“I’m up to my elbows in pancake batter. You want some?”

“I know what you’re doing.”

“What am I doing?”

“You’ve called your squad to your house to work the case from there since you’re not allowed to come here.”

“Captain! I would never do something like that.”

The others shook with silent laughter as they listened to her side of the conversation while he growled in frustration.

“You’re welcome to join us for breakfast if you’d like. And if you wanted to bring any new information that came in overnight about the murder of Troy Hamilton and the disappearance of Josh Hamilton, that’d be an excellent hostess gift.”

She heard the captain’s snort of laughter before the line went dead.

“Is he coming?” Tyrone asked.

“We’ll see.”

Her phone rang again with a call from Avery Hill. “Good morning, Agent Hill.”

“What’s the plan?”

“I don’t have a plan. I’m suspended.”

“Cut the shit, Holland. You always have a plan. What is it?”

“Would you like to join my squad and me for breakfast at my house?”

After a brief pause, he said, “Yeah, I’ll be there.”

Sam had no sooner ended that call when her phone rang again, this time with a call from Lilia. “Good morning.”

“Good morning, Mrs. Cappuano. I trust the vice president is feeling better?”

Sam smiled to herself as she eyed her insatiable husband. “He’s feeling much better.”

The comment earned her a sly, intimate smile from Nick.

“That’s such a relief. The White House switchboard and communications staff have been inundated with calls inquiring about his health.”

“Oh. Well.” Sam glanced at Nick, who was talking to Tyrone and Carlucci. “I’m sure he’ll want to issue a statement to put fears to rest. I’ll mention it to him.”

“That’d be great, thank you. The reason I called, though, was to tell you that we have a draft of your speech for Friday completed, and we hoped we might run through it with you later today.”

For a moment, Sam’s mind went totally blank. Then she remembered she’d agreed to give the keynote address at a convention addressing women’s health and fertility. The event had seemed like a long way off when she’d agreed to do it. How could it be this Friday? “I could come in around noon if that would work.”

“Shall I send a car?”

“Only because that’s easier.”

Lilia chuckled. “Got it. I’ll send a car for you at eleven forty-five.”

“See you then.”

Nick crossed the room to her. “Where are you going at noon, babe?”

“Apparently, I’m going to the White House to go over my speech for Friday.”

“That’s this week?”

“My thoughts exactly.”

“How’re you feeling about it? You still want to do it?”