Fatal Fraud: A Fatal Series Novel

by Marie Force

  And then there he was, gorgeous in a dark navy suit, a steel-blue tie and a crisp white dress shirt. His handsome face lit up with delight when he saw her waiting for him. He held out a hand to her, and Sam went to him, oblivious to anyone else.

  He put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “How’s my cop?”

  “Frustrated and annoyed until right now.”

  Smiling down at her, he said, “Why? What happened right now?”

  “You happened.”

  “What do you say we go make Kayla’s day?”

  “I say that’s a fine idea.”

  Holding hands, they walked into the building, where a shocked receptionist greeted them.

  “Allow me,” Sam said. “I have a way with receptionists.”

  “Have at it, babe.”

  Sam showed the woman her badge. “We’d like to see Kayla Owen, please.”

  “I, um, does she know you’re coming?”

  “She doesn’t, and we’d prefer to surprise her. Can you make that happen?”

  Rattled by Sam’s unblinking stare, the woman made a call that brought another woman to the reception desk a few seconds later.

  “Please take Vice President and Mrs. Cappuano to Kayla Owen’s office,” the original woman said to the second one.

  The second woman stared at them for ten full seconds before she blinked and seemed to recover herself. “Right this way.”

  With the Secret Service surrounding them and Freddie somewhere in the scrum, Sam and Nick followed the woman up a flight of stairs and through frosted double doors bearing the WKLA logo. Inside, they found yet another receptionist, who stood, her mouth falling open in shock. Thankfully, she didn’t say anything to impede their progress as their guide took them around the reception desk, through another set of doors and past full-length windows behind which on-air talent watched them go by with stunned expressions.

  “This is really, really wicked fun,” Sam whispered to Nick as she noticed every eye in the place fixed on them as they walked by cubicles, leaving a trail of shocked people in their wake.

  “So fun and about to get more so.”

  “We’re bad, bad people to be enjoying this so much.”

  “Nah. We’re just pissed-off parents.”

  Leave it to him to perfectly sum it up.

  The woman leading them pointed to a group of offices at the end of a long corridor. “Third door on the right.”

  “Thank you very much,” Nick said as they followed the two Secret Service agents leading the way.

  At the doorway to Kayla Owen’s office, the agents stepped aside to allow Sam and Nick to go ahead of them.

  Nick knocked on the door. “Sorry to disturb your work, Ms. Owen.”

  The pretty young dark-haired reporter, her face covered in a thick layer of camera-ready makeup, looked up from her computer, double-taking as shock registered in her expression.

  “My wife and I would like a minute of your time.” Nick sent Sam in ahead of him and closed the door behind them.

  Sam would’ve left the door open so people could hear what they had to say to Kayla, but Nick was always the classier of the two of them.

  “I… I’ve been meaning to reach out to you about the press briefing last week.”

  “That’s why we’re here. We’d like to introduce you to our children.” Nick pulled the kids’ recent school photos from his suit coat pocket and placed them on Kayla’s desk.

  Sam loved that he’d come prepared. Of course he had. He was nothing if not thorough in everything he did. She decided to sit back and allow him to speak for both of them, because he’d get it just right, when she’d be tempted to rip the woman’s head off and then stab her with a rusty steak knife to make sure she was really dead.

  “This is Scotty. He’s thirteen. His biological mother and grandfather died months apart when he was very young, leaving him a ward of the Commonwealth of Virginia. I met him two years ago at a state home in Richmond when I was a senator. Our bond was immediate. Sam and I made him part of our lives and later adopted him. He’s since become the center of our world and the best part of both of us. The only regret we have where he’s concerned is that we didn’t meet him sooner, because we love him so much.

  “This adorable young man is Alden, and this is his equally adorable twin sister, Aubrey. They recently came into our lives when my wife met them during the investigation into a home invasion in which their beloved parents were tortured and murdered. Alden witnessed some of the horror his parents endured. When they needed a place to stay after that nightmare, we happily provided them a home that’s since become permanent, as their older brother and legal guardian is in college and not able to care for them. Nothing has made us happier than to fill that role for them and to help all three of them through the traumatic loss of their parents and home.” He added a photo of Elijah with the twins, taken during a recent weekend visit.

  Kayla stared at the photos with big, haunted brown eyes that shimmered with unshed tears that made Sam want to throat-punch her. The emotional reaction was a little too late.

  “Every night, Alden and Aubrey play chase with Scotty until he eventually lets them catch him. Their screaming laughter and happy smiles are the best part of our day. Scotty loves baseball and sports and spaghetti more than anything, but he’s an incredible big brother. Aubrey can sing—in Italian—so beautifully, it’d make you weep. Alden is fiercely protective of his sister and always lets her pick their bedtime story. They’re going to be six soon, but he’s already somehow more of a man than many of the actual men I’ve known in my life. Their older brother, Elijah, is in college at Princeton and plans to move home to DC after he graduates so he can live close to his siblings and see them all the time. They worship him, the last remaining tie to the family they once knew.

  “These are our own children, Ms. Owen. They’re as real to us as any children can be, and when our son comes home from the hellscape known as eighth grade and asks us what it means to be a child of our own, that breaks something in us, because that tells us the kids at school have weaponized those words against an innocent boy who’s already had more than enough pain in his young life. He just lost his beloved adoptive grandfather. His father is the vice president and his mother a decorated homicide detective. The poor kid is surrounded at school and everywhere else by Secret Service. He has enough to deal with without a reporter blindsiding his mother with such an ugly question.”

  Tears spilled down her cheeks. “I… I’m so sorry.”

  Sam rolled her eyes. “Now you’re sorry. When I gave you the opportunity to rephrase the question, you dug in deeper.”

  “I didn’t mean to…”

  “We know you have a job to do, Ms. Owen,” Nick said, “and we appreciate that your job can be difficult. However, we encourage you to work from a place of common decency and an understanding that words matter. You’ll go further in your career if you begin there. That’s all we wanted to say.”

  Sam had more she’d like to say, but she bit her tongue and let him nudge her toward the door. He was the only person alive who could nudge her in any direction he wanted her to go.

  “Wait.”

  They stopped and turned to the reporter.

  She looked frazzled and undone. Good. Sam hoped she’d never forget this.

  “That’s why I’ve wanted to reach out to you, to sincerely apologize for my thoughtless question. I’ve been very well schooled over the last week about adoption and what’s appropriate and inappropriate, and I’m… I’m sorry.”

  “We accept your apology,” Nick said. “And we’ll hope you’ll do better in the future.”

  “I will. I promise. In fact, if you’d like to sit for a quick interview while you’re here, we could talk about what happened and what’s been learned from it, by me and others.”

  Sam had to give her credit for thinking fast on her feet. She glanced at Nick to gauge his interest in an interview.

  “I wouldn’t be oppose
d to that,” he said.

  “Really?” Kayla was nearly breathless with excitement.

  “Yes,” he said, “but only because I believe your apology was sincere. Otherwise, we wouldn’t even consider it.”

  “It’s completely sincere. It breaks my heart to hear about kids harassing your son because of my ignorant question.”

  When he looked her way again, Sam shrugged, as if she had all the time in the world to be interviewed. She could take another few minutes, because she’d get to spend those minutes with him.

  “In that case,” Nick said, “we’d be happy to do a quick interview about adoption, the proper way to speak of and about adopted kids and how important it is for people who have room in their homes and hearts to step up for kids who need loving families.”

  “Give me five minutes, and we’ll make that happen.”

  Chapter Ten

  Sam and Nick stepped aside so she could all but sprint from the room to tell her bosses she’d landed a rare exclusive interview with the second couple.

  “You’re so hella sexy when you go into protector mode,” Sam said to Nick after he’d collected the kids’ photos from Kayla’s desk.

  Grinning, he said, “Is that right?”

  “That’s right. In fact, if I didn’t have a body cooling in the morgue, I’d want to take you home and show you just how sexy I find you when you’re defending our family.”

  His lovely hazel eyes heated with desire. “Could you maybe show me later?”

  “I’m sure something could be arranged.”

  Sam stepped closer to him, flattened her hands on his chest and looked up at him. “Those kids are so damned lucky to have you on their side.”

  “I’ll always be on their side.”

  “Are you really going to give the woman who asked me such an awful question an interview?”

  “Is it okay if I do? I figure it’s a good chance to influence the way people speak about adoption and adopted kids.”

  “Look at you, always one step ahead of me.”

  “Not always.”

  Sam relaxed into his embrace, stealing the time with him while she could. “Most of the time, but that’s okay. We don’t want me doing the thinking for this operation.”

  A knock on the door had them separating.

  “Pardon the interruption, Mom and Dad,” Freddie said, “but I just heard from Malone that Crime Scene might have something for us.”

  Sam had almost forgotten her partner was waiting for her. “We’re going to be another few minutes. The VP has decided to give our reporter friend an interview so he can take advantage of this opportunity to do some educating on adoption terminology.”

  “Wow, that’s cool. So I take it your convo went well with her?”

  “We made our point and accepted her apology,” Sam said. “Or at least he did. I’m still holding a grudge.”

  “She does that,” Nick said.

  “Believe me, I know,” Freddie replied. “She loves a good grudge.”

  “Can you two please quit talking about me behind my back in front of my face?”

  “Why do we have to?” Freddie asked. “It’s so fun.”

  The return of Kayla Owen saved Sam from having to come up with a witty retort. “We’re ready for you if you’d like to come with me.” She glanced at Freddie.

  “This is my partner, Detective Cruz. Freddie, this is Kayla Owen.”

  He nodded to her because he was too polite not to. But since he was still pissed about what she’d said, he wasn’t overly friendly.

  They followed her to a studio where several people waited for them. Kayla introduced them to a producer, sound technician and cameraman, all of whom fell over themselves to shake their hands, welcome them to the studio and thank them for the interview. By the time they were mic’d up and seated, Sam was over the whole thing.

  “We’re here today with Vice President and Mrs. Cappuano for an exclusive interview. We may as well be truthful—you’re doing me a big favor after teaching me an even bigger lesson. Last week, I made the mistake of asking what I now know was a highly inappropriate question during Mrs. Cappuano’s press briefing in her position as a lieutenant with the Metro PD. I asked if the Cappuanos plan to have children of their own. In light of the fact that the second couple has adopted one child and is foster-parenting a set of twins who recently lost their parents to murder, they rightfully found my question offensive and came to my office today to tell me so. I invited them to sit for this interview so they could discuss the role adoption has played in their family and the proper terminology to use when talking about adopted children. Thank you for being here today, Mr. Vice President and Mrs. Cappuano.”

  “Thank you for having us and for your sincere apology,” Nick said. “We appreciate it as well as this chance to share what adoption has meant for our family.”

  “Your thirteen-year-old son, Scotty, is adopted, correct?”

  “He is, and he’s the best thing to ever happen to us.” Nick glanced at Sam.

  She nodded. “He made us parents, and we couldn’t love him more. He’s everything to us.”

  “You’ve also taken in a set of five-year-old twins. Can you discuss your decision to add to your family with the twins?”

  “It wasn’t really a decision,” Nick said, “so much as fate that brought Alden and Aubrey to us. Sam met them in the course of investigating the murders of their parents, and when they needed lodging late at night, she offered to bring them home since we’re licensed foster parents from when we first had Scotty with us. That’s evolved into them living with us while their older brother is in college.”

  “Do you plan to adopt the twins?”

  “No,” Nick said. “But we do plan to keep them with us until they’re of age. Their brother has made us co-guardians, and we all agree that keeping them with us makes the most sense as he finishes college and begins his career. He hopes to end up in DC so he can live close to them and see them often. Obviously, none of this was planned, so we’re making it up as we go with Alden and Aubrey’s best interests foremost in our minds.”

  “It’s important to mention that the twins have very quickly become part of our family,” Sam said, “as has their brother, Elijah. I understand people who’ve heard me speak about my struggles with infertility are curious about whether we’ll add to our family the old-fashioned way, but for now, we’re very content with the three and a half kids we have. There’re so many children of all ages in need of good homes.”

  “When we first met Scotty, one of the things he said has stayed with me ever since,” Nick said. “He told me, rather matter-of-factly, that older kids like him didn’t get adopted because everyone wants babies. He was so resigned to never again having a family of his own, which broke my heart and made me even more determined to make him part of our family. That was the best thing I ever did, right up there with marrying my gorgeous wife.”

  Sam felt her face flush with embarrassment that infuriated her. She didn’t need to be seen blushing over a compliment from her husband on TV. He’d pay for that later.

  “When people speak to and about adoptive families, what are some things to avoid?” Kayla asked.

  Nick glanced at Sam.

  “Referring to ‘real children’ or ‘children of our own’ to adoptive parents is unacceptable,” she said. “We have real children who are very much our own. The fact that they aren’t our biological children doesn’t matter to us. We don’t look at them and think, ‘I so wish I’d given birth to him or her.’ They’re everything we could ever want and more than we ever dreamed possible.”

  “Congratulations on your beautiful family, and thank you for educating me and our viewers on how best to speak about adoptive families. Before I let you go, the other thing my bosses want me to ask you, Mr. Vice President, is whether you’ve made a decision about running for president in the next election.”

  “I have,” Nick said. “The White House will be releasing a statement later today anno
uncing that I don’t intend to run because of the same family we’ve been discussing. I want to be an active, hands-on father to our children, and I can’t do that if I’m off on the campaign trail.”

  Kayla seemed staggered by the huge exclusive she’d been handed. “People will be disappointed.”

  “I’m aware of that,” Nick said, “but my priorities are with the people most important to me—my wife and our kids. I’ve absolutely loved being vice president—”

  Liar. Sam had to hold back a giggle as the word popped into her head.

  “—and I’m thrilled to serve the American people in this capacity. But I’m not going to run.”

  “Thank you for your time and for being here today. I promise not to forget what I’ve learned from this incident.”

  “Thank you for having us,” Nick said.

  “And we’re out,” the producer said. “Holy shit. Did you just give us an exclusive, Mr. Vice President?”

  “I did.”

  “Thank you so much, and may I be among the first to say I’m very disappointed we won’t see you in the Oval Office. I think you’d make an amazing president.”

  “That’s nice of you to say, but I’d much rather be an amazing dad.”

  Whoa, he’s really racking up the points, Sam thought. He’d be richly rewarded for being the best husband and father ever as soon as they got a minute alone.

  “I gotta go, babe,” she said.

  “I know. I’m with you.”

  They walked out together, his arm around her shoulders as everyone in the newsroom watched them go, with Freddie bringing up the rear.

  “The goldfish are on display again,” she said to Nick.

  “A few more years, and then we’ll be done.”

  “Years? As in more than one?”

  “Three, actually.”

  “Now you’re just being mean.”

  His laughter was one of her favorite things in the entire world.

  “On a scale of one to lame, I’ve had better nooners,” she said.