“This is a tough one,” Sam said thoughtfully. “If you need help, ask for it. It’s not the time to act like it’s not getting to you if it is.”

“Agreed,” Gonzo said. “We all know our cases are much more difficult when there’re kids involved, so reach out if you need anything. Let’s reconnect tomorrow at sixteen thirty at HQ. Dominguez and Carlucci, stay on the lab overnight and report in to me at zero six hundred. Everyone else go home and get some sleep. We’ve got another long day ahead of us tomorrow.”

* * *

Even though he’d much rather have another beer, Nick poured sodas for himself and Terry, a recovering alcoholic.

“I don’t know how they deal with this shit day in and day out,” Terry said as he accepted the icy glass from Nick. “It makes what we do look like preschool.”

“A lot of times, the Senate feels like an overgrown preschool,” Nick said with a chuckle as he sat at the table with Terry.

“True. Still... Do you ever worry about Sam breaking under the strain of what she sees every day?”

“I worry more about things like stray bullets flying around her.”

“Yeah, I suppose that’d be a bigger deal than the emotional fallout.”

“That’s a concern, too, but she tends to roll with it all pretty well. This one is tougher than most, though. Her niece Brooke was at the party at some point, and turned up here, naked and bloody and wrapped up in a sheet on our doorstep.”

“Oh my God. Is she okay?”

“She will be. We hope.”

Terry shook his head and blew out a deep breath. “Tracy and Mike seem like nice people.”

“They are. They’re reeling.”

“Not the vacation you’ve been anticipating, huh?”

“Not hardly. But family is family, and you do what you’ve got to do.”

“Yes, you do.” Terry eyed Nick as if there was something else he wanted to say.

“Something on your mind?”

“Just an odd little rumor I heard at the DNC meeting earlier today.”

“What kind of rumor?” Nick asked, though he feared he might already know what Terry was going to say.

“Something about you replacing Gooding as VP.”

“Who told you that?”

“Is it true?”

“It’s true that Nelson asked me. It’s not true that it’s happening.”

Terry stared at him, mouth agape. “Nelson asked you to be VP, and you turned him down?”

“Yeah, I turned him down.”

“Why?”

Laughing, Nick said, “You sound just like your dad did when I told him I said no.”

“I can only imagine his reaction. This is Nelson handing you the nomination in four years if you want it. You realize that, don’t you?”

“I get it.”

“So again I ask, why?”