Fatal Justice
"Hey, babe," Nick called when he came in. "Sorry I'm so late. I got sucked into a Democratic Caucus planning meeting." He stopped short at the kitchen door. "Did you "
"Yep," she said, standing at the stove. "You don't need to sound surprised."
He slid his arms around her from behind and kissed her neck. "I didn't think you knew how to turn on the stove."
She pushed her butt into him. "I know how to turn on a lot of things."
Laughing, he tightened his hold on her. "You sure do." He buried his face in her hair. "I'm so damned glad to see you, Samantha. After everything today with Reese. I can't stop thinking about it."
She turned to face him and curled her arms around his neck. This would be a great time to tell him about the IAB hearing, except that he looked like himself again for the first time in days. Was it such a crime to want him to relax and enjoy the evening? "Everything's fine."
He dipped his head to kiss her. "It is now that I'm with you. I love finding you here when I come home."
She divested him of his tie and released his top buttons. "I decided to leave work on time for once."
"What's the occasion?"
Another golden opportunity. "No occasion. I just felt like cooking." She reached for the check she'd found on the counter earlier and waved it at him. "Got anything you want to tell me?"
Staring at the check, his face became unreadable. "You knew about that. You signed for it."
"What're you going to do with it?"
"Part of me wants to give it all away."
Her heart went out to him. The pain of John's loss was still so present. "What would John want you to do with it?"
"He'd want me to enjoy being a millionaire for a while," he said without hesitation.
"Then that's what you ought to do."
"How can I enjoy it when he had to die for it to happen? How do I do that?"
Sam reached up to run her fingers through his hair. "He loved you, Nick. He'd want you to be happy."
"I talked to Graham today, told him I'd gotten the money. He said he'd invest it for me if I wanted him to."
"Why don't you do that? Give it to him and forget about it."
"I guess I will. We have everything we need, right?"
"And then some."
He surprised her when he lifted her onto the center island and stepped between her legs. "Do we have to eat right now?"
"You're turning into a regular sex fiend, Senator," she said, relieved by the return of his playful mood.
"It's your influence." He zeroed in on her neck.
She tilted her head to give him better access. "I need to go back to work after dinner."
"Always with the work," he said, exasperated. "I'm proposing a bill requiring one night a week with no work, no commitments, no obligations, just you and me. We'll call it the Cappuano-Holland To Hell With Work Law." He kissed her. "All those in favor?"
"Mmm," she said against his lips. "Me. Definitely in favor. Holland-Cappuano has a better ring, though."
He smiled. "Passed. Unanimously." Framing her face with his hands, he delved deeper, teasing with his tongue. "Speaking of rings, you know what sounds even better? Cappuano-Cappuano."
Taken aback, Sam stared at him.
"Someday?" he asked with a hopeful, sheepish grin that made her melt.
"Maybe," she stammered. "Someday. But I'm not changing my name."
"Mmm. Progress." His pleasure came through in a deep, passionate kiss.
Her cell phone interrupted them.
She pulled back from him to reach for it.
"We have a law!"
"Sorry," she said. "I really need to take this. Holland."
"Hey, it's Conklin."
Sam held her breath. "What's up?"
"I just now got out of the deliberations."
"Wow."
"Yeah, to call it heated would be an understatement. The suspension was reduced to two days unpaid, effective immediately. That was the best I could do."
She could live with that. Swallowing hard, she said, "And the other?"
"We're meeting again in the morning to discuss it."
Her heart sank. "What's the hang up?"
"Andrews wanted to think on it overnight."
Sam kept an eye on Nick as he checked the pots on the stove. "That doesn't sound good."
"I'm sure it'll be fine. He's a reasonable guy. You're going to need to watch out for Stahl, though. He really has it in for you. The two-day suspension infuriated him."
"Well, thanks for letting me know."
"I'll call you as soon as I have more."
Sam ended the call and clutched the phone to her chest. Her heart raced with anxiety. And then Nick turned and smiled, chasing away her worries.
"Everything okay, babe?"
"Everything's just fine," she said, surprised to realize it was true. Everything was fine as long as she had him. He was indeed so totally worth it. She sent him a saucy grin. "You know that bill we passed before?"
He popped a bite of carrot from the salad into his mouth. "Yep."
"Can we make it effective as of tonight?"
"Absolutely."
She held out her arms to him. "To hell with work."
Sam woke up the next morning to the feel of Nick's lips laying a path up her back. Keeping her eyes closed, she wallowed in the sensation until she remembered the suspension.
"Why'd you just get all tense on me?"
"No reason," she said, not ready to leave the bubble they'd been in since the night before.
"You need to get going. You're going to be late."
"I'm working from home today."
"How come?"
She bit back the guilt. "I want to dig into that lead you gave me yesterday, and I need to get to some other research that's easier to do at my dad's than at HQ. Plus I want to bounce a few things off him."
"Sounds like a good plan." He kissed her and got up. "Graham told me yesterday that Julian's funeral is Saturday in Cambridge. He's chartering a plane to take the family. He asked if we'd like to join them. I told him I'd check with you."
"That'd be good. If we haven't closed the case by then, I'll need to go to the funeral anyway."
"And if you have?"
"Then I'll go to be there for you." She studied his fine naked form. "I wish you didn't have to go to work."
He emerged from the closet with a suit and dress shirt. "Why?" he asked with a salacious grin. "What would you do with me if you had me to yourself all day?"
"It sure would be nice to find out. We haven't had a whole day off since we've been together."
Leaning over to kiss her once more, he said, "We'll have to fix that. Soon. But today, I have two hundred Girl Scouts coming from Norfolk to tour the Capitol and have lunch with me."
"I'm jealous," she said with a pout.
"Don't be. You're the only girl I love." He left her with a smile and went to take a shower.
Only Nick could've made her forget, even for a few minutes, that she'd been suspended from her job and faced a possible reduction in rank. Even one level would be a bitter pill to swallow. But two. Ugh, I can't even think about it. She reached for her cell phone to call Gonzo. "Hey," she said when he answered. "How are you?"
"Better question is how are I heard about the suspension."
"Could've been worse. Between us, I'm working from my dad's today. Can you put out the word that I'm looking for help with Sinclair?"
"Sure, no problem. The press is clamoring for info on the investigation. Rumor has it the chief is on the warpath. Wants an arrest and wants it now."
"Well, let's get him one. Do me a favor – do a run on a Tony Sanducci. He's a big-time abortion protestor. Meet me at my dad's around ten?"
"You got it. I'll round up the cavalry."
"Keep it on the down low." They both knew she'd be royally screwed if she got caught conducting department business while on suspension.
"Will do."
An hour later, Nick was signing a stack of letters to constituents when Christina came in bearing coffee. He noticed she looked tired. "Late night?"
"Sort of. Tommy was in rare form last night."
"Please," Nick said. "Spare me the details."
"How's Sam?"
"Fine," he said, pleased that she'd asked. That, too, was progress. "She's seen a lot over the years, so she bounces back from something traumatic like what happened yesterday a lot faster than most people would."
"She must be pissed, though. Tommy was enraged over it."
Not sure what Christina was getting at, he said, "I think she was more disappointed that she wasn't able to talk Reese out of the gun in time. Apparently, she almost had him when SWAT showed up."
Christina looked at him like he was speaking Greek. "I mean over the suspension. Tommy said it was totally bogus. You helped them close the O'Connor case and now to have Internal Affairs investigating your relationship! Let's just hope the media doesn't catch wind of it."
Nick felt like she had punched him. "Yeah," he said. "Let's hope not." He stood up and reached for his new overcoat. "What time do the Girl Scouts get here?"
"At noon. Why?"
"I'll be back before then."
"Where're you going?" she asked, baffled.
"I'll be back."
"Tony Sanducci," Gonzo said, "age thirty-nine, native of Cleveland, Ohio. He's been actively protesting abortion for the last decade. Suspected in several violent altercations at abortion clinics, but none of the charges stuck. His rich parents apparently hire a team of high-priced lawyers who always get him off.
"Married, four children, lives outside of Cleveland but opened a storefront in the District, on New York Avenue, three weeks ago and has been operating out of there since then. Has a legion of loyal followers who read his daily blog by the thousands and take their orders directly from him. Works outside the boundaries of the mainstream movement, which says it disapproves of his tactics but doesn't do anything to stop him."
"Passive approval," Sam said.
"Exactly," Gonzo said. "His editorial in the was a thinly veiled hate rant. It was clear that he'd do anything to keep Sinclair off the court."
"We need to talk to him," Sam said. "Let's figure out who his most faithful followers are, too. Those who inspire legions of zealots have people in their ranks who'd do anything for the leader. He may not have put out the word he wanted Sinclair killed, but reading that editorial, it'd be hard not to get that message."
"I can't believe the even printed it," Jeannie said.
"Freedom of speech," Skip said.
"I'd also like to know why the Secret Service offered protection," Sam said. "Did they know of specific threats?"
"When you have a million people descending on the city to protest a specific nominee, that warrants protection," Skip said.
"You gotta wonder if Sinclair had all the info about the threats when he turned down protection," Gonzo said. He held up a print out of the article. "Did he see this?"
"Good question," Sam concurred.
A knock on the front door interrupted them. She got up to get it and found Cruz on the porch.
"Hey," he said. "I hear we're working from the home office today."
"What're you doing here?" He was pale and drawn, and his arm was in a sling. "You're still on medical leave."
"Nothing wrong with my brain."
"Come in," Sam said.
He turned and waved to the driver of a car idling in the street.
Sam looked closer and saw that Elin had driven him. "Still seeing the phone-shutter-offer, huh?"
"I told you it's not going to happen again," he said through gritted teeth. "Can we drop it?"
"Eventually," she said with a grin, delighted to see him back on his feet.
"You okay after everything with Reese?" he asked.
"You know how it goes. Shit happens. He didn't shoot my dad."
"I heard that, too. We'll dig into the prior tenants the minute we close Sinclair."
She nodded, grateful for his unwavering support. "Let's get you up to speed."
The others greeted Cruz warmly and updated him on the case.
"Moving on to Diandra," Sam said. "What'd you find out, Jeannie?"
"She's fifty-six, grew up in Missouri. The dad was a fundamentalist Christian minister, the mother a homemaker. Diandra went to Princeton, studied English literature. Met Preston there thirty years ago. Two sons, Devon and Austin. Began spewing her special brand of hatred as a newspaper columnist seventeen years ago. Moved to TV thirteen years ago."
"Right around the same time as the rift formed with her husband's homosexual brother," Sam said. "Interesting timing."
Jeannie nodded. "I thought the same thing."
"I'd like to get her downtown for a more in-depth interview," Sam said. "I keep going back to the irrational hatred she had for Julian over his sexual orientation. It just seems so over the top to me."
"Conservative Christians are very clear on homosexuality," Jeannie said. "And growing up as she did with a minister father, this stuff was probably pounded into her head all her life. I looked into her father's background. He wrote a book twenty years ago about how homosexuality was going to unravel the fabric of our country. It made quite a stir at the time. Apparently, her book is an update of his."
"So she comes by her hatred naturally," Sam said, feeling the buzz that came from uncovering a juicy lead. "We definitely need to have another conversation with her." She growled with frustration. "Freaking suspension! I want to go at her myself."
"We can handle it," Gonzo said, looking to Jeannie who nodded in agreement. "We can also talk to Sanducci."
"I can research his closest aides," Cruz said.
"With only one good arm?" Sam asked.
"Don't worry about it."
The front door swung open. Sam looked up and was startled to see Nick. "What're you doing here?"
"May I have a word with you?" He gestured to the porch.
She looked closer, and this time she saw anger. Uh oh. What now? "Sure." She got up and reached for her coat. To the others she said, "I'll be back in a minute."
Outside, Nick vibrated with tension as he paced the length of the porch.
Her stomach took a nasty nosedive. "What's up?"
He turned to her, hands on his hips, clearly furious. "Were you going to tell me?"
"Tell you what?" she asked, even though she suspected. How had he heard?
Running a hand through his hair in frustration, he said, "I thought we were past this shit, Sam! I thought we were past the point where we kept stuff from each other."
"I was going to tell you – "
"When?" The single word reverberated through the quiet morning. "When were you going to tell me?"
"You've been so upset," she stammered. "About John and Julian, what happened to Cruz, and then the thing with Reese. There just wasn't a good time."
"That's bullshit and you know it. We were together all last night, after you'd been for hooking up with me, and '"
"Can you keep it down?" she whispered. "The people in there work for me."
"I don't care who's listening! How do you think it made me feel to have my chief of staff tell me that my girlfriend, or whatever you are, was from her job because of me? How do you think that felt, Samantha?"
"I'm sorry." She silently cursed Gonzo and Christina and Stahl. Goddamned Stahl. This was all his fault. "I just wanted to make it go away without letting it touch us. I was trying to avoid this very scene."
"If you'd have told me about it when it first happened, there might not have been a scene." He took a deep rattling breath, clearly trying to control the impulse to beat the crap out of something – most likely her. "I want to know how this happened. I want every detail, and I want it right now."
So she told him – about receiving the summons from Stahl to the hearing the day before to the phone call from Conklin. She left nothing out.
"This happened on your as lieutenant? That was before Julian was killed."
"You were still dealing with losing John and your own new job. I was thinking of you, Nick. I didn't set out to deceive you. I was trying to protect you." She took a deep breath to contend with the pain in her gut. "Remember when we talked about you becoming a senator, when I said I was worried about my shit landing all over you and making you look bad just as you got this great opportunity? This is exactly what I was talking about. I was thinking of you."
At that, some of his steam seemed to dissipate. "I don't expect you to protect me. I never asked you to do that."
"Can't help it," she said with a shrug. "I love you. I don't want to be responsible for causing you problems at work or anywhere else."
"And I'm not supposed to feel the same way? You're in trouble at work because of That kills me, Sam."
She reached for him, brought him close to her and rested her head on his chest. "I'll tell you the same thing I told my dad last night." Glancing up at his handsome, earnest face, her heart ached with love. "You're worth it. No matter what happens, you're so, so, so worth it."
Even though he seemed moved by her words, he shook his head. "We should've waited until the case was closed. You knew this could happen. You tried to tell me, but I wanted you so much. I didn't listen to you – "
"Don't." She rested her fingers on his lips. "I wouldn't change one thing about the way we fell in love. It's the best thing that's ever happened to me. are the best thing. How could I regret that?"
"But if you lose your rank. I can't believe they're even considering that."
"It might be for the best."
He stared at her, incredulous. "How in the world can you say that?"
"Less responsibility, fewer hours, fewer demands." She made a huge effort to keep her tone light. "More time for you. Might be just what we need."
"No, it isn't. It can't happen. I'd never forgive myself if I caused that to happen to you."
"Let's not worry about it until it happens. Captain Andrews is known for being logical. He'll do the right thing."
"What if he doesn't?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we come to it." She forced a teasing grin. "You've got Girl Scouts coming to visit. You can't keep them waiting."
"Will you call me? The minute you hear anything?"
"I will."
"And no more keeping stuff from me?"
"No more keeping stuff from you. I promise."