“When someone seemingly untouchable is taken from us, it’s a reminder that we’re all mortal.”

“Yes, exactly. I hope you find the person who did it very soon.”

“I hope so too.” As they reached her suite of offices, Sam’s phone rang and an out-of-state number appeared on the caller ID. Her heart leaped at the realization that the call was from Franklin, Tennessee. “I’m sorry, but I have to take this.”

Lilia gestured to Sam’s office. “Please. Take your time.”

“Thanks, I’ll be quick.” Closing the door behind her, she flipped open the phone. “Holland.”

“Detective Watson from Franklin.”

“Do you have news for me?”

“I do. It’s a match. We’ve had two independent experts confirm it.”

All the air left Sam’s body in a big exhale. While she’d expected the news, it was still a shock to have confirmation that the late FBI director had raised a kidnapped child as his own.

“As you can imagine,” Watson said, “we’re extremely eager to reunite Taylor with his family.”

“Yeah, about that... He’s, um... We don’t know where he currently is. We’re looking for him—”

“What do you mean you don’t know where he is?” Watson asked, his tone tight with frustration that Sam could certainly understand. She’d be fucking furious if she were him.

“After his father was murdered last night—”

“His father was murdered? Who was his father?”

Sam released her hair from the clip she’d secured it in earlier and ran her fingers through it, trying to collect her thoughts. “The man who raised him was FBI Director Troy Hamilton.”

“You’re serious.”

“Dead serious.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“I told you this case would be too hot to handle if the DNA was a match.”

“There’s hot and then there’s thermonuclear.”

“We were moving Josh Hamilton to a secure location last night when he and one of my detectives were overtaken by three men with assault weapons. They were taken from the scene in a van. We were able to trace the plates on the van and recover my detective, who’d been beaten. Josh wasn’t with him. We’re continuing to search for him.”

Watson’s deep sigh echoed through the phone line. “Did you get the guys who took them?”

“We have three men in custody who are demanding lawyers before they’ll talk to us. We’re hoping to learn more from them today. I promise you we’re doing everything we can to find him.”

“If we’ve come this far only to lose him now...”

“We’re not going to lose him,” Sam said with more confidence than she felt. “We’re going to find him, and we’re going to give the Rollings family the reunion they’ve been praying for the last thirty years.”