“It’s not charity! You were shot in the line of duty. You nearly gave your life for this city, and you’re stuck in that chair for the rest of your life because of your service. It’s the least they can do to help offset the cost. Please. Let me run it up the flagpole and see what can be done.” She hated watching his eyes fill with tears. Covering his right hand, the one that retained sensation, with hers, she said, “Let me help.”

“Okay,” he said begrudgingly, “but make sure you tell them I didn’t want to ask.”

“I will. I promise.”

“Thank you, Sam,” Celia said, blinking back tears of her own.

“I don’t want you guys suffering in silence over something like this, and Trace and Ang wouldn’t either. We want to help, but you have to tell us when you need it.”

“I hate that I need help for everything.”

“I know you do,” Sam said, feeling teary-eyed herself now. He’d always been so fiercely independent and vital. She never got used to the sight of him in the chair where he would spend the rest of his life. While the surgery had removed the bullet and restored some sensation to his extremities, it had caused secondary issues with pain that they were still contending with months later. He was better than he’d been, which was something to be thankful for, but it broke her heart to think of him and Celia stressing out about medical bills.

“This isn’t why you came over,” Celia said. “What’s going on?”

“I’m heading to Knoxville for the night.”

“How come?” Skip asked.

“Hamilton investigation.”

“What happened to being suspended?” Skip asked.

“I’m still suspended. I’m going on my own time and dime to talk to someone we feel might have information about how Josh Hamilton came to be in the custody of Troy and Courtney Hamilton. Courtney says he was the son of Troy’s administrative assistant who couldn’t care for him. She still works in the office where Hamilton was assigned in the eighties, so Hill and I are going to talk to her.”

“You and Hill?” Skip said, raising a brow.

“It’s our case, Dad. We need someone there, and we’re short-handed as it is, so I volunteered to go.”

“And Jake signed off on that?” he asked, referring to Malone.

“He did.”

“We couldn’t believe the news about the FBI director,” Celia said. “He didn’t have security?”

Sam shook her head. “He declined it.”

“Like someone else we know,” Skip said pointedly.

“And Freddie,” Celia said, “he’s all right?”

“He’s back to work with a lump on his forehead, no worse for the wear.”

“Thank God for that,” Celia said.

“No kidding. My squad has been through enough since losing Arnold. We can’t take any more.”