Lethal Attraction: Against the Rules\Fatal Affair Read online

  “We’ve worked our way through the Johnson family and the majority of their known associates,” Detective Jeannie McBride said. “For the most part, they were hardly sympathetic to hear you’d nearly gotten blown up but were adamant that they had nothing to do with it.” With a chagrinned expression, she added, “A few said they wished they’d thought of it.”

  “Nice,” Nick muttered.

  “We didn’t pick up any vibe that an actual order had come from either of the Johnsons,” McBride said.

  “And it would have,” Sam said. “After six months undercover with them, I can tell you nothing happens without one of them ordering it.”

  “Agreed,” McBride said.

  Sam ran her fingers through her hair, which she had left down the way Nick liked it. “I’ve got a bunch of shit running around in my head, so I want to go through it from the top if no one minds.”

  When the others nodded in agreement, she began with Nick finding the senator’s body in his apartment. “He’s murdered on the eve of a vote that would elevate his standing in the Senate by passing legislation on a hot-button issue. The murder itself, at least on the surface, is personal, with all the trimmings of a love affair gone wrong. However, as Detective Cruz correctly pointed out, the dismemberment could’ve been intended to throw us off, to send us down the personal road. Keep in mind there was no forced entry and no sign of a struggle, leading us to believe the killer was someone he knew, someone he was comfortable with and not surprised to see.”

  “And someone who had one of the many keys he’d given out,” Freddie interjected.

  “Yes. We’ve interviewed three of his past lovers, discovered he had a few fetishes, and uncovered a son his family kept hidden from the public for twenty years. The mother of that child appears, for all intents and purposes, to have been the love of his life and, for some reason, the only one who didn’t experience his wilder side. It would stand to reason that his often-cavalier treatment of other women and his fixation with Internet porn stem directly from the stymieing of the most important sexual relationship in his life. That it wasn’t allowed to flourish or take its natural course, set him up for all kinds of psychological issues that he worked hard to keep hidden from even the people closest to him.” She glanced at Nick and found him staring at the wall, his face impassive.

  “The senator’s relationship with his parents, his father in particular, was complicated by the teenage pregnancy and the resulting child. When John reached adulthood, his father threatened to disown him if he married Patricia Donaldson or acknowledged his son. If Ms. Donaldson is to be believed, protecting his political career and reputation was more important to Graham O’Connor than his own grandchild.” She looked to Freddie for confirmation. With his nod, she continued. “On the same night he discovered the senator’s body, Mr. Cappuano reported an intruder in his house, which the Arlington police investigated. Toss in Destiny Johnson’s threats in yesterday’s paper and the bombing today. Is that everything?” She looked to Freddie. “Am I forgetting anything?”

  “Stenhouse.”

  “Right—the O’Connors’s bitter political rival. His motive would be derailing the bill and deflecting the accompanying glory that would have fallen on John, the son of a man he told us he hated.”

  “But he would’ve had no way into O’Connor’s apartment,” Freddie said. “Or at least he wouldn’t have had a key.”

  “Which keeps him at the bottom of the list, but still a person of interest,” Sam said. “A man in his position could probably get a key if he wanted one badly enough. So how’s it all related? How’s our dead senator related to a breakin at his chief of staff’s house? If we’ve ruled out Johnson, how’s it related to a bombing at the same location?”

  “Maybe it isn’t,” Skip said.

  All eyes turned to him.

  Sam’s brows knitted with confusion. “What do you mean, Dad?”

  “Goes back to timing. What else has happened this week?” Before Sam could reply, he said, “In the course of the investigation, you’ve rekindled an old flame.” He glanced at Nick. “Who might be put out by that?”

  “We’re both single, so other than my superiors, I can’t think of anyone,” she said, wondering where he was going with this.

  “Are you sure?”

  And then, all at once, she knew exactly what he was talking about—or rather whom. “Peter,” she gasped. “Oh my God.” Curling her fist into her stomach, she had to sit when her legs would have buckled under her.

  The room fell silent. Her rancorous divorce, complete with restraining orders and accusations of mental cruelty and emotional abuse, was hardly a secret to any of them.

  Nick sat next to her, and Sam didn’t object when his arm slid around her shoulders.

  “He was outside the house,” she whispered. “That was him before. He was watching us that night after we had pizza. I felt something, but I blew it off, chalked it up to nerves. I’ll bet he was in your house, too.”

  “What would he want there?”

  “First rule of combat,” she said softly. “Know your enemy.”

  Nick turned to Skip. “What do we do?”

  Skip shifted his furious eyes to Gonzo. “Call Malone. Report in, and then pick up Gibson.”

  “Yes, sir.” Gonzo signaled to Arnold, his partner, and they left.

  “I’m going with you,” Freddie said, following them.

  Sam got up and grabbed her coat off a hook by the door. “I just need some, ah, air.” She rushed through the front door.

  Nick was right behind her.

  She struggled against his efforts to embrace her. “Just leave me alone, will you?”

  “The hell I will.” He pulled her in close and tightened his arms around her. “Don’t push me away, Samantha.”

  “He was watching us! He was in your house! Because of me!”

  “It’s not your fault. Don’t take it on.”

  “How can I not? He’s obsessed.” Another thought occurred to her all of a sudden.

  “What?”

  “The EDs,” she whispered, the ramifications so huge, so monstrous it was almost too much to process.

  “You don’t think…”

  She looked up at him. “That he’d rather kill me than see me with you? Yeah, I do, and if he couldn’t take me out, getting rid of you would be the next best thing.”

  “Jesus.”

  “I told him everything about you after that night we spent together. When you didn’t call, I told him about the connection we’d had, how I’d never had that before with anyone else. I thought he was my friend.” She took a deep, rattling breath to stave off the pain circling in her gut. “He’d remember that. He’d know you were important, a real threat. The first real threat since he and I broke up.”

  “He’d be jealous enough to want to kill us both?”

  “Destiny Johnson handed him the perfect opportunity with her tirade in the paper yesterday,” Sam said as the whole thing clicked into focus with such startling clarity she wondered how she could’ve missed it. “If it had worked, the cops would naturally blame her or her friends. No one would’ve thought to look at him. It was so easy. He wouldn’t have been able to resist.” The pain gnawed at her insides, making her sick and weak.

  “Would he know how to build a bomb?”

  “You can get how-to instructions for just about anything on the Internet these days.” She winced at the claws stabbing her gut. “Higgins said the EDs were crude. I guess we were lucky Peter screwed it up.”

  “You’re in pain.”

  “Just need to breathe,” she panted.

  He loosened his hold on her. “What can I do? You’re scaring me, Sam.”

  Clutching her midsection, she looked up at him. “I’ve dragged you into a nightmare.”

  “I’m exactly where I want to be—where I’ve wanted to be since the night I met you. And if I get my hands on that ex-husband of yours before you do, I’ll be sure to let him know that he might’ve s