Extract
Nicholas Cole hurried toward the White House special in-house security chief’s office in the West Wing, gripping the leash for his K-9 partner, Max. Two Secret Service agents emerged from the office, wearing gloves and carrying a folder. Both nodded toward him as he entered the room.
General Margaret Meyer stood behind her oak desk, her hands fisted on the tan blotter, a fierce expression on her face, her intense blue eyes narrowing on him. He swallowed hard. He rarely saw her this upset, but tension poured off her.
“Shut the door, Nicholas.” The general moved from behind her desk, gesturing toward its flat surface. “This office has been searched.”
After following her instruction, he came to attention in front of his boss, having a hard time shaking his military training in the Navy SEALs. “What happened?” He scanned the neat desk and the bookcase to the right, and wondered how she knew.
She straightened to her full height of five feet three inches, her shoulders thrust back. “When I went to get a folder from the bottom left-hand drawer, the stack was out of order. I have a very precise way of arranging everything in here, and thankfully I do or I might not have known someone went through the Michael Jeffries file.”
The Jeffries case was an investigation being undertaken by the Capitol K-9 Unit, comprising fourteen cops, soldiers and special agents who looked into important cases and reported to Margaret Meyer, a former four-star general who worked under the president’s direction. “Anything missing?”
“No, but it would be easy to take pictures of the papers and evidence the team has uncovered so far.”
“What do you want me to do, ma’am?” Nicholas knew the murder of Michael Jeffries—son of the prominent congressman Harland Jeffries, who had been wounded in the attack against Michael—was important to the general, as well as to his unit captain, Gavin McCord. He and the rest of the team had pledged to find who killed Michael and left his father to bleed to death.
“Coordinate with Special Agent Dan Calvert who just left. You’re to work with him on this. I want to know who was in my office. It could be the break we’ve needed on this case. I have Congressman Jeffries breathing down my neck. He wants answers to who killed his son. Not to mention Senator Eagleton insisting his daughter had nothing to do with Michael Jeffries’s murder. Those two men have never been friends, and each one has a great deal of political clout.”
Erin Eagleton, who’d been Michael Jeffries’s girlfriend, was a person of interest in Michael’s murder and the shooting of the congressman. Her starfish charm, with her initials engraved on it, had been found at the crime scene. Considering that Capitol K-9 Unit member Chase Zachary had run into Erin only hours before the murder and she’d been wearing the charm, the team desperately wanted to find Erin to bring her in for questioning. They’d been searching for her since Michael’s murder. “I noticed Dan carrying a file from your office. Is he processing it for latent prints?”
“Yes, and any other physical evidence he can get. With the Easter Egg Roll today, the White House has been crawling with visitors since early this morning. Dan is going to view the security tapes and no doubt come up with a long list of suspects who had access.” She shook her head, a scowl wrinkling her forehead. “Especially with the Oval Office and the Situation Room here in the West Wing being used for the festivities.”
A security nightmare in his opinion, but the Easter Egg Roll was a long White House tradition. “When was the last time you opened that drawer?”
“Yesterday evening before I left for a reception in the Roosevelt Room then attended a state dinner for dignitaries from the UN. After that, I went home. I didn’t come back here.”
“Then we’re looking at a sixteen-hour window.”
General Meyer adjusted her horn-rimmed glasses. “So you see the problem. The list is much longer than I would like.” She checked her wristwatch. “In fact, I need to put in an appearance at the Easter Egg Roll. I know the event is covered by the Secret Service, but I want you out there with Max. My office was breached and the perpetrator could likely be among the guests outside.”
“May I inspect your office first?”
She nodded once. “I’ll see you later. If you discover anything, find me right away. I want to be kept informed on everything.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
After the door closed, and he and Max were alone in the office, he unfastened the leash to his rottweiler and let him investigate. In addition to his usual duties as a guard/suspect-apprehension dog, Max was cross-trained on bomb detection, as an extra security precaution due to their post at the White House.
While Max moved around the room, Nicholas snapped on latex gloves and crouched behind the desk on the left side. He inspected the bottom drawer, then slid his hand back as far as he could under the piece of furniture, feeling for anything that might have fallen and rolled beneath it. Nothing.
Next, he examined a cabinet behind the desk. Underneath, his fingers touched something small. A cufflink? He pulled it out and scrutinized the gold cufflink with a bald-eagle imprint and the initials VG. How long had this been there? Did it belong to a visitor or the intruder?
After putting the piece of jewelry into an evidence bag and pocketing it, he continued his search of the office. Ten minutes later, other than the cufflink, he and Max had come up empty-handed.
“Time to go to the party, boy. General Meyer requires our attendance.”
His rottweiler turned his amber-colored eyes on Nicholas and gave one bark.
Dressed in his black uniform with the emblem of the Capitol K-9 Unit on each sleeve and over his left pocket, Nicholas exited the West Wing by the West Colonnade and cut across the Rose Garden toward the South Lawn where the Easter Egg Roll was taking place.
For a few minutes he stood on the outskirts of the crowd assembled to enjoy the special party for the young children who’d won tickets by a lottery system. The kids were joined by various government officials, which included the president and his wife, and celebrities. The highlight was a visit by the Easter Bunny, but other costumed characters mingled among the crowd.
He scanned the people gathered, looking for anyone with the initials VG. His survey came to rest upon Selena Barrow, the White House tour director, responsible for planning this event. Even from a distance, Selena commanded a person’s attention. Tall, slender with long wavy brown hair and the bluest eyes, she was attractive, but what drew him to Selena was her air of integrity and compassion. Since Erin had disappeared, Selena had been relentless in her support of her cousin’s innocence, and he admired that kind of dedication.
When a couple with their two little girls stopped to talk to her, she smiled, bent down and spoke to the children. He glimpsed the radiant look on Selena’s face. She probably was having as much fun as the kids at the event. Whenever he saw her with children, he got the feeling she must love being around them.
Last year he’d dated a woman who’d wanted half a dozen
