“How’d you find that out?”

  “Through inside channels. The info is legit. I can attest to that.”

  “Huh,” Gonzo said. “So let’s take this one step at a time. The AG asks Forrester to investigate Congressman Bryant for possible campaign finance irregularities, but asks Forrester to see to it himself. Is that unusual?”

  “Highly,” Faith said. “The U.S. Attorney rarely tends to cases on his or her own without staff involvement. Almost everything is assigned to an AUSA.”

  “Okay, so Forrester digs in, Bryant’s son is arrested, Forrester orders us to release him, Forrester and possibly his family go missing, a kid who is supposed to be Randy Bryant turns up dead, and the real Randy Bryant is in Wisconsin. Have I missed anything?”

  “That about sums it up,” Freddie said as Faith nodded.

  “Let’s go have a talk with the congressman.”

  “What’s the plan?” Freddie asked.

  “We’ll let him dig his own hole before we tell him what we know.”

  * * *

  Childbirth totally sucked. As her labor extended into a tenth hour, Shelby tried to remember why she’d thought it was such a good idea to have a second child at age forty-two. She was too old for this and was feeling every second of her age as the agony wore on.

  An epidural had saved her sanity, but it had slowed things down, as she’d been told it might.

  Poor Avery was a wreck, but he hadn’t left her side for more than a few minutes since they arrived. Their sweet Noah was with Shelby’s sister and asking every five minutes if his baby had come yet.

  Shelby would be a mother of two if this little one ever decided to appear.

  “Is it normal for it to take this long?” Avery had run his fingers through his hair so many times, it stood straight up.

  “Come here.”

  “I’m here.”

  “Closer.”

  He leaned in close enough for her to fix his hair. “My mama was in labor with me for thirty-six hours.”

  “Come on. How is that possible?”

  Shelby shrugged. “The baby comes when the baby is ready.”

  “Is that why you’re late for everything?”

  “No,” she said on a laugh. “Noah is why I’m late for everything. I was never late once in my life before he arrived.”

  “Should I expect that to get worse when we have two?”

  “Most likely.”

  He kissed her. “Good thing I love you so much.”

  “It’s a very good thing.”

  “In case I forget to tell you later, you’re a badass at this childbirth thing.”

  “I don’t feel like a badass. I feel exhausted.”

  “You’re doing great.”

  The doctor came in a short time later, did yet another internal exam and declared her ready to push.

  Things kicked into high gear after that.

  After Noah, the process was familiar, but still scary.

  Avery was right there to hold her hand, to prop her up when she felt like she couldn’t do it and to be the first one to see their baby when she finally made her appearance at ten o’clock.

  Shelby and Avery cried as they beheld the face of their little angel.

  “She’s absolutely perfect,” Avery said. “As pretty as her mommy.”

  “No, she’s prettier. We have a little girl, Avery.”

  “I heard.”

  “What’s her name?” a nurse asked.

  “Meet Maisie Rae Hill,” Shelby said. “Named after my grandma and Avery’s.”

  “That’s a beautiful name for a beautiful girl,” the nurse said.

  “Thank you.” Shelby looked up at her husband. “We have a son and a daughter.”

  “Yes, we do, and I couldn’t be happier or more in love with my sweet little family. But tell me this… Will she wear any color other than pink?”

  Shelby gave him a saucy look. “What do you think?”

  * * *

  Gonzo entered the interrogation room to find the congressman with another man sitting next to him. The lawyer had white hair and a stern countenance.

  “I demand to know why my client is being detained at a police station on the day his son was murdered,” the lawyer said.

  “Your name?”

  He put an embossed business card on the table in front of Gonzo. “Jason Fallow.”

  Gonzo recognized the name of the prestigious firm and noted that Fallow was a partner.

  Freddie started the recorder and recited the names of the people present.

  “Your client is here because he was unable to tell us exactly how he heard his son had been murdered when the body hadn’t even been found yet,” Gonzo said.

  “I told him I don’t know!” Bryant said.

  “You don’t know how you heard your son was killed?” Fallow asked him.

  Clearly, Bryant hadn’t been expecting that from the lawyer.

  “One of my people told me.”

  “You’ll have to do better than that, Mr. Bryant,” Gonzo said.

  “I can’t remember who said it. I was in shock. It was devastating news.”

  “Did you ask U.S. Attorney Forrester, who was personally investigating you for campaign finance irregularities, to order the MPD to release your son after he was detained as part of a murder-for-hire investigation?”

  He really hadn’t been expecting that.

  Bryant’s mouth flopped open and then shut just as quickly.

  “What I’d like to know is what you have on Forrester that would’ve made him do such a thing while he was investigating you?”

  Bryant gave him a defiant look. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “Sure, you don’t.”

  “What’re you accusing my client of?” Fallow asked.

  “I’m not sure yet, but I’ve got a body in my morgue and a U.S. Attorney missing along with his family. I’m thinking your client knows exactly where the USA is, and he knows what happened to his son because he ordered the hit.”

  “I did no such thing! He was my son!”

  “When was the last time you saw Randy?” Gonzo asked.

  “A few weeks ago, when I told him I was cutting him off because his spending was out of control. We argued. He didn’t think it was fair that I wasn’t going to help him anymore while he was in college.”

  “Perhaps that’s why the ten thousand dollars Tori Stevens was willing to pay him to kill Rachel Fortier looked good to him,” Gonzo said.

  “My son didn’t kill anyone!”

  “Actually, he did, and we can prove that.”

  “Well, it doesn’t matter now. He’s gone.” Bryant dropped his head into his hands. “It’s devastating.”

  “With a significant primary challenger giving you a run for your money, it must’ve been upsetting to have your son facing charges in a murder-for-hire plot.”

  “Yes, it was upsetting, but not because of my career.”

  “When had you seen Randy before your meeting about his spending? Had it been a year? Two? Five? Longer?”

  “I don’t know. It’d been a while.”

  “Was that because your kids don’t speak to you anymore after you divorced their mother and fought her for custody of them, even though you live mostly in Washington these days?”

  Again, his mouth did that flapping thing.

  “Where’s Tom Forrester?” Freddie asked.

  “How would I know? I barely know him.”

  “But he was causing you some grief with his investigation, wasn’t he? And then he orders your son released from custody when we’ve got him nailed on murder charges. How is that a coincidence?”

  “I’d like to confer with my client,” Fallow said.

  Freddie turned off the recorder and followed Gonzo from the room.

  “There’s no doubt in my mind the congressman is up to his neck in this whole thing,” Gonzo said. “I want to talk to his security guy. The one who was on the job.”

  “I’ll put him in a room.”

  Cruz returned ten minutes later. “He’s in interview two. His name is Kent Sanders. Faith is in observation, and I have a Patrol officer coming to stand outside the room to make sure the congressman stays put.”

  “Thanks.” When the Patrol officer arrived, Gonzo said to Cruz, “Come with me to have a word with Sanders.”

  They burst into the room, taking the larger man by surprise. He looked nervous. Good.

  “Mr. Sanders, we believe the congressman was involved in his son’s murder and the disappearance of U.S. Attorney Tom Forrester and his family. What do you know about that?”

  “You forget that I know how this works, Sarge. I’m not saying shit without an attorney.”

  “Well, we know the congressman is up to his eyeballs in this, and he’s conferring with his attorney now. He’s probably going to tell us he wants a deal, after which he’ll toss the people who helped him commit his crimes under the bus. I assume the bus will run over you and your sidekick first after he starts talking. But that’s fine. If you want to leave it in his hands…” Gonzo and Freddie headed for the door.

  “Wait.”

  Gonzo bit back a smile as he turned back to him.

  “What would my deal look like?”

  “That’ll depend on what you tell us.”

  Sanders crossed his hands on the table and then stared down at them. “I’ll tell you everything, but I want immunity.”

  “Stay with him,” Gonzo said to Cruz as he went to talk to Faith.

  She met him in the hallway. “I’ll give him immunity. I want to know where my boss is.”

  Gonzo nodded and reentered the room. “Immunity has been granted by the AUSA.”

  “I want to hear it from them.”

  Gonzo went back to the door to admit Faith. “This is Assistant U.S. Attorney Faith Miller.”

  “I’ll give you full immunity from prosecution, provided you tell us where USA Forrester and his family are and who arranged the hit on Randy Bryant.”

  Rather than return to the observation area, Faith stayed in the room.

  “Bryant was losing his shit over the investigation into his finances, and then his son was arrested. The arrest was big news back home. He’s fending off his first serious challenger and the guy is gaining in the polls. He asked us to pick up Mrs. Forrester and her daughters and put them up in hotel for a few days.”

  “Where are they?” Faith asked.

  “At the Washington Hilton. We were told to take good care of them, which we’ve done.”

  “I’m notifying the FBI to go get them,” Faith said as she typed on her phone.

  “Forrester was told to go to work as usual, to pretend nothing was wrong and to tell the AG there’s no case against Bryant. And then Randy was arrested, and the congressman completely lost it. He told Forrester if he ever wanted to see his family alive again, he’d order the MPD to release Randy. Then he told us to pick up Randy and deal with him.”

  “And you took that to mean murder him?” Gonzo asked.

  “Yes.”

  “No one questioned that he was ordering the murder of his own son?”

  “He hated the ex-wife and his kids for making him look like a shitty husband and father.”

  “Which he was.”

  Sanders shrugged. “It wasn’t my job to judge him.”

  “When your boss ordered you to commit murder on his behalf, did either of you balk at the order?”

  “I said I wouldn’t do it. I don’t do murder.”

  How honorable that he has limits, Gonzo thought. “But someone else on your team was willing?”

  “For fifty large, yeah.”

  “Who was it?”

  “Aaron Peterson.”

  “Where will we find him?”

  “At the congressman’s place.”

  Gonzo glanced at Freddie. “Don’t go alone.”

  “I won’t.” Freddie got up and left the room.

  “What’s a congressman from Wisconsin into that requires him to have full-time security?”

  “What isn’t he into? Gambling, guns, prostitutes and drugs, mostly. He’s in deep with one of the Mexican cartels, and he’s constantly afraid they’ll kill him. That’s where we come in.”

  “What would you say if I told you the person Aaron Peterson killed wasn’t Randy Bryant?” Gonzo said.

  That seemed to genuinely surprise Sanders. “It wasn’t?”

  “Nope. It was someone posed to make us think it was Randy, with his trademark red sneakers, and his face bashed in so we couldn’t be sure.”

  “I can’t explain that. Does the congressman know it wasn’t Randy?”

  “I’m not sure what he knows.”

  “Maybe Aaron got cold feet or something.”

  “Or maybe he wanted the congressman to think his son was dead when he wasn’t, so we’d do exactly what we’re doing by hauling him in here and making him explain himself.”

  “Maybe. The congressman is an asshole. We all hate him, but we like the money, so we put up with his shit.”

  “You’ll have to testify to all of this in court,” Faith said.

  Sanders looked at her without blinking. “That’s fine.”

  “Where’s Tom Forrester?” Faith asked.

  “I honestly don’t know.”

  * * *

  “Take me through the whole thing, from the top,” Malone said as the clock edged closer to midnight.

  “Forrester was investigating Damien Bryant for campaign finance irregularities at the behest of the AG. Bryant knew the investigation would bear fruit, so he had Forrester’s wife and daughters ‘detained’ until Forrester reported to the AG that there was nothing to the investigation. Then his son was arrested, and he completely freaked out when the news broke back home, where he’s facing a formidable challenger. He demanded that Forrester get his son released or his family would be harmed.”

  Malone crossed his arms as he processed the details. “That explains why we were told to release him.”

  “I feel better knowing Forrester was protecting his family,” Gonzo said, “and not out of his goddamned mind.”

  “The congressman also ordered his security people to ‘deal’ with the son, except they killed someone else. The son is in Wisconsin. I’m waiting for Tomlinson to tell me who’s in the morgue.”

  Tomlinson walked into the pit. “He’s a well-known drug dealer named Zachery Calder. His prints were in the system from multiple arrests.”

  “Let me find out if he was one of the congressman’s guys,” Gonzo said.

  He returned to the room where Sanders waited. “Does the name Zachery Calder mean anything to you?”

  “Yeah, Z is one of our guys. Why?”

  “He’s the one Aaron killed instead of Randy.”

  “Oh, come on. No way.”

  “Way. Stay here.”

  Gonzo returned to the pit. “Sanders has identified Z as one of their guys.” He went into Sam’s office, found his notes on the place where Randy Bryant lived and called the number he’d been given for Randy’s roommate.

  When the guy answered, Gonzo introduced himself. “I was wondering if anyone came there today saying they needed some of Randy’s clothes to bring him in jail.”

  “Yeah, a guy named Aaron came by and said Randy needed some of his stuff. I let him in.”

  “What did you give him?”

  “He asked for his student ID because he needed a second form of ID for the cops, T-shirts and a pair of the red Vans that are his favorite. Randy has several pairs of those.”

  “Thank you.”

  “Hey—I heard Randy was dead. Is that true?”

  “Just a rumor. He’s with his mom in Wisconsin.”

  “Oh God. That’s a relief. I’ve been trying to call him for hours.”

  “Thanks again for your help.”

  Gonzo went back out into the pit. “Randy’s roommate confirms that someone named Aaron came by to get some of Randy’s clothes earlier and specifically asked for his student ID, which was found in the pants pocket of the body, and a pair of the red Vans that Randy likes. The roommate let him in.”

  The Patrol officer who’d been assigned to the congressman’s interrogation room came into the pit. “The lawyer says they’re ready to talk to you.”

  “Shall we lay some wagers on the congressman offering us a deal?” Gonzo asked, buzzing with adrenaline after putting together the pieces of this strange and baffling case.

  “I’d wager if I didn’t agree with you,” Malone said.

  Faith returned to the pit. “Forrester’s wife and daughters are safe in FBI custody. They haven’t heard from Tom.”

  It was a relief to know Forrester’s family was safe. “Let’s see what the congressman wants,” Gonzo said.

  “Mind if I tag along?” Malone asked.

  “Please do.”

  “I’ll be in observation,” Faith said.

  They entered the room to find the congressman looking much less cocky than he had earlier, which gave Gonzo tremendous satisfaction. “This is Captain Jake Malone. You asked to speak to us?”

  “My client would like to make a deal,” Fallow said.

  “What kind of deal?” Gonzo asked.

  “The kind in which he tells you what he knows about the Forrester family and his son’s death.”

  “Oh, well, we’ve already rescued Forrester’s wife and daughters from the Hilton, and we know who killed his son. It was your pal, Aaron, who’s being picked up as we speak.”

  Watching that news land on Bryant was among the more satisfying moments in Gonzo’s career.

  “How… how do you know that?”

  “Your guy Sanders helped us fill in the blanks.”

  “He’d never!”

  “Oh yes, he would. When you offer someone immunity in exchange for information, you’d be surprised how chatty they get. So as you can see, your offer is of no use to us. We’ll be charging you with numerous felonies, including kidnapping, unlawful detention and contracting murder, to start with. I’m sure there’ll be much more before we’re finished, because Sanders also told us about the guns, prostitutes, gambling and drug dealing. Not to mention the campaign finance case Forrester has built. Someone has been a very busy boy.”