On Tuesday, when Sam felt confident that she could leave Angela with Tracy for a few hours, she took another day of bereavement leave and asked Vernon and Jimmy to drive her to Camp David so she could retrieve the items left behind in their haste to depart. She also planned to do a thorough search of the cabin where Angela and Spencer had stayed. She’d asked Lilia to inform Captain Martin that she’d be coming up.

Traffic made the hour-and-twenty-minute ride even longer.

“We can use the lights, ma’am,” Vernon said.

Sam checked her watch and saw it was inching closer to noon. “Go ahead,” she said, eager to get this done so she could try to figure out what’d happened to Spencer. She was treating this like she would any murder investigation, for as long as she could. Hopefully, she’d have tracked down his dealer before she got pulled off a case that struck far too close to home.

She’d have to call in some favors from coworkers to keep this investigation off the grid, but she was confident that the people she needed would do it for her.

Using the flashing lights helped to move things along, and they arrived at the mountaintop presidential retreat at Catoctin Mountain Park at just after one o’clock.

Captain Martin greeted her when she stepped out of the SUV. “Welcome back, Mrs. Cappuano.”

“Thank you, Captain Martin.”

She led Sam into her office and closed the door. “We’ve been praying for your family and your sister, in particular.”

“We appreciate that.”

“Per your request, no one has been in Birch since Mr. Radcliffe was taken out by EMS on Sunday morning. And just so you know, I would’ve immediately secured the cabin even if you hadn’t asked me to.”

Sam was pleasantly surprised by the CEO’s action.

“I was a police officer for two years before I joined the Navy,” Captain Martin added.

“Ah, there it is,” Sam said, smiling. “Thank you very much for preserving what may be a crime scene.”

“If a crime was committed here, we’ll need to follow official protocol.”

“The crime wasn’t committed here,” Sam said. “I believe it occurred in my jurisdiction, and the result of that crime occurred here.”

“How so?”

“I’ve learned that my brother-in-law became addicted to pain medication after an injury he sustained more than a year ago. After the doctors refused to prescribe more meds for him, he bought them illegally. I believe he was sold laced pills.”

“Fentanyl?”

“That’s the most likely culprit, but we won’t know for certain until we get the results of the toxicology report, but we’re keeping that private for now.”

“I understand.” Captain Martin handed Sam a set of keys. “That’ll get you into Birch.”

“Thank you again for your quick thinking and your cooperation. That can be hard to come by in my line of work.”

“You’re the first lady. I work for you—not to mention I admire your career and accomplishments. I love that you’re keeping your job while your husband is president.”