“Thanks for hopping on, everyone,” Terry said. “How’s Ethan and the family?”
“He was released this morning and is resting at home,” Nick said.
“I can’t believe they murdered Luna Ahern,” Christina said. “Tommy says the details are hideous.”
“It’s horrific,” Nick said. “Everyone involved in the case is heartbroken.”
Vice President Gretchen Henderson came online from her home office. “So sorry I’m late. I had a kid struggling with algebra problems that I was unable to solve. Imagine that.”
“No problem,” Nick said, smiling at the face she made. “We’re just getting started.”
“I was so relieved to hear the first lady’s nephew is safe,” Gretchen said.
“Thank you.” Nick was eager to get down to business, so he’d be free by the time Sam got home. “What’s up, Terry?”
“As you know, this promises to be a big week as we roll out the first initiative from our gun violence task force. We worked this weekend to finalize the plans and wanted to update you, Mr. President.”
“Thank you all for keeping things moving while I was out of the loop.”
“Harry,” Terry said, “you’ve been instrumental in the drafting of the plan, so if you’d like to brief us on the final details…”
“Happy to,” Harry said. “As you know, Mr. President, this week, we’ll introduce our mental health reporting mechanism through the Department of Health and Human Services, which is charged with receiving notifications from concerned family members. The idea is that a team of mental health professionals will follow up on these reports in an effort to intervene medically rather than a law enforcement response to hopefully de-escalate situations that could lead to gun violence.”
As he listened to Harry and the others discuss the details, Nick was thrilled with the program they’d put together, which included teams in all fifty states and the District that were ready to respond to concerns from family members. And as he listened to his top advisers iron out the plans for how it would be introduced to the public, Nick couldn’t wait to see his first major program in action.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Before she left to see the Aherns and then take a much-needed break after a dreadful couple of weeks, Sam called Brecken Mayfield’s mother, Melanie, who’d been located by Ruiz’s team after a somewhat exhaustive search. From what Ruiz had reported, Melanie had clearly not wanted to be found and had gone to some effort to stay off the grid. Despite that, Ruiz’s detectives had gotten a phone number for her that she’d texted to Sam, asking her to follow up.
Sam placed the call, hoping Melanie would answer a call from an unknown number, so Sam didn’t have to go to Potomac to see her in person. That’d take hours she didn’t feel like spending at work when she was eager to see her family.
Melanie’s voicemail picked up.
“This is Lieutenant Holland from the DC Metropolitan Police Department. I’d appreciate it if you could call me back as soon as possible.”
A few minutes later, her phone chimed with a text from Melanie. I have nothing to say about my son or ex-husband. I haven’t seen either of them in years. Whatever they’ve done now, it does not involve me. Please leave me out of it.
Freddie came into Sam’s office. “Hey, are you going to see the Aherns? I’ll go with you.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I know.”
He wouldn’t let her go alone, and she loved him for that.
“I reached out to Brecken Mayfield’s mother, and she wants nothing to do with us or them.” She read the woman’s text to him.
“Will you leave it at that?”
“I guess I’ll have to. What can she tell us when she hasn’t seen either of them in years?”
“Right, and there’s no sense further traumatizing her by dragging her into it.”
“Besides, if there’re trials, she’ll probably be subpoenaed eventually.”
“True.”
Recognizing a dead end when she encountered one, Sam replied by text to thank Melanie for her response.
