“Lead the way.”
* * *
As always, it was a relief to air it out with the captain, who always had her back even when she was teetering on the edge of a breakdown. He was right. She couldn’t let people who didn’t matter live rent-free in her mind. Lawler’s opinion of her was none of her business. Nor were the opinions of others who might feel like she was being selfish for continuing to work while Nick was president.
Fuck them all, she thought as she entered a room full of people who were glad she showed up every day to do a job most people couldn’t handle.
“Where are we with tracking down King Robinson’s friends?” Sam asked when she took the seat at the head of the table.
“We found one locally, by the name of Domenic Conti. He’s a junior at George Mason,” O’Brien said. “We talked to him at his restaurant job in Georgetown. He seemed relieved to hear that someone is finally doing something about King’s murder. It was, he said, ‘complete bullshit’ that no one was ever charged with killing him. We asked what he knew King’s relationship with his parents. The mom was cool, Domenic said, but the stepfather was an asshole.”
“Did he give any examples?” Sam asked.
“King told him how Louis would toss the N-word around to make his point whenever he felt King was getting ‘uppity’ with him and forgetting who owned the house and paid for the food and all that. The guy was a dick, according to Domenic. King couldn’t wait to turn eighteen so he could get the hell away from Louis, but he worried about leaving his sister alone with him and the mom, who was, according to Domenic, useless in dealing with the shit her husband said to her kids.”
“Why didn’t he ever report the things that King told him about his stepfather?” Freddie asked.
“He said it never occurred to him that Louis would’ve gone so far as to kill King because he was all talk. King never said Louis hit him or anything like that. When Domenic heard where King was found, he assumed it was a stranger who’d killed him.”
“This is great,” Sam said. “It backs up everything Amara said about how he treated them and talked to them. Will he be willing to testify?”
“He said he’d do anything he could to help get justice for King, who didn’t deserve what happened to him. Domenic teared up as we were leaving. He said he missed his friend and thought of him every day.”
“Good work. Thank you. Anyone else have anything to add on Bingham or Ivanov?”
“We got the film from the Naval Observatory,” Cameron Green said. “Freddie told me what we’re looking for, and we’ve got Curtis Henderson camped outside the gates for hours that night. This is the part you’ll find interesting, though.” He cued up a clip on the screen at the front of the room.
One of these days, she needed to figure out how to do that.
Green started the video, and they watched Ivanov emerge from the observatory grounds wearing the same white T-shirt and black shorts he’d been wearing when he was pushed out of the SUV. Curtis waved him over to the car, and after chatting for a few minutes, Ivanov got in the passenger side before they drove off together.
“Henderson waited for Ivanov to leave and then offered him a ride, probably all friendly and stuff,” Sam said. “Ivanov sees a familiar face and thinks, ‘Hey, why not? I know this guy, and it beats walking.’ Now to find out where they went. Cruz, see if Henderson is ready to continue our conversation.”
Freddie left the room to see to her order.
“What’s the plan?” Malone asked.
“I guess we’ll tell Henderson we can prove he picked up Ivanov and drove off with him close to the time of death and encourage him to come clean on what happened next. Otherwise, we can charge him based on this video alone, which puts him with the deceased earlier on the morning he was found dead.”
“McDermott will say that’s not enough,” Malone said.
“We could lead Henderson to believe his prints were found on Ivanov’s body,” Green said.
“That’s a good idea,” Sam said.
Freddie returned, giving the thumbs-up. “I texted Hope, and she’s still in the building, so she’ll be back in a few.”
Sam checked her watch. She had an hour until she needed to be ready for a public event at the White House, which meant she had to leave no less than thirty minutes from now. As she walked toward the door, she said, “If someone could hand off to Carlucci and Dominguez, I’d appreciate it. I’ll see the rest of you in the morning.”
While she and Freddie waited for Hope, Sam texted Lilia. Attending the VP announcement in an hour. Just FYI.
Got it, Lilia replied. You have outfits labeled for events in the closet. Let me know if you need anything.
Maybe very quick hair and makeup?
I’ll make sure they’re standing by.
You all are the best. Thanks.
