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“Do you have the flash drive?” She looked up at Dax Spencer. He was a massive mountain of pure muscle with an all-American smile that likely got every female heart in a mile radius fluttering. Strangely, she preferred Connor’s dark, brooding beauty to Dax’s sunniness. When had that happened? She’d always gone for the optimistic type before. It was how she’d ended up with Tom.
“Sure. It’s with my laptop.” He dialed down the smile, his eyes turning serious. “You’re going to show him?”
She nodded. “He wants to see it. I can throw it up on the big screen so we all have a good view. Maybe I should pop some corn and turn this into a party.”
Dax scowled. “Hey, this is serious to him. This was his wife. I would appreciate it if you had some concern for what you’re about to do. I know Connor hurt you. We all hurt you, but this is not the Lara Armstrong I’ve been following for days. She would be horrified at your callousness.”
Tears threatened to well. He was right. She wasn’t acting like herself, but she didn’t do disillusion well. “The Lara you’ve been following was a dumb girl. I’ll be smarter now that I’ve learned from the best.”
She shot a look back at Connor, who clenched his jaw. Immediately, she felt bad, then forced the feeling aside. Had he felt guilty when he’d been charming her and kissing her and lying to her? Probably not. Besides, she needed to put distance between them. Otherwise, all he would have to do was kiss her and get her into bed and she would give him everything.
Lara took the thumb drive without another word and retrieved her laptop. Dax’s was probably filled with top-secret stuff. Dax had likely never had to deal with someone stealing all his secrets. Surely Roman had downloaded her computer. He knew how many times she searched the web for puppy-cuddling-baby videos and how many romances she bought for her e-reader. As she set up for her demonstration, she tried not to think about how grim Zachary Hayes seemed or the way Connor had shuttered his dark eyes behind a blank mask.
What kind of man was Zack Hayes? He obviously had the loyalty of the others. He was charismatic and smart. Was he ruthless enough to have his own wife killed so he could win an election?
The screen was supersized on the TV monitor. They all gathered around. Dax apparently had already seen the file they’d put together. He stood in the back beside Connor, arms crossed over his big chest. She saw him reach out and put a hand on Connor’s shoulder as if to offer him comfort.
Had she really hurt him? After hearing the enormity of his betrayal, Lara would have sworn that Connor Sparks didn’t have feelings. But his friends clearly seemed to think he did.
Roman had taken a place next to Zack. Everly and Gabe sat on the love seat, hands entwined. Everly sent a worried look her way, but Lara wasn’t sure what she could say or do except get this heinously awkward meeting out of the way.
“My friend Freddy practically lives in online chat rooms. He specializes in conspiracy theories. He heard one earlier this year that he latched on to. It was about the president’s wife and . . . um, the election.”
“Just say it, Lara. It’s not the first time I’ve heard it,” the president said, his mouth a flat line.
“It was about the fact that you probably won the election because of the sympathy vote.” There it was. She tried to be unemotional, intellectual. That was how she’d get through this. It was one thing to discuss the situation intellectually with her friends and quite another when the man in question was sitting in front of her, his eyes on the screen, his shoulders back as though he was bracing to see something truly terrible.
“Of course. The conjecture began roughly five minutes after Joy died.” His voice was utterly devoid of emotion, but she was fairly certain that was an affectation on his part, a wall he’d had plenty of practice erecting.
Somewhere under all that calm, she sensed the president was actually a ball of emotion. The only question was which one? Fear of being caught? Or genuine pain because he’d lost his wife horribly?
“One of the people on the board said they’d caught something on some news footage that proved the assassin wasn’t after you. Freddy did some digging and this was what he found.”
“But why would anyone want to kill Joy?” Roman asked. “She wasn’t even terribly interested in politics. She was interested in being first lady, but she never tried to influence Zack. She was the perfect political wife.”
“What my best friend is trying to say is that Joy was sweet and everyone loved her. She didn’t have any enemies,” Zack explained.
“But she did have someone stalking her.” Lara pressed a couple of keys, and the footage from the Des Moines rally came up. “This is from three days before Joy Hayes was murdered.”
The screen filled with the image of Zack Hayes walking to the podium. He leaned over and kissed his pretty, dark-haired wife. Joy Hayes beamed up at her husband. She wore a light yellow business suit, the skirt modest and heels conservative. As Zack reached the podium and began his speech, Joy sat beside Roman Calder.
“Since these political rallies are orchestrated down to the second and they’re the same everywhere, I know exactly where in the speech to look.” It wasn’t lost on Lara that both Zack and Roman looked years younger in this tape. There was an openness to Zack’s expression that didn’t exist now. How much of that was the heavy mantle of responsibility and how much was the incident that happened only days later?
“Well, it’s called a stump speech for a reason,” Roman said impatiently. “We can’t possibly write a different speech for every town. Zack visited literally hundreds of places on the road. Of course we treat them all the same.”
“I’m pointing it out because the anomaly happens at the same time every time. He knew when he wanted to take her out. This is the part of the speech where Zack talks about valuing American families.” She glanced back and noticed that Connor was watching the screen intently, gripping the back of her sofa.
She wondered if he’d been there. Roman had been. She didn’t remember Gabe or Maddox from any of the tapes, but she had to wonder if Connor had been lurking in the shadows, providing security. How had it felt to know he failed?
“I don’t see what we’re looking for.” Everly leaned forward, her eyes glued to the screen.
“Watch her suit. It’s coming up.” She always got a chill when she watched this video. All of them, actually. They were a road map that led to this woman’s death.
“What the fuck is that?” Gabe asked, pointing to the screen.
There it was. A little red dot in the middle of Joy Hayes’s chest. Lara paused the file.
“That’s from a scope.” Connor’s voice shook.
Yes, from a long-range rifle. The glowing red mark on Joy Hayes’s chest was faint, but there was no way to mistake it.
“Yes, had she been wearing a darker color, I don’t think the mark would have shown up on film.”
“Joy liked pastels and bright colors,” Zack commented, his voice a forced monotone.
Lara stopped that file and moved on. The real proof was in the sequence. One incident could be brushed off. Three formed an undeniable pattern. “This is from the following day in Wichita, Kansas. I’ll fast-forward to the same part of the st
ump speech.”
She moved the video forward. This time Joy Hayes was wearing a lovely white suit, and the red dot was very clear. It was only for a few seconds and the eye could easily miss it if one weren’t really looking for it. Lara paused and pointed to the screen. “You’ll see this is at the same time in the speech.”
Zack Hayes had gone a pasty white, but his face was perfectly still. “How many times?”
“We’ve found three videos. The three days leading up to the actual act. The assassin set it up carefully and he timed it. He followed your campaign.” She moved on to the final file. Kansas City, Missouri. Joy wore pale blue but the red dot showed up right on time. It hovered over her heart before disappearing. “The next day you went to Memphis and that was the day your wife was killed. She was always the target of the assassin. Not once did he take aim at you. He never meant to kill you. His one and only goal was ensuring that Joy Hayes died and America watched you mourn. Days after, they swept you into office.”
Zack Hayes stood suddenly. “Where’s your bathroom, please?”
She pointed to the small guest bathroom. “Right there. Are you all right?”
He turned and walked away, slamming the door behind him and then came a sound she would never forget.
The president of the United States retching in her bathroom.
“Oh, god. He wasn’t behind it.” That fact hit her like a ton of bricks. She stood and glanced around the room at all the shocked faces. What the hell had she done to that man?
