“She was murdered? Well, I suppose that’s not surprising in light of what she did.”
“Did you invest with her?” Sam asked.
“I did not. She came after all of us, though.” He waved his hand to encompass the neighborhood. “I don’t know of anyone who actually went in with her around here. If they did, they didn’t tell anyone.”
“Why weren’t you interested?”
“Her proposal didn’t pass my smell test.”
“How so?”
“Long on big ideas, short on details.”
“Did you know of anyone who might’ve been angry enough to kill her?”
“Based on what I read in today’s paper, that’s a very long list.”
And Sam could hardly wait to talk to all of them. Ugh. “Did you see anyone around the McLeods’ home today?”
“I just got home after being out for most of the day. So no, I didn’t.”
“Do you have one of those doorbell-cam thingies?” His front door was the only one that had an unobstructed view of the McLeods’ house.
“No, I don’t.”
Because that would’ve been too easy. Sam handed him her business card. “If you think of anything relevant, give me a call.”
He glanced at the information on the card. “You’re the VP’s wife, right?”
Sam hated when people stated the obvious. “I am.”
“I hope he doesn’t run for president.”
She didn’t want to ask. She honestly didn’t. “Why’s that?”
“I don’t think he’s got the experience required to be president.”
“I’ll pass that on to him.”
The man gave her a curious look. “Is he going to run?”
“I’ll ask him and get back to you on that.” To her team, she said, “Let’s go.”
“It’s no wonder you hate people,” Jeannie said when they were across the street, far enough away that the man wouldn’t be able to hear them if he was still in the doorway.
“Eh, whatever. Does he honestly think I care? That Nick would care?”
Freddie shrugged. “Who knows? People are weird.”
“I tell you that every day.” Sam noted that Lindsey’s team had left with Ginny McLeod’s body and Crime Scene was on the job. They’d pore over every inch of the place looking for evidence. Sam took a minute to confer with CSU Lieutenant Haggerty. “We’re looking for a murder weapon, something sharp and lethal, but probably not a knife.”
“On it.”
“I’ll check with you in the morning, or call me if anything pops.”
Always a man of few words, Haggerty nodded and headed inside.
“What’s the plan, LT?” Freddie asked.
“Let’s go home and pick it up in the morning. I’ll dig into the coverage of the case against her and figure out who we need to talk to. I’ll drop you guys.” After she’d delivered them to their homes, she headed for hers, thinking through the new case in the context of what she’d learned about her victim in the last hour. A deep dive into the coverage of Ginny’s fraud case would help to frame Sam’s next moves.
At a stoplight, she opened her new cherry-red flip phone and put through a quick call to Malone to update him. “Will you have someone notify the prosecutor on her fraud case as a courtesy?”
“I’ll take care of that,” Malone said.
She could check that item off her list. “Great, thanks. See you in the morning.” Next, she called Nick.
“Is this my lovely wife?”
“No, it’s the sidepiece.”
“Remember—my wife can never know. She’s vicious and possibly a bit feral.”
“I hear she’s got one hell of a steak knife too.”
“Indeed. How’s it going?”
“I’m on my way home. I called so you could get your sidepiece out before I get there, but somehow, it all went wrong.”
His rich, lusty laugh was among her favorite things. “Thanks for the heads-up. I’ll send her packing before you get home.”
“Good plan. So my vic is the woman who swindled her friends.”
“Seriously? Where do you even start with that?”
“With the swindled friends, I suppose. By the way, one of her neighbors thinks you shouldn’t run for president because, and I quote, you don’t have the required experience.”
“Well then, that’s it. I’m out.”
Sam laughed. “I thought you’d like that.”
“What I would’ve liked was to see your face when he said it.”
“He almost got himself a throat punch, but I’m on my best behavior these days.” After nearly being indicted for assaulting Ramsey, who’d totally deserved it, Sam thought first and punched second these days.
“What’s your ETA?”
“About ten minutes. Is there food?”
“There is. I grilled burgers and saved one for you.”
“Look at you.”
“I’m capable of feeding myself and our children, even if I don’t have the experience to be president.”
“Almost to the checkpoint. See you in a few.”
“I’ll be here.”
Sam ended the call, smiling as she always did after talking to him. He was so fun and funny and sexy and the full package, as far as she was concerned. “And he has a full package,” she said, laughing at her own joke. Maybe it was weird to be cracking herself up or flirting with her husband after leaving a murder scene, but that was how she stayed sane while working an insane job.
After being waved through the checkpoint, she parked in her Secret Service-assigned spot on Ninth Street, locked her car and headed up the ramp to home, thankful she’d made it in time to see the twins before bedtime.
Henry opened the door for her. “Evening, Mrs. Cappuano.”
“Evening, Henry.”
She walked into the usual after-dinner chaos of the twins wrestling with Scotty and Nick standing watch over them to make sure no one got hurt.
Scotty had both of the Littles captured in his arms as they tried to get away, screaming their heads off as they laughed as hard as they screamed. “Do you surrender?”
“Never!” Aubrey said.
“That’s my girl,” Sam said. “Never give in.”
Scotty tightened his hold on the squirming twins and shot a grin in Sam’s direction. “Is there any concern for the older brother?”
“None,” Sam said.
“Ha! Good to know.”
“Two more minutes, little people, and then it’s bedtime.”
“If we go now, I’ll read you an extra story,” Scotty said.
“Let’s go,” Alden said.
Scotty released them, and they started to get up before diving back on top of him and taking him completely by surprise.
“We win!” Alden declared.
“Oof,” Scotty said. “I’ll give you that one, but no fair ganging up on me. You better start running, because I’m coming for you.”
They went screaming up the stairs with Scotty in hot pursuit.
“Another night in paradise,” Sam said to Nick, who put his arm around her and led her into the kitchen so she could eat.