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When he returned to Rachel’s room, Lindsey McNamara and her team were working the scene. They had Rachel’s body on a stretcher.
“What’re you thinking, Doc?”
“I’m not sure yet. There’s no obvious trauma, but sometimes trauma isn’t obvious. I’ll know more in a few hours.”
“Keep me in the loop?”
“You got it.”
Gonzo took a call from Malone. “What’s up, Cap?”
“PG County Crime Scene Unit is on the way.”
“Okay, thanks.”
He ended the call and looked to Cruz. “PG County Crime Scene is coming.”
Charles and O’Brien found them in Rachel’s room.
“We may have something,” she said. “The young man working the desk overnight, Tucker, said there was a ten p.m. pizza delivery for Rachel from a company he hadn’t heard of before. He said the deliveries tend to come from the same ten or twelve places.”
“The roommate told us she goes to bed early just about every night and was asleep when she got home at eleven,” Gonzo said, consulting his notes. “Did you get a description of the delivery guy?”
Charles nodded. “Tucker said he was a big dude, like someone who’d played football. His dark hair was buzzed. He had brown eyes and a goatee. The interesting thing was that Tucker said that usually the pizza deliveries make his mouth water even when he’s not hungry because they smell so good, but he couldn’t smell anything coming from that one.”
“Let’s get back up to Rachel’s suite and see if there’s a pizza box to be found anywhere,” Gonzo said, “and if there is, let’s get it bagged and to the lab.”
“On it,” Charles said as she and O’Brien headed for the stairs.
To Cruz, Gonzo said, “Let’s go talk to the boyfriend.”
Naturally,the whole world went mad when Nick was counting the minutes until he could escape the gilded cage of the White House for ten blissful days with his beloved.
The North Koreans decided to test yet another long-range missile, the Iranians were doing something with plutonium, and an uprising in Niger was causing concerns around the world.
He wished there was an “unsubscribe” button he could push to disengage for a few days, but that button didn’t exist for the president of the United States. Everything was his problem, whether he wanted it to be or not.
Following the national security briefing, he consulted with Secretary of Defense Tobias Jennings about the situations in North Korea and Iran and with Secretary of State Jessica Sanford about Niger.
Satisfied that his team was managing the latest flashpoints and would keep him in the loop, he left the Oval Office and headed upstairs to finish packing.
He and Sam had said their goodbyes to the kids before they left for school.
Aubrey’s tears weighed on him. They’d promised to FaceTime every night until the kids joined them at the beach for the second weekend next Friday. That had seemed to satisfy her as she’d headed off to school with her twin brother, Alden, and their Secret Service detail.
“Have a great time and don’t worry about the kids,” Scotty had said. “I’ll take good care of them.”
Not that long ago, Scotty would’ve been the one who was teary-eyed at them leaving for a week. Now he was stepping up to help with their Littles. Scotty was such a bright light in their lives, and the twins looked up to him with near-hero worship. They’d be in good hands with him and Sam’s stepmother, Celia, this week.
When he entered their suite in the residence, Nick was surprised to find that Sam wasn’t back from her meeting yet. He hoped that whatever had resulted in the unusual all-hands meeting wouldn’t mess up their trip.
After this vacation, he was making it his goal to get out of the White House at least once a week to gosomewhere, whether it be an official or unofficial outing. He’d been sticking close to the office since he’d been sworn in, fending off enemies near and far who were looking to undermine his fledgling administration.
The latest surreal event had occurred when he’d caught wind of a potential military coup orchestrated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They’d since been relieved of their duties and dishonorably discharged from the military. Despite this swift action on the part of Secretary Jennings, the media was like a pack of dogs with meaty bones as they continued to report on the story, with huge daily headlines describing each new development.
Nick had tried to keep his head down to stay focused on the endless demands of the job while others took care of the situation with the now-disgraced Joint Chiefs. The betrayal had cut deeply. He was well aware of his status as only the second unelected president. Chosen to replace an ailing vice president, he’d risen to the top job after President Nelson’s sudden passing last Thanksgiving.
Four months later, he was still fending off claims of illegitimacy, despite being confirmed by the Senate on a bipartisan vote of one hundred to zero to fill the vacancy created by Vice President Gooding’s departure.
