“I do,” Jimmy said. “I get it.”

Sam zipped her coat to ward off the chill as they walked to Birch. She used the key Captain Martin had given her and stepped into the cabin, noting that Jack’s and Ella’s toys were still scattered on the floor. Spencer’s leather jacket tossed over a chair gave her a pang as she noticed the diaper bag Tracy had given Angela before Ella’s birth sitting by the door.

“You sure you’re up for this, Sam?” Vernon asked softly, calling her by her name for the first time ever.

“Not really,” she said as she pulled on gloves, “but it needs to be done.”

Over the next hour, she took dozens of photos and then did a thorough search of the cabin. She hit paydirt when she found an envelope zipped into Spencer’s suitcase that contained three small white pills with S20 stamped on them. On the outside of the envelope was a label that said Therapeutic Oxycodone. “Here it is,” Sam said to Vernon, holding up the packet for him to see before she slipped it into an evidence bag.

Sam put Spencer’s cell phone into another bag and his suitcase into yet another large plastic bag she’d brought for that purpose. She bagged everything that belonged to him as well as the sheets on the bed and the towels hanging in the bathroom.

And when she’d gathered all the evidence she could find, she packed up the belongings of her sister’s family into suitcases and other bags. Thankfully, Celia and Shelby had packed their things and brought them back to the White House on Sunday. “When Angela was packing for this weekend, she had no idea of the bomb about to go off in her life and ours.”

Vernon squatted to gather Legos and return them to the bin. “You just never know, do you?”

“No, you don’t, and you don’t have to do that.”

“I know.” He kept gathering toys and had them all packed by the time Sam finished with the clothes that she took from dresser drawers and closets.

As she folded her niece’s tiny clothes, a wave of emotion came over her at realizing Ella would have no memories of her late father. She propped her hands on the dresser and closed her eyes as tears slid down her cheeks.

“Sam?” Vernon said from behind her. “Are you okay?”

She wiped her face. “It’s just so fucking sad.”

“Yes, it is. And so senseless, too.”

“Jack will remember him, but Ella won’t.”

“You all will keep him alive for them and the new baby, too.”

“We were just getting our legs back under us after losing my dad, and now this. It’s too much.”

“Way too much, and it’s worse when it’s someone so young.”

“Yeah.” Sam wiped her face again. “Sorry to dump my crap on you.”

“Don’t apologize. We spend a lot of time together. I’d like to think we’re friends by now.”

“We are.” Sam turned and offered him a small smile as she recalled Freddie saying that Vernon already loved her like a daughter. Skip Holland had left a void in her life that no one could ever fill, but she’d come to appreciate Vernon’s dry sense of humor, good nature and occasional input into her cases. “Thank you.”