“Only a minute,” Helen said. “He’s due home for dinner.”

“I won’t keep him.”

“Please don’t. He’s had a long day already.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Avery knocked on Joe’s door and stuck his head in. “Could I have a minute?”

“Sure, come in.”

Thankfully, their investigation hadn’t led to any sort of corruption at the top of the department, or he’d not be welcome there. Their recommendations had been received with professionalism and an admirable desire to right the wrongs of the past.

Joe stood to shake Avery’s hand. “What’s up?”

“I’m in a bit of a bind.”

“How so?”

“I was there when Spencer Radcliffe was found dead at Camp David.”

“Such an awful tragedy.”

“Yes, it is, but you and I both know Sam, and it occurred to me that she might be trying to get to the bottom of what happened and that it might not be appropriate for her to be the one leading the investigation.”

“That’s in the hands of the ME.”

“Has she reported yet?”

“I’m not sure.”

“Do you have a way to check?”

Joe gave him a side-eyed look before he sat down with a sigh and booted up his computer. After a few silent minutes of typing, he turned his monitor toward Avery.

He got up for a closer look, scanning the report, looking for keywords and stopping short at the words morphine and brain. Just as he’d suspected. “You see that there?” He pointed to the words.

“What about it?”

“The only way morphine is found in the brain postmortem is through opioid overdose, and Holland would know that. If she didn’t already know it, Lindsey would’ve clued her in. She’s investigating his death.”

“So what if she is?”

“He overdosed on federal property, Joe. This should be a federal investigation.”

“Well, it’s not, and it’s not going to be.”

Avery raised a brow in surprise. “Does that mean you’re fine with her investigating the death of her own brother-in-law? What if it leads to charges?”

“I’ve already consulted with my lieutenant, and we’re handling this in-house. Thank you for bringing it to my attention, Agent Hill. You’ve done your due diligence. You can go home now feeling good about yourself.”

“That’s not what this is about, Joe, and you know it. If a crime has been committed, she’s the last person who should be investigating it. What would Forrester say about it if he knew?”

“If you go to him with this, you’ll no longer be welcome around here. You got me?”

“I see how it is,” Avery said.

“If you see that we protect our own in their times of grief, then you’ve got the full picture. Have a nice evening, Agent Hill.”

Avery stared him down for a long moment, but Joe never blinked. He turned and left the office, feeling unsettled about what he’d learned at HQ. He hoped that whatever Sam was up to didn’t blow up into a scandal the department could ill afford.

On the way out of the building, Sam poked her head into the morgue looking for Lindsey, but she wasn’t there. When she was in the car, she put through a call to her friend.