good point.

  “So what do we do?”

  “Find Billy Springer, get him in here and ask him where he was when his brother was killed. He’ll give you an alibi that won’t hold up. You’ll search his apartment, and maybe get lucky and find the murder weapon. You know what you have to do.”

  “Yeah, but it sure would make my life easier if I could arrest him due to an eyewitness putting him at the scene and identifying him as our killer.”

  “It might be easier, but it’s not enough.”

  “I used to like you,” Sam grumbled.

  Faith laughed. “And you will again when we’re able to put together an airtight case that holds up in court.”

  “Fine.”

  “Fine.”

  “Happy freaki
ng Thanksgiving,” Sam added.

  “It will be if you get this sewn up before turkey day.”

  When she saw Gonzo and Freddie heading out of the interrogation room, Sam went to the door with Faith in tow.

  “How’d we do?” Gonzo asked, wearing a big smile.

  “It’s a good start according to Faith.”

  Gonzo’s smile faded. “Just a start? It’s not enough?”

  “It’s not enough,” Faith said, reiterating her concerns with Hoda’s ability to successfully testify.

  “Let’s go pick up Billy Springer,” Gonzo said.

  “Wait just a minute,” Chief Farnsworth said as he joined them. “What’s this about Billy Springer?”

  Sam glanced to Gonzo, letting him know this one was all his.

  “We have an eyewitness who puts him at the scene and saw him wielding a knife as he methodically took out a room full of teens.”

  “Ah, Christ,” the chief said as he sagged with visible exhaustion. “You’re really building a murder case against Bill Springer’s son?” he asked, looking directly at Sam.

  She held up her hands. “Don’t look at me. This case is all his.” She pointed to Gonzo.

  “Gee, thanks, Lieutenant,” Gonzo said. “You’re a pal.”

  “You gotta take the bad with the good.”

  “Tell me what you’ve got,” Farnsworth said.

  Gonzo filled him on what they’d learned from Hoda as well as the fact that Billy Springer’s name had come up repeatedly during the investigation.

  “We may have a bit of a problem,” Farnsworth said tentatively.

  “What kind of problem?” Sam asked.

  He rubbed a hand over his face. “Vice has had eyes on him for months now. We’ve got undercover officers positioned near him, and they’re close to an arrest. Apparently, the stash Hugo stole from his brother’s apartment was going to seal the deal. They were waiting for him to come home to arrest him, but Hugo got there first and carted off the goods.”

  “And they just let him?” Sam asked, infuriated and incredulous.

  “You’ve been undercover, Lieutenant. You know how you have to sometimes look the other way to maintain cover and keep the greater prize in mind.”