Fatal Scandal: Book Eight of the Fatal Series by Marie Force Read Free Book Online

you got?”
    Sam swallowed hard. She should tell him. She absolutely should tell him. But she couldn’t—not before she had a chance to talk to Gonzo. “Female vic strangled. Found in a car on Constitution by West Potomac Park. Early stages.”
    “Keep me posted,” he said with less interest than he’d normally give a homicide. Nothing about what was going on with him right now was normal.
    “I will.”
    “I’m calling a commander’s meeting at noon. I’d like you there.”
    “Of course.”
    “Again, I apologize for interrupting the holiday. It’s just... Well, I need...” He cleared his throat. “I’ll see you at noon?”
    Sam hated the uncertainty she heard in his usually assertive voice. More than that, she hated the pang of fear that struck in the vicinity of her heart when she realized he sounded scared. Her uncle Joe—her chief—never sounded scared. “I’ll be there.”
    “Thank you. See you then.”
    Sam stowed the phone in her coat pocket as she pulled up to the curb outside Gonzo’s building. She thought of the last time she’d been here, for a Christmas get-together Christina had put together to bolster Gonzo’s flagging spirits.
    His recovery was taking longer than he would’ve liked, and he’d been chafing to get back to work. The time with his squad and other friends had done him good, and she’d left the party feeling hopeful that he’d be back where he belonged before too much longer.
    Now this.
    Sam got out of the car and trudged up the two flights of stairs to Gonzo’s apartment where she knocked on the door. Since he often mentioned Alex’s early wake-ups, she was confident they’d be up.
    He came to the door with the baby in his arms. The smiling dark-haired boy was a mirror image of his father, right down to the dimple in his adorable little chin. “Hey,” Gonzo said, clearly surprised to find her on his doorstep. “What’re you doing out so early on a holiday?”
    “Can I come in for a sec?”
    His brows narrowed with questions he didn’t ask. “Sure.” He stepped aside to let her in and put Alex down. The baby toddled off to the corner of the living room where his toys were kept. “What’s up, Sam?”
    Sam forced herself to look at him, to make eye contact. “Is Christina here?”
    “She’s in the shower.”
    Sam’s stomach ached the way it used to when she’d been strung out on diet cola. She rubbed a hand over it, trying to figure out how she should play this as she tried not to notice the still raw-looking wound on his neck. “So, um, after we talked last night, did you go anywhere?”
    “No. I was here all night. I did what you said and tried to stay focused on Chris and our anniversary. We had a good night, all things considered. Why?”
    “You wouldn’t lie to me, would you?”
    He tipped his head quizzically. “
Lie
to you? No, I wouldn’t lie to you. Why would you ask me such a thing?”
    Sam sighed. “Lori was found murdered this morning in a parked car downtown. She’d been manually strangled.”
    All the color seemed to leach from his face as he processed what she’d said. “And you thought, because of what I said last night...”
    “No, I didn’t really think that. I didn’t
want
to think it.”
    “Sam, come on! This is
me
. You can’t possibly think that I’d actually
harm
her. Sure, I wanted her to go away and leave us alone, but not like this. Never like this.” He glanced over to where his little boy was playing with trucks. “She’s his
mother
, Sam,” he whispered. “I wouldn’t. I
couldn’t
. Even if I said I wanted to. You have to believe me.”
    “I do. I believe you, and I believe in you. But you have to know, this is going to blow up big-time, and all eyes will be on you until we figure out what happened.”
    He ran both hands through his hair as the impact of what she’d said seemed to settle in on him. “This is a fucking nightmare. This whole thing, from the second she first called to tell me... Except for