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Addy glanced around the floor of the kitchen and saw the dog's water and food bowl. "Where's the dog?"
"Great question. So, someone came in here, shot the senator, he's gone and so is his dog. No signs of anything else."
She turned and searched the cabinets and doors in the kitchen. "I'll bet he has a safe room. A lot of these Washington mucky-mucks have them. They all have a ton of enemies."
Henry entered from the front hallway. "There's no sign of anyone upstairs. Four bedrooms. One clearly a guest room. One for a teenage boy and one for a teenage girl. Their school pictures and sports photos are in their rooms. The last is the master."
"Okay. Let's look down here. We're looking for entry to a safe room. It will be in the interior of the home."
Myles pulled his phone out and turned the flashlight on. He sauntered along the walls, shining the flashlight on the wall as he went. Henry did the same on the opposite side. Addy opened doors to the pantry, a butler’s pantry, and the basement. "I found a basement. I'm heading down."
Henry stopped. "I'll go as backup. At my grandparents’ house we have a safe room in the basement."
Henry stepped in front of Addy, flipped the light switch on, and moved deliberately down the stairs to the basement. Addy had her hand on her weapon, just in case and reminded herself to stop watching scary movies. In her line of work, there was too much weirdness in reality to watch stuff like that. Such as going into the basement.
At the bottom of the stairs, there was a sitting area, a television, two recliners, and a sofa. The walls held photographs of the Jackson family. On the far wall a full-length mirror reflected Henry and herself and a crack in the wall behind her.
She nudged Henry, who saw it at the same time. He turned and they approached the wall. He nudged her and nodded. Then he pointed to the corner where the wall met another wall at a ninety-degree angle. There was a collage of family pictures on the wall, but what looked like a wooden separator between the collage wall and the sofa was actually a facade hiding the control panel to open the door.
Henry slowly slid the panel open and grinned. "Any idea what the code might be?"
She shook her head. But Rafe supplied us with the senator's contact information. I'll text him and see if he responds."
She tapped out a text to Senator Jackson.
"It's Adelaide from last night. I'm here to help you. Please let us in."
She sent the text and shrugged. Then she nudged Henry. "Text Tate. Maybe he can patch in with your phone remotely and run the code scanner on it."
Henry tapped out his text and she stared at her phone waiting for the Senator to respond. Myles came down the stairs and shook his head.
Addy pointed to the wall and Myles nodded. He then began walking around the basement looking into rooms and on shelves.
Her phone buzzed and she saw a text from the Senator.
"He's going to kill me."
"Are you in your safe room?"
The three dots bounced and finally one word appeared.
"Yes."
"We're outside your safe room. What's the code to get in?"
The dots started. Stopped. Started again. Then stopped. Finally a click sounded and the door opened.
The entire collage wall opened as a door, and the senator sat on a bed in the room, his shaking dog next to him. The dog growled as they entered, and the senator whispered to him. "It's okay, buddy."
There was blood on his shirt, between his shoulder and his collar bone. His left arm sat limply at his side.
Addy stepped forward. "I'm a medic. Do you have a medical kit here?"
The senator's faded blue eyes stared into hers for a moment then he nodded slowly. "It's over there." He nodded toward a bank of cabinets with his head, then winced. Addy pulled open drawers until she located a first aid kit. It would have to do.
"I need to remove your shirt to see if the bullet went through."
"He's going to kill me. King. He's going to do it. That man tried but Buddy here jumped at him. He ran out of the house through the garage."
