Fatal Threat

by Marie Force

  “I’d love to. Where are you?”

  He gave her an address in Adams Morgan.

  “I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”

  “Sounds good. See you then.”

  Sam went into her closet, threw on shorts, a sleeveless top and running shoes in anticipation of a long day. She went back into her room to get her weapon, badge, cuffs and notebook and then fired off a text to Freddie to let him know she might be a few minutes late due to the call from Detective Green about the Samuels case.

  Nick came out of the bathroom dressed in navy blue suit pants and a light blue dress shirt with a red-and-blue-striped tie.

  “What’s the plan for Scotty today?” she asked.

  “He’s going to Ryan’s house for the afternoon,” Nick said of Scotty’s friend from school. “Darcy has all the information, and they’ll take him right after lunch.”

  “I’m glad he has something fun to do.”

  “Me too.”

  Sam kissed him. “Have a good day.”

  “Be careful out there.”

  “Always am,” she shot over her shoulder as she left the room and headed downstairs, where she grabbed a granola bar and a bottle of water before heading for the front door, nodding to Nate on the way out. “Morning.”

  “Morning, Mrs. Cappuano.”

  As she stepped out her front door, she left Mrs. Cappuano behind and slipped into her role as Lieutenant Holland. Sometimes she felt like she was leading a dual existence, skirting the line between her two roles, as well as the third and most important role as Scotty’s mother. With him on summer vacation, he liked to sleep in, so she didn’t see him until dinnertime a lot of days.

  Her sister Tracy said Scotty’s schedule was entirely normal for teenagers. It might be normal, but Sam wished she could spend more time with him while he was on vacation, especially now that his summer camp had been derailed. After she closed this case, she’d take a few days off to spend with him doing whatever he wanted. Maybe they could even go out to Dewey or Rehoboth Beach in Delaware. Although that might not be possible if the Secret Service couldn’t arrange something to their satisfaction.

  The thing she missed the most since Nick became vice president was the ability to be spontaneous. Now everything had to be planned out in excruciating detail well in advance, which drove her bonkers even if she knew it was necessary to keep Nick and Scotty safe.

  Brant was standing on the sidewalk when Sam came down the ramp. “Morning, Mrs. Cappuano.”

  “Morning, Brant.” She hesitated but for only a second before she decided to hell with it. She wanted some time with her family this summer. “I have a favor to ask.”

  “Sure. What can I do for you?”

  “I’d like to arrange a beach getaway for our family. Perhaps in Dewey or Rehoboth before Scotty has to go back to school. Is there any way to make that happen?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  “I have no idea whether Nick has time in his schedule, but I figured it couldn’t hurt to ask.”

  “I’ll let you know.”

  “Thank you—and if we could maybe try to surprise him, that’d be awesome. He doesn’t get many surprises in his life these days.” Thinking of his mother’s interview, she added, “Not good surprises, anyway.”

  Brant laughed. “You’re right about that. If we can make it happen, we will.”

  “I appreciate that and all you do to keep him safe.”

  “It’s a pleasure to work for him, ma’am.”

  Sam left him with a smile. Of course his detail liked him as much as everyone else did. It was almost impossible not to like him, except, of course, if you were the woman who gave birth to him. Sam would love to have ten minutes alone in a room with that bitch. It absolutely gutted her to witness his pain when he spoke of his mother and the many ways she’d hurt him over the years.

  He was right not to give her the satisfaction of allowing her to hurt him again by watching the interview and witnessing her heartlessness toward him in living, breathing color. Sam could only hope that the information his office released would discredit Nicoletta to the point that no one would ever again care what she had to say about her son the vice president.

  Sam arrived in Adams Morgan and double-parked a block from the address Detective Green had given her, grabbed her Kevlar vest from the trunk of her car and attached her portable radio to her hip. As she walked toward the town house, Green got out of a parked car and came over to greet her with a handshake.

  “Glad you could be here for this,” he said.

  “Me too. Thanks for the heads-up. What’s the plan?”

  “Our people are all in place. We were just waiting on you.”

  Noting the plainclothes police officers positioned outside the house and the snipers on the rooftops across the street, Sam put the vest on over her clothes and drew her weapon. “Ready when you are.”

  “This is my partner, Detective James,” Green said of the young man who approached them.

  “Nice to meet you,” Sam said, shaking his hand.

  “The honor is all mine, ma’am.”

  “Let’s do it,” Green said, waving his hand to signal the others.

  They went into the building through an unlocked door in the vestibule and took the stairs to the third floor. While Detective James flanked Green on the left, Sam took the right side.

  Green hammered on the door with a closed fist. “Police. Open up.” When there was no answer and no sound from inside, he tried again with still no answer. He glanced at his partner and Sam, both of whom nodded. Green used a steel pole known as a ram to force open the door. They rushed in after him.

  The living room was clear, so they fanned out to search the other rooms.

  Sam went into the bedroom, where Lonergan was naked and asleep facedown in the bed, his arm pinning a naked young woman to the mattress next to him. Her mouth was covered in duct tape, her wrists and ankles were tied and her eyes were wild as she looked at Sam.

  Sam immediately recognized her as Ruby Denton.

  “In here,” she called to the other cops. She went to Lonergan and made quick work of handcuffing his arms behind his back.

  He came to as she secured the second cuff. “What the fuck?”

  “You’re under arrest, you fucking scumbag.”

  Green came into the room, his eyes widening at the sight of Ruby, and hauled Lonergan to his feet, turning him over to one of the Fairfax patrol officers who’d provided backup.

  “You got a knife?” Sam asked Green.

  He produced a Swiss Army Knife from his pocket and handed it to her.

  Sam used the blade to cut the rope bindings on Ruby’s wrists and ankles, wincing at the raw, abraded skin underneath. “Call for a bus.”

  Green used Sam’s radio to call in the request for EMS, which would summon District paramedics.

  Sam met Ruby’s frantic gaze as she began to gently remove the duct tape over her mouth. “I’m sorry,” she said. “This is going to hurt but only for a second.” She pulled the tape off with one quick yank that brought tears to the young woman’s eyes.

  “Thank God,” she whispered.

  “Paramedics are on their way,” Sam said. “Are you able to walk?”

  “I’m not sure. He hasn’t fed me or given me water in a couple of days.”

  “Sit right there until they come.” Sam wrapped a sheet around the girl’s naked body, noting the bruises, scratches and other marks.

  Ruby began to cry. “I need to call my parents. They have to be frantic.”

  “They are. They’ve been looking for you the whole time you’ve been missing.” She offered her phone. “Why don’t you give them a call?”

  “Would that be all right?”

  “It’s perfectly
fine. Tell them you’ll be transported to the George Washington University Hospital Center emergency department.”

  Ruby’s hands shook as she dialed the number and pressed Send. She looked up at Sam, who sat next to her and put an arm around the girl’s shoulders.

  “Mom? It’s me. Ruby.”

  Sam could hear her mother’s scream come through the phone followed by, “Oh my God! Ruby! Oh God. Where are you?”

  “The police found me. I’m being transported to the hospital.” She gave her mother the information Sam had provided.

  “We’ll be there, sweetheart. We love you so much. We’ll be right there.”

  Ruby ended the call and broke down into soft sobs. “I thought I’d never see them again.”

  Sam held her until the paramedics came and took over. She was glad to see two women leading the team and waited to make sure Ruby was comfortable with them before leaving the room.

  Green met her in the living room, which was now swarming with cops.

  “Did you suspect he might have her?” Sam asked.

  “Not for one second,” Green said, seeming slightly shell-shocked. “But I was damned glad to realize it was her.”

  “I was too. You did great work here, Detective. Congratulations on a huge arrest.”

  “You get ninety percent of the credit. He wasn’t on our radar until you pointed us in his direction.”

  “It takes a village to catch a murdering, raping bastard.”

  “That it does.”

  Sam eyed the young man with newfound interest. Keeping her voice low so no one else could hear her, she said, “I have a couple of openings on my squad that’ll be advertised soon. You ought to think about applying.”

  His mouth opened and then snapped closed. “You... You’re serious?”

  “Dead serious. I like the way you work. You’d be an asset to my team.”

  “I... I’ll definitely apply.”

  “Great. I’ll keep an eye out for your application and take it to my brass with my endorsement.”

  Green released a deep breath. “Pardon me while I take a moment to say holy fuck.”

  Sam cracked up laughing. “You might be saying that for different reasons after a couple of months under my command.”

  “It would be a huge honor to serve under your command.”

  “Excellent sucking up. I’ll remember that. Send me the fives on this one?”

  “You got it.”

  “Thanks for letting me be here for this.”

  “Appreciate the assist.”

  Sam went in to check on Ruby, who was being loaded onto a gurney for transport. She tucked her business card into Ruby’s hand. “Call me if I can do anything at all for you.”

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re going to be okay now,” Sam said, though she knew a long journey lay ahead for her.

  Ruby nodded. With a shy smile, she added, “My friends won’t believe I got to meet you. We think you’re so cool.”

  “Thank you. That’s really nice of you to say. I’ll be checking on you.”

  The paramedics took her away, and Sam followed them out of the building after a more-than-satisfying start to her day.

  She took a call from Archie. “Morning.”

  “Hey, I’m glad I caught you. Have you seen the papers today?”

  “Not yet.” Her stomach turned, and the glow of the successful operation faded into the past just that quickly. “What’s up?”

  “Your ex had a lot to say in the interview he gave before he was killed, including the fact that you and I used to sleep together.”

  Before she could tell Archie that the info had been tortured out of Peter, Sam immediately thought of Nick, who had no idea that Archie was a former lover. She’d never thought to mention it to him, because it wasn’t something he needed to know. “Ugh.”

  “Yeah,” Archie said grimly. “HQ is abuzz about it.”

  “Shit, fuck, damn, hell.”

  “What you said.”

  “I’m so sorry, Archie.”

  “Not your fault. When Cruz told me you were coming in late because you were helping out with something for Fairfax, I figured I’d give you a call and a heads-up.”

  “I’m glad you did. Thank you. I’ll be in shortly.”

  “See you then.”

  For a second, Sam sat paralyzed with rare indecision over what she should do next. Of course what she had to do was a no-brainer. She hit the first name on her speed-dial list and waited for her husband to answer the phone.

  “Hey, babe. How’d it go with the Fairfax raid?”

  “We found Ruby Denton.”

  “No way! That’s awesome. Is she okay?”

  “She will be. In time. The guy who called in the floater on the Anacostia had her tied up and gagged in his bed.”

  “Oh my God. That poor girl.”

  “We got the guy who took her and killed Rose Samuels. He’s totally screwed.”

  “Thank goodness you found her and nailed him.”

  “So, um, listen... The reason I actually called...”

  “What is it, Samantha?”

  “I never told you that after Peter and I split, I was briefly involved with someone I work with.”

  After a long pause, he said, “Who?”

  “Lieutenant Archelotta.”

  Dead silence.

  “Nick. Say something.”

  “Why’re you telling me this now?”

  “Because I just heard that Peter disclosed it in the interview.”

  “And how did he know about it?”

  “I have no idea! He was stalking me. He probably followed us or stared in the window or something equally creepy.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me before now?”

  “Because! It doesn’t matter. It was a month. Six weeks tops. It was a rebound after a bad marriage and didn’t mean a thing to either of us.”

  “Still, I would’ve liked to know that you fooled around with someone you work with every day.”

  “Why? So you can go all alpha dog and lift your leg and pee on me in front of him too?”

  “Samantha, honestly.”

  “Don’t ‘honestly’ me. I’ve seen the way you act around Avery, and nothing has ever happened between us. I’ve slept with Archie, so you’ll have to pardon me if I say I wasn’t interested in finding out how you’d act around him.”

  “You say it was years ago and it was over almost before it began, right?”

  “Yes,” she said, exasperated.

  “Then I can’t see where we have any problem.”

  “If that’s the case, then why do you have such a problem with Avery?”

  “Because that is far from over from his point of view. Case in point, him saying your name while having sex with his fiancée.”

  She started the car and pointed it in the direction of HQ, even if that was the last place she wanted to be with the whole building talking about her having sex with Archie years ago. “I have to go now.”

  “Because you don’t want to talk about this anymore?”

  “For one thing.”

  “May I say something else?”

  “May I stop you?”

  “Stop being snarky and listen to me. Are you listening?”

  “I’m listening.”

  “I hate every man who put his hands on you from the day we met until the day we saw each other again. If it’s one or two or four or six, I hate them all.”

  “It was only three,” she said, unreasonably moved by his pronouncement.

  “I know about two of them now. Who was the third?”

  “I’m not telling you until you provide a full accounting of all your exes.”

/>   “Do I know him?”

  “Bye, Nick. Have a nice day, Nick. I love you, Nick.”

  “We’re not finished with this.”

  “Hanging up now.” She slapped the phone closed and shook her head with amusement, even though she had no doubt there’d be hell to pay when she got home. Whatever. Hell with him was the closest thing to heaven she’d experienced on this earth.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  SPEAKING OF HELL... Sam pulled into the parking lot at HQ, took note of the mob of reporters gathered outside the main entrance and went around to the morgue entrance. Thankfully, they didn’t see her and didn’t give chase.

  She went in the door and ran into Lindsey McNamara standing in the hallway with her deputy, Byron Tomlinson. They went silent when they saw her coming.

  “That’s okay,” Sam said. “I already know the whole place is talking about me. Don’t let me interrupt.”

  “We were actually talking about our schedule for the week,” Lindsey said with a friendly smile for Sam. “We talked about you earlier.”

  “I knew it!”

  “You and Archelotta,” Tomlinson said with a dirty grin. “Gotta say I never suspected a thing.”

  “I like to think I have some secrets,” Sam said, trying to be a good sport when she certainly had better things to do than dish about something that’d been over for years.

  “I heard we found Ruby Denton,” Lindsey said, and Sam wanted to kiss her for changing the subject.

  “You heard correctly.”

  “How bad?”

  “As bad as it gets,” Sam said.

  Lindsey made a sympathetic sound. “That poor girl.”

  “At least she’s alive. We don’t get many outcomes that end up with the victim alive in our line of work.”

  Lindsey nodded in agreement. “That’s for sure.”

  “I’ve got to get to it. See you later.”

  “Bye, Sam.”

  She went into the pit, where Cruz and Gonzo were working the phones while Carlucci and Dominguez typed on computers. Sam didn’t interrupt them. Rather, she went into her office, gathered her notes and the reports from overnight and went into the conference room to begin mapping it all out on the big dry-erase board.