“I’ll get back to you on that.”
“Y’all are funny,” Dana said.
“We’re nonstop comedy around here,” Sam said, “which may seem irreverent in light of what we’re dealing with. But it’s our coping mechanism.”
“I get it. If you don’t laugh, you’ll cry.”
“That’s the gist.”
“So with Thelma…” Sam said, “I’m thinking I’d like to see her treated as a victim and not as a criminal. She lived in fear of him harming her and her daughter, so she kept her mouth shut about what he’d done.”
“You’ll need to make that case to McDermott.”
“I think the fact that we have mother and daughter independently telling the exact same story should be enough for her.”
“I sure as heck hope so, because we’re not coming up with anything else.”
“Do you mind going to check on Jeannie while I’m with the chief?” Sam asked Freddie.
“Will do.”
“Meet me at the chief’s room when you come back.”
Q dodged numerous cars and press trucks to deliver them right to the emergency entrance, which would deny the media their B-roll of the first lady rushing to the side of her injured chief. As she walked through the waiting room with Q and Dana, the roar of voices went silent as they realized who’d arrived. Dana, walking on her right, kept anyone from approaching Sam.
Freddie took off for the elevators to the left.
“I’m here to see Joe Farnsworth,” Sam said to the woman at the desk.
“Are you a relative?”
“I’m his niece.”
She raised a skeptical brow.
“Ask his wife,” Sam added. “She’ll confirm it if you’re not inclined to believe me.”
“You’re the niece of the chief of police?”
“I am.”
Apparently, that tidbit hadn’t made it into the extensive media coverage of her life, family and career.
“I’ll be right back,” the receptionist said.
Sam glanced at Q. “She really doesn’t believe me.”
“That fact of your life isn’t well publicized.”
“Why would I lie to her face and give her fodder to sell to a tabloid?”
“A good question.”
The receptionist returned with a chagrined expression and a stormy-looking Dr. Rob Anderson, ER attending physician, who’d become Sam’s friend one catastrophe at a time. Anderson signaled Sam to follow him. He was tall, with close-cropped blond hair and a goatee that was new since she’d last seen him.
“We’re tight for space around here,” he said to Q and Dana. “Can we just have one of you?”
“Sure,” Q said. “I’ll go.”
