“He has an apartment at the Westmont on Glebe Road and Columbia Pike. I don’t recall the street number, but he’s in apartment 3F.”
Sam wrote down the information. “Where does he work?”
“For a marketing company from home.” After a pause, Gretchen said, “You’ve never liked me, have you?”
“I don’t know you well enough to like or dislike you, but I never trusted you.”
“Because I’m a beautiful woman spending time with your husband?”
“Hardly,” Sam said with a laugh. “It’s because I always had a feeling you would disappoint him. I hate to be right about things that cause him distress, and on behalf of women everywhere, I’m deeply disappointed in the way you squandered a historic opportunity.” She put her business card on the coffee table. “Call me if you think of anything else that might be relevant to Sergei’s murder. Keep in mind that withholding information in a homicide investigation can lead to charges. We’ll see ourselves out.”
“That was fire,” Freddie said when they were outside.
“What was?”
“The way you laughed when she suggested your distrust was because she’s beautiful. Anyone who knows you and Nick, and the whole world knows you, would get how preposterous it is that she even suggested you’re jealous of her spending time with him.”
“She’s a fool—and I’ve decided she’s stupid, too. How could this thing with Sergei not have come to light eventually?”
They were approaching the SUV with Vernon when four other black SUVs pulled up to the curb, carrying a team of FBI agents.
Even though the one in charge probably recognized her, Sam showed him her badge. “What’s going on?”
“We’re here to pick up Gretchen Henderson for additional questioning.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“Petrov has requested a call,” Terry told Nick. “Shall we make that happen?”
Usually, those calls took weeks to set up and required numerous staffers to prepare, but these were not normal circumstances, and Nick was eager to hear what Petrov had to say about Russians being responsible for Americans being killed by Russians on U.S. soil. He needed to be able to explain what’d taken place to the citizens as well as the journalists who were foaming at the mouth over the connection between the bombing and the Russians.
“Why not? I’ve been so looking forward to our next chat.”
Terry laughed and grimaced at the same time. “I’ll set it up.”
No doubt his Russian counterpart was equally eager to know why his vice president had been spending time with the man trying to depose him.
During his morning briefing, Nick had learned Gretchen was much more involved in the Russian resistance movement than she’d let on, even after she was caught with Ivanov. His team had gone back years to find detailed messages between the two of them that showed her as an active participant in Ivanov’s movement, offering advice, money and tactical support on numerous occasions. The FBI was looking into whether she’d ever shared classified information with Ivanov.
Ivanov and his movement must’ve been over the moon when she was tapped to be vice president.
“It’s a case of knowing there’s something to find, sir,” Teresa had said when Nick asked how the connection had been missed during the vetting process, “and then looking in the appropriate places. Without knowing what we’re looking for, we never would’ve found it.”
He approved of Gretchen possibly being charged with mishandling classified information. What choice did the DOJ have but to throw the book at someone who’d abused the office of the VP in such a way—even if he supported and respected what Ivanov had been trying to accomplish.
Terry came back to the Oval. “The call with Petrov is set for an hour from now.”
“Will you please call your dad to ask if he can come in? I could really use him right now. If he’s available, send a car for him.”
“Will do, sir.”
“Thank you.”
After attending numerous briefings and consuming voluminous documents pertaining to Russia, Nick was out of his league dealing with Petrov, who’d been the Russian president since 2012. Despite being shunned and sanctioned by most of the world, Petrov ruled with an iron fist and an eye toward expanding his already-massive empire. Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine four years ago, Petrov and his country had become further isolated, which hadn’t done a thing to stop the bloodshed.
Would Nick put it past Petrov to have the biggest thorn in his side killed when Ivanov was in the United States so he could spin it as something he had nothing to do with? Not for one second, but since he’d probably never be able to prove the order to murder Ivanov had come from the Kremlin, he would use the murder and bombing to extract whatever concessions he could from Petrov.
Nick understood that he didn’t possess a devious enough mind to fully engage with someone like Petrov, who epitomized the word evil. While Nick had to deal with him, he refused to stoop to his level.
