Fatal Series 01 - Fatal Affair

my stuff… It has me kind of skeeved out.”
    “Any idea what they might be looking for?”
    His shoulders sagged with fatigue. “None.”
    Sam’s heart went out to him. He’d had a horrible, painful day, and she wished she could find an appropriate excuse to hug him. She made an effort to soften her tone. “Is it possible someone is trying to find something here they couldn’t find at the senator’s place?”
    “I can’t imagine what. Neither of us ever took anything sensitive out of the office. There’re all kinds of rules about that.”
    “What kind of sensitive stuff was he involved with?”
    “After the midterm election, he was appointed to the Senate Homeland Security Committee, but most of his work was in the areas of commerce, finance, children, families and the aged. None of that was overly sensitive.”
    Watching his tired face with much more than professional interest, she was dying to address the elephant in the room—the six years’ worth of unfinished business and the tension that zipped through her every time she connected with those hot hazel eyes of his. “Is it possible he was involved in something you didn’t know about?”
    Nick scoffed. “Highly doubtful.”
    “But possible?”
    “Sure it is, but John didn’t operate that way. He relied on us for everything.”
    “You alluded earlier to him being high maintenance for the staff. Other than having to wake him up in the morning, how did you mean?”
    Nick was quiet for a long moment before he glanced at her. “This is all for background, right? I won’t read about it in tomorrow’s paper?”
    “I think we’ve missed the deadline for the morning edition.”
    “I’m serious, Sam. I don’t want to say or do anything to cause his parents any more grief than they’re already dealing with.”
    “It’s for my information now, but I can’t guarantee it’ll stay that way. If something you tell me helps to make this case, it’s apt to come out in court. As much as we might wish otherwise, murder victims are often put on trial right along with their killers.”
    “That’s so wrong.”
    “Unfortunately, it’s just the way it is.”
    Nick made an A-frame out of his hands and rested his chin on the point. “John was a reluctant senator. He used to joke that he was Prince Harry to Terry’s Prince William. Terry was the anointed one, groomed all his life to follow his father into politics. While Terry always lived in the public eye, John had a relatively normal life. For some reason, the press took an unusual interest in Terry’s comings and goings. His name was mentioned on the political and gossip pages almost as often as his father’s, and this was long before his father announced his retirement.”
    “It must’ve been tough to deal with all that attention.”
    Nick laughed, which chased the tension from his face. “Terry loved it. He ate it up. He was Washington’s most eligible bachelor, and he took full advantage, let me tell you.”
    “That doesn’t sound like a smart political strategy.”
    “Oh, it wasn’t. He and the senator—his father, I mean—had huge, knock-down brawls over his lifestyle. I witnessed a few of them. But somehow Terry managed to stay one step ahead of the scandalmongers—that is until he got arrested for drunk driving three weeks before he was supposed to announce his candidacy for his father’s seat. No amount of spin can get you out of that.”
    “Ouch. I remember this. It’s all coming back to me now.”
    “Graham was devastated. Before today, I’ve never seen him so crushed. That this son he’d placed all these hopes and dreams on had so totally let him down…”
    “How did Terry take it?”
    “Like a wounded puppy, like it was someone else’s fault. He was full of excuses. John was totally disgusted by him. At one point, he said, ‘Why doesn’t he just be a man and admit he made a mistake?’”
    “Did he say this to Terry?”
    “I doubt it. They were never really close. Terry loved all the attention, and John did his best to stay well below the radar.”
    “Until Terry forced him into the spotlight,” Sam said, starting to get a clearer picture of the O’Connor family.
    “Yes, and forced is the right word. John wanted nothing to do with running for the Senate. In fact, I remember him grousing about how ‘lucky’ he was that he’d just turned thirty, which is the minimum age to run for the Senate. He was sitting atop a nice little technology firm that made