“Everyone is working their sources. Something will pop.”

“Any time now.”

“I know it’s hard to be patient when this strikes so close to home. It’s hard for me to be patient, and Angela is only my friend. I can’t imagine how you must feel.”

“I’m outraged that someone is selling fucking poison in my town to super vulnerable people. I want that person stopped.”

“We’re on it. Working it from every front. It might be time to involve Narcotics more seriously. They might have better intel than we do.”

“I guess. I’ll talk to Cooper in the morning and make it clear he isn’t taking over my investigation.”

“This might be time to not care who gets the credit. Whatever it takes.”

“Let’s reconvene in the AM and do what we always do when things stall out,” Sam said.

“Start over.”

“Yep. I’ll be here until two tomorrow. Let the others know that we’re starting at eight, and it isn’t mandatory, but OT is on the table if they want it.”

“Will do. Try to get some rest, Sam.”

She didn’t tell him there was no way that was happening unless she worked things out with Nick, and that didn’t seem likely. “You, too,” she said before closing the phone.

“May I make a suggestion?” Vernon asked.

“Always.”

“Bring DEA in on this one. They might be able to help.”

It went against everything she believed in to ask the Feds for help, but Vernon was right. Sometimes they could do things she couldn’t. “That’s a good idea, and I should’ve done it sooner.”

“No time like the present.”

“I need to remind people about the tip line, too,” Sam said. “Someone knows who’s selling laced pills. We just need one tip to blow the whole thing wide open.”

When she got home, LeRoy greeted her at the door.

“Can you tell me where the president is, LeRoy?”

“I believe he’s in the Oval, ma’am.”

“Thank you.” She turned to Vernon and Jimmy, who’d followed her inside. “Go home and get some sleep. I’m in for the night.” If she got called out overnight, she could request another detail.

“Yes, ma’am,” Vernon said. “We’ll be back to take you to work in the morning.”

“See you then.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Sam made her way to the West Wing, realizing that at some point over the last month she’d figured out her way around the vast campus they now called home. Not that long ago, she’d have had to ask for directions to her husband’s office. Now she went right there and paused outside the closed door, hoping she’d be welcome.

That feeling was so foreign to her that it briefly left her breathless with fear and anxiety that she’d made a crucial, unforgivable error in the most important relationship in her life. Before him, the thought of making a romantic partner mad wouldn’t make her knees feel weak or her stomach hurt like it did now. But with Nick… Everything was different with him, and she couldn’t stand that she’d upset him.