“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 developments.

“Get me an arrest, Sergeant,” the chief said, groggy with sleep.

“I’m moving as fast as I can, sir.”

After she ended the call, Nick reached for her hand. “Why don’t you close your eyes for a few minutes?

She shook her head. “I’d rather wait until I have a couple of hours. How about you? Are you okay to be driving?”

“I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“Too late.” She rested her head on his shoulder and went through the case piece by piece from the beginning. All along she’d suspected it would be a woman, one he was close to, who had a key to his place, who he wouldn’t have been surprised to find waiting for him in his apartment.

Her cell phone rang. “What’ve you got Jeannie?”

“Unfortunately, nothing. We can’t find them anywhere in the city.”

“Damn it. They must’ve checked in under other names.”

“That’s the hunch around here. We’re expanding into Northern Virginia and Maryland. I’ll keep you posted.”

“Thanks.”