She rested a hand on Freddie’s arm and looked up at him. “Utmost sensitivity,” she whispered.

“Absolutely, boss. Don’t worry.”

To Nick, she said, “I’ll catch up to you.”

He nodded and followed Freddie into the room where Graham and Laine O’Connor waited with their daughter and another man who Sam assumed was Royce Hamilton. With a brief glance, Sam noticed that both O’Connors had aged significantly overnight.

“Senator and Mrs. O’Connor, my partner, Detective Cruz, will take you to see your son. I’ll join you in a few minutes.”

“Thank you,” Graham said.

With a deep breath to change gears and force her mind off the intense conversation she’d just had with Nick, Sam entered the room where two portly men sat waiting for her. She judged them both to be in their late sixties or early seventies.

Upon her entrance, they leapt to their feet.

“Gentlemen,” she said, reaching out to shake their hands. “Detective Sergeant Sam Holland. I appreciate you coming in.”

“We’re just devastated,” drawled Judson Knott, who had introduced himself as the chairman of the Virginia Democratic Party. “Senator O’Connor was a dear friend of ours and the people of the Commonwealth.”

“I’m not looking for a sound bite, Mr. Knott, just an idea of how the senator spent his last few hours.”

“We met him for dinner at the Old Ebbitt Grill,” said Richard Manning, the vice chairman.

“How often did you all have dinner together?”

The two men exchanged glances. “Every other month or so. We offered to reschedule that night because he had the vote the next day, but he said his staff had everything under control, and he had time for dinner.”

“How did he seem to you?”

“Tired,” Manning said without hesitation.

Knott nodded in agreement. “He said he’d been working twelve- and fourteen-hour days for the last two weeks.”

“What did you talk about over dinner?”

“The plans for the campaign,” Knott said. “He was up for re-election next year, and although he was a shoo-in, we take nothing for granted. We’ve been gearing up for the campaign for months, but now…” His blue eyes clouded as his voice trailed off. “It’s just such a tragedy.”

“What time did you part company after dinner?”

“I’d say around ten or so,” Knott said.

“And where was he headed from there?”

“He said he was going straight home to bed,” Knott said.

“Who will take his place in the Senate?”

“That’s up to the governor,” Manning said.

“No front-runners?”

Knott shook his head. “We haven’t even talked about it, to be honest. We’re all just in a total state of shock right now. Senator O’Connor was a lovely person. We can’t imagine how anyone would want to harm him.”

“No one in the party was jealous of his success or bucking for his job?”