“I will. Thank you, Captain. I’m sorry for not keeping you posted on my efforts. I’m running on pure adrenaline.”
Ruiz gave a brief nod and left the room, closing the door.
Malone blew out a low whistle. “Well done, Sam. You took the starch right out of her spine.”
“But at what cost?” Nick asked, his beautiful hazel eyes full of love as he looked at her.
She’d felt him watching her throughout the entire encounter with Ruiz. “It was worth it to make her understand where I’m coming from.”
“She knows where you’re coming from,” Malone said, “and that’s why you were told to stand down.”
Sam smiled at him. “Yes, you’re right, but now she knows the whole story.”
“For what it’s worth,” Malone said, “I’m glad you called Avery and Jesse. I want to find these missing kids. I don’t care what we have to do to make that happen or who else we need to bring in to get it done. That said, please collaborate with Ruiz going forward. I don’t need any more screaming matches today.”
“I’m sorry you were subjected to the first one because of me.”
“I’ll get over it. Let’s get to work and find these kids.”
“Yes, sir.”
Chapter Eleven
After Malone left the office, Nick closed the door. “Come here for one second.”
Knowing he needed it as much as she did, Sam stood, went around the desk and stepped into his embrace.
“I hate that you had to open that old wound to make her understand what’s at stake here. I hate that you still hurt the way you do, the way you always will, and more than anything, I hate to hear that, for a time, you didn’t want to be here anymore.”
“You knew that.”
“I don’t think I did.”
“Well, I’m sorry you heard about it like that. It was a few weeks of true darkness that’ve never been repeated, thankfully. I don’t hurt the way I used to. I’ll always be sorry we weren’t able to have a baby together but look at what we do have. Our kids are everything I could ever want and then some. I don’t yearn for things I used to think I wanted more than anything. If I have you and our kids, I have it all.”
“And soon, they’ll all be legally ours.” Their court date for the official adoption of Elijah and the twins was fast approaching.
“I can’t wait for that.” She kissed him. “Thank you for the hug. It helped.”
He released her so she could get back to work trying to find Ethan. “I’m here all day.”
“That makes everything better.”
She dove into the research on the Mayfield family. “It’s curious, isn’t it, that the kid I’m looking for once lived in the same Truxton Circle neighborhood as Luna Ahern.”
“That is an interesting connection. How can I have lived in and around DC for almost twenty years and still be hearing neighborhood names for the first time?”
“Truxton Circle is also known as East Shaw. Named for a Navy guy who had a circle dedicated to his memory at Florida Ave and North Capitol Street in 1900 or something before they later removed it because it was causing so many accidents.”
“And you just happen to know that?”
“My dad used to tell me stories about where the neighborhoods got their names. He knew them all.”
“Wow.”
“I think their proximity to each other is a connection worth investigating further. Maybe Brecken Mayfield met Luna Ahern in the neighborhood and became interested. She ignored him, which made him mad enough to want to go after her.” Sam flipped through her notes from the night before and called the number for Luna’s mother, Court.
“Did you find her?” Court asked when she answered.
