“Mmm, me too.” With her final bit of energy, she put her phone on the bedside charger and turned on the TV to check what was being said about Vasquez. She forced her eyes to open when she realized that Farnsworth was about to begin a press conference she’d figured was long over by now. They must’ve been delayed by something.

Cameras captured Chief Farnsworth, looking pale and exhausted, as he walked to the courtyard located outside the main doors at HQ. The local media had gathered, waiting like hungry dogs on the scent of a meaty bone. Every time she went anywhere near them, Sam’s hackles went up as if she were an angry dog. Angry dog versus hungry dog was never a good combination. What a relief it was to not have to deal with them this time.

The chief stepped up to the podium. “At zero eight thirty this morning, a body was found in the area of the National Air and Space Museum at Independence and Seventh Avenues. It has been determined that the victim, a Hispanic male in his late twenties, had been stabbed once in the chest. The victim has been identified as Willie Vasquez.”

He paused for the collective gasp that went through the crowd.

They immediately erupted, shouting questions at the chief.

Sam knew from experience that he couldn’t understand any of them over the roar of voices.

He held up his hands to quiet them. “As you can probably imagine, we’ve got a very big job ahead of us to determine where Mr. Vasquez was killed and by whom. We’ve got an entire city enraged with Mr. Vasquez over an error in a baseball game. Our goal will be to quickly bring the killer to justice while keeping the city from erupting into violence again. I’ll take a couple of questions.”

“Do you know yet when he was killed?” Darren Tabor from the Washington Star asked.

“Not yet. Dr. McNamara and her team are working to establish time of death as we speak.”

“Can you say more about where he was found?” another reporter asked.

“Not at this time.”

“Has the team been notified?”

“Yes.”

“How many arrests were made overnight?”

“The latest number I heard was more than three hundred. We’ve filed numerous charges, ranging from arson to vandalism to malicious mischief. Our Special Response Team, along with every member of the MPD, our colleagues with the FBI and the National Guard helped to contain the violence before it got further out of hand.”