“Don’t do that to yourself, Sam. If Aubrey knew Ethan was missing, she’d want us helping to look for him.”
The twins had massive older-kid crushes on Ethan and Abby, so he was probably right about that.
“I guess so.”
“Every day requires an ordering of priorities for both of us. Our marriage and our family is always the number one thing on our list, but there’re times, such as this, we have to give our full attention to something else because lives are at stake. Public servants make sacrifices all the time that others never see or know about.”
“That’s a fact. In this case, I’m a terrified aunt who has to put her own child’s needs second to her missing nephew.”
“And I’m a terrified uncle putting his own child’s needs—and those of the entire country—second to our missing nephew.”
“I feel a little better when you toss the entire country in there.”
His low chuckle made her smile for the first time all day as she rested her head on his sturdy shoulder, thankful for his presence for what promised to be another difficult day.
“Sometimes it’s all just too much.”
“Only sometimes?”
“Yeah, most of the time.”
Her phone rang with a call from Freddie.
“Hey, are you at the hotel already?”
“Yeah, I relieved Gonzo about twenty minutes ago. He learned from the victim’s sister-in-law that he was a recovering heroin addict. Evidence in the hotel room shows he’d relapsed. Our goal today is to figure out where he got the stuff and whether the dealer is the one who killed him.”
“Shit, that must’ve been a tough scene for Gonzo.”
“It was. He said he’d attend an NA meeting this morning and promised to check in with me after.”
“Keep an eye on that.”
“I will. I’d ask how you are, but…”
“Yeah, not so good, and now Aubrey is sick, too. Nick and I are almost to HQ to see what we can do to help.”
“I’m glad he’s with you.”
“As am I. It’s been a minute since I had a take-my-husband-to-work day.”
Nick tightened the arm he had around her.
“Sure has. Let me know if I can do anything for you today.”
“Keep working that case. That’s what I need.”
“I’m on it. I’ll check in after a bit.”
As Sam closed her phone, The Beast pulled up to the morgue entrance.
“Please stand by for a moment,” the lead agent said.
Sam desperately missed Vernon, who had no need to clear the way into the police station for her. This agent would follow protocol to the letter.
She vibrated with tension as she waited for the door to open. Her mind raced with a thousand things she wanted to do before the meetings with the FBI and U.S. Marshals. She sent a text to Dr. Trulo asking him to call her when he could. As far as she knew, they hadn’t heard back from his daughter yesterday, which was one of several things she needed to discuss with him.
Sam leaned around Nick for a better view of the goings-on outside. “What’s taking so long? It’s a police station, for fuck’s sake.”
