Chapter One
Ethan is missing. Her sister Tracy’s words echoed through Sam’s mind as her heart slowed to a crawl. Her nephew was eleven, no longer a baby, but not old enough to be in any kind of trouble.
“Sam! What do I do?”
Tracy’s frantic question jarred Sam out of the spiral of unsettling thoughts. “I’ll be right there.”
Sam snapped her phone shut and forced herself to refocus on what she’d been doing before the call. She and Nick had come to their former Ninth Street home to finish cleaning out their personal belongings so her colleague and friend Tommy Gonzales could move his family in.
“What’s wrong?” Nick asked from his place on the floor in front of the fire where they’d made a camp to re-create an earlier night in the first home they’d shared as a couple. He was on his side, naked as the day he was born, holding his head up on an upturned hand.
Sam crossed the room, picking up articles of clothing they’d discarded in their haste. “Ethan is missing.”
Nick sat up. “What? For how long?”
“Tracy didn’t say, but I’ve got to get over there.”
He reached for his boxers and pulled them on. “I’m coming with you.”
She paused in her frantic effort to get dressed. “Um, I hate to point out the obvious, but…”
“I’ll tell Brant to make it happen.”
As the president, any time he went anywhere, a three-ring circus was required. She hesitated to bring their level of chaos to an already-fraught situation at her sister’s home. However, she wanted him with her badly enough to let him go tell his lead Secret Service agent, John Brantly Jr., to get them to Tracy’s as fast as possible. Luckily, her sister’s family lived only a few blocks from Ninth Street.
Nick shut off the gas fireplace and left the room to arrange things.
Sam pulled on the leggings she’d worn with a new silk top for their “date night” to clean out their former home. Nick had surprised her by having the work done by their devoted White House staff so they could enjoy a romantic last evening in their former home before they turned it over to their friends.
She hadn’t thought to bring a brush, so she ran her fingers through her hair and twisted it up in the clip she always had with her, hoping she was somewhat presentable. She was anxious to get to her sister and figure out what was going on with Ethan.
Tracy had recently come to Sam for advice on dealing with her son, who’d become quiet and secretive, especially after he’d gotten a cell phone for his eleventh birthday. Sam had connected her sister with the daughter of her colleague Dr. Anthony Trulo. Dr. Trulo’s daughter, Christi, specialized in family therapy and had recently begun to work with Ethan.
Sam had so many questions. Where was Ethan supposed to be, and who was he with? When was the last time Tracy or Mike had spoken to or heard from their son? Were they able to track his phone? What did they know about his friends? She raced down the stairs to find Nick surrounded by his detail as they conferred on a plan.
“We have to go,” Sam said. “Or at least I have to. You guys can catch up?”
“We need five minutes, ma’am,” Brant said. “I promise we’ll be quick.”
“Thank you.”
Nick put his arm around her and kissed the top of her head. “I’m sorry for even a five-minute delay.”
She rested her head against his chest. “It’s worth it to have you with me.”
“I’m sure he’s fine. Probably just doing stupid kid shit and not thinking about how worried his parents must be.”
“I really hope that’s all it is.”
Her stomach churned with dread. After everything Tracy had shared about Ethan’s recent behavior, Sam no longer knew what to think.
When they’d been loaded into the presidential limousine known as The Beast for the short ride to Tracy’s, Sam called her friend and boss at the D.C. Metropolitan Police Department, Captain Jake Malone, to tell him her nephew was missing. “I’m out of my realm on this.” She understood the moves in Homicide. Missing Persons was a whole other procedure. “What’s our first move?”
“We’ll need the family out of the house so Crime Scene can do a full search of the premises, and we’ll get IT on the devices.”
“Tracy will want to know why Crime Scene is involved when there’s no crime that we know of.”
“They’ll collect evidence that may or may not become relevant to the investigation. Is there somewhere you can move Tracy’s family to while we search the house?”
