Fatal Series 01 - Fatal Affair

here as soon as I could after Cruz called to tell me you wanted her picked up. The door was open. I saw him lying in the foyer and immediately called it in. We’re getting some shit from Alexandria, so you’ll have to talk your way in.”
    Calling on every ounce of patience she could muster, Sam explained to the Alexandria Police that the Jordan murders were possibly tied to Senator O’Connor’s killing. After some territorial squabbling and just as she was about to get ugly with them, they agreed to let her view the crime scene. They made Nick wait outside.
    Noel had been taken quickly in the foyer. Sam deduced that he’d opened the door and was shot before he had time to even say hello to the caller.
    “He’s the number two guy at Justice,” she said with a smug smile for the cocky Alexandria detective who’d tried the hardest to keep her out. “You might want to let the attorney general know that his deputy’s been murdered.”
    Flustered, the young detective said, “Yes, of course.”
    Pleased to have defused some of his arrogance, she went upstairs to see what had been done to Natalie. She’d been bound in almost the exact same fashion as Tara. And like Tara, the blood between her open legs told the story of sadistic sexual torture. “Is that a hairbrush? ” Sam asked, staring at the object that had been left in Natalie’s vagina.
    “I think so,” the medical examiner said.
    Sam grimaced. Judging from the ligature marks on Natalie’s neck, she too had been strangled after suffering through a prolonged attack.
    Patricia was exacting revenge, one woman at a time.
    The Alexandria Medical Examiner estimated time of death at about three hours prior. Sam’s gut clenched at the realization that Noel must’ve just gotten home from the polygraph when they were attacked. If she’d only pieced this together a little sooner, she might’ve been able to save them.
    Since it wasn’t her crime scene, she stepped outside after asking the detectives for a courtesy copy of their report.
    Nick was once again leaning against the car, waiting for her.
    “Same thing as Tara.”
    “Christ,” he whispered. “I didn’t like Natalie, but the thought of what she must’ve gone through…”
    Sam ran her fingers through her long hair, fighting off exhaustion that clung to her like a heavy blanket. “I know.”
    “I’ve been thinking…”
    She glanced up at him to find his face tight with tension and distress. “About?”
    “Graham and Laine.”
    The statement hung in the air between them, the implications almost too big to process.
    Sam tossed the keys to him. “You drive while I work.”
    As they flew across Northern Virginia, Nick’s big frame vibrated with tension. “You don’t really think…”
    “That she’d go after the people she blames for ruining her life? Yeah, I really think.”
    “God, Sam. If she hurts them…” His voice broke.
    She reached for his hand. “We may be way off.” But just in case they weren’t, she gave the Loudon County Police a heads up about potential trouble at the senior Senator O’Connor’s home. She also forwarded the list of ex-girlfriends that Christina had grudgingly sent to HQ with orders to place officers at each woman’s home. The officers were provided with photos of Patricia Donaldson and Thomas O’Connor—just in case she wasn’t acting alone. Issuing a second all-points bulletin for both of them, Sam could only pray that the cops got to the other women before anyone else was harmed.
    “Should’ve seen this,” she muttered, hating that it had taken her so long to put it together. “So freaking obvious.”
    “Don’t beat yourself up, babe.”
    “Hard not to when the bodies are piling up.”
    “I’ll bet I know why he was killed on the eve of the vote,” Nick said.
    Sam glanced at him. “Why?”
    “He decided the week before he was killed that he was definitely going to run for re-election. He probably told Patricia that. Maybe he’d promised her one term to satisfy his father and then it would be their time. If I’m right about that, she wouldn’t have wanted him to have the chance to bask in the glow of his big victory on the bill. Not when he was screwing her over—in more ways than one.”
    “That makes sense,” Sam said, buzzing with adrenaline as all the pieces fell into place. Certain now that she was on her way to cracking the case, she called Captain Malone and Chief Farnsworth at home to update them on the latest