“I agree.”
“This makes me happy for you, Neveah. Keep me posted.”
“He can’t believe that you’re my boss.”
Sam rolled her eyes. “I hope you tell him what a special honor I am to be around.”
“I tell him that and so much more about you.”
“You’re not sucking up, by any chance, are you?”
“Would I do that?”
Sam walked away, laughing. She adored the earnest young detective and predicted big things for her career. Her phone rang, and she took the call from Faith Miller.
“You’re on in thirty minutes.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Thank you.”
“See you soon.”
Sam texted Vernon that she was on her way out and headed to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia at 500 Indiana Avenue Northwest. Then she told Freddie where she’d be. “I’ll be back as soon as I’m done.”
“We’ll be here. Good luck.”
“Thanks.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Faith called when Sam was on the way to the courthouse. “Hey, I’m coming.”
“No worries. We’ve got time. I wanted to update you on what’s transpired thus far in the trial.”
“Okay.” Honestly, she didn’t want to hear the details or be reminded of the dastardly scheme that’d been perpetrated against Nick, her and their extended family.
“We’ve heard from the investigator who was hired to take photos of Scotty, Nick’s brothers and your nieces and nephews, and made the connection between him and Stanley Ritter, Nelson’s henchman. We’ve also successfully tied them to Dante Fields, who testified earlier today as part of his plea agreement. The defense was able to get the plea into evidence, but we redirected to ask Fields if his story would’ve been different without the plea deal, and he said he told it exactly as it happened.”
“That’s all good, right?”
“Absolutely. The testimony thus far has been devastating for Nelson. Your team and the FBI handed me an airtight case. I just have to stick the landing. As we’ve discussed, your testimony will be essential to bringing the personal element, to show that in addition to Peter Gibson’s murder, other people were hurt by what Nelson and Ritter did.”
“We were talking about how it was all for nothing. We wondered how Nelson felt when he heard Nick had decided not to run in the next election. I thought you might be able to use that angle, like maybe ask me if Nelson’s scheme would’ve worked if he hadn’t gotten caught. I could say that Nick never thought for a moment about resigning, and Nelson did all this for nothing because Nick chose not to run—and not because of what Nelson and Ritter did. It was because he didn’t want to be away from his young family to campaign.”
“That’s a great angle to end on. I’ll work it in.”
“I hope it feels like salt in an open wound to Nelson.”
“I’m sure it will.”
“We’re pulling up now. I’ll be in shortly.”
“Great, thanks.”
“Hang on, Sam,” Vernon said in his sternest tone as they arrived to see a mob scene outside the courthouse. “We’re bringing in reinforcements.”
She shrank back into the seat, wishing she could be anywhere but in the middle of the maelstrom playing out as the media realized she’d arrived and that the main event would soon begin. How she longed for their old life at times like this, when her new title made it difficult to move around freely.
