Fatal Reckoning (Fatal #14)(70)
Fifteen minutes later, the Secret Service waved her through the Ninth Street checkpoint. She parallel parked in her spot, behind one of the black SUVs that ferried Nick and Scotty around. As she got out of the car, she glanced toward her dad’s house, where a single light burned in the living room. A wave of sadness overtook her when she thought about all the years she’d have to live without her dad’s steady presence in her life, without that voice calling her baby girl, without his calming influence to talk her down when the job got the better of her.
Roni’s grief mingled with her own, making the path forward seem almost insurmountable.
She had no idea how long she’d been standing there when the front door to her home opened and Nick came down the ramp.
He put his arm around her. “Heard you were out here.”
“Every day when I come home I have to remind myself he’s not there anymore.”
“I know, babe. Me too. It’s still hard to believe.”
She leaned her head on his shoulder.
“You want to go see Celia? I’ll go with you.”
“Right now, I’d like to see you and the kids.”
“I was just about to feed them. You want to join us?”
“Yeah, that’d be good.” She’d check on Celia later, after she had some time with Nick and the kids.
Keeping his arm around her, Nick led her up the ramp, past Brant, who stood watch over him as always, and inside to the warm comfort of home, where she could hear the three kids in the kitchen, laughing and talking. Sometimes it was hard to believe that Aubrey and Alden had only been there a couple of weeks.
Scotty and the twins were just what she needed after another difficult day.
After dinner, Scotty decided the twins needed to see Star Wars or their education would be incomplete. Sam agreed to the first half, but not the full movie because they needed to get to bed. She never had been a big fan of Star Wars, but she sat with Nick’s arms around her on the sofa and tried to follow the story even as her mind wandered through the events of the day.
When her cell phone rang, she disentangled herself from Nick’s embrace and went into the kitchen to take the call from Freddie.
CHAPTER TWENTY
“HEY, WHAT’S UP?”
“How’re you doing?”
“I’d be better if I knew what was going on.”
“Nothing much to report. We’re going through the stuff from his office piece by piece. It’s slow going.”
“Any smoking guns?”
“Not yet, but we’re still digging. Apparently, he’s making a huge stink about being arrested and continuing to claim he was never on G Street that day. Archie is sifting through archival footage from then, looking for him.”
“God, I hope he finds something.”
“Conklin is saying you’re so desperate to solve your father’s case that you’re grasping at straws.”
“He can say whatever he wants. The evidence led directly to him.”
“Exactly. Apparently, he hired Charles Bagley to represent him.”
Sam groaned at that news. “Only the biggest blowhard in town.”
“The way I see it, if he’s got nothing to hide, why hire a prominent defense attorney?”
“A very good question.”
“People here are saying this could bring down the chief.”
“How so? It’s not like he knew that his deputy was hiding evidence.”
“The theory is he won’t survive the scandal, if it turns out to be a scandal.”
“I can’t worry about that on top of everything else right now. I just wish there was something I could do. I’m losing it playing on the sidelines.”
“Keep working the tip line. There may be other stuff there that’ll be useful to us.”
“True. I’ll give that some time tomorrow.”
“We’re closer to answers than we’ve ever been. Keep reminding yourself of that.”
“I’m afraid I’m not going to like the answers.”
“I know. I can’t believe where it’s led so far. We’ll hit it hard again tomorrow, and Dominguez and Carlucci are on it tonight.”
“Thanks for the update.”
“No problem. Try to get some sleep.”
“I will. You too.”
“See you in the morning.”
Sam closed her phone and leaned against the counter, thinking about what they’d discovered so far and where it might lead. Other than the obvious desire to be promoted, what possible reason would Conklin have had for covering up leads in her father’s case? He’d never struck her as someone so ambitious that he’d stoop to attempted murder to get ahead, but how well did she actually know him and what motivated him?
Not that well actually. While he’d always been a close friend of her father’s, Sam didn’t know him the way she knew Farnsworth and Malone. She would rectify that tomorrow by talking to people who’d known him longer than she had, beginning with her mother and Alice Coyne Fitzgerald, both of whom had known Conklin for decades.
Technically, she wasn’t doing anything wrong by seeking deeper background for her own information. If she uncovered anything relevant to the investigation, she’d immediately turn it over to Avery so there could be no conflict of interest claims. The last thing she wanted to do, in light of recent developments, was anything that could compromise the case they were building that might finally lead to the answers they’d needed for four years. But there was no way she could stand by and do nothing.