“The North Koreans thought Christmas Day would be an excellent time to test an ICBM, which is in violation of the U.N.’s Security Council resolutions, and apparently, that’s my problem.” He came over to her, squatted to kiss her and brushed the hair back from her face. “I’m sorry, babe. They want me in the Situation Room.”

“It’s okay.”

“No, it isn’t. Can we pick this up later right where we left off?”

Smiling, she said, “I’ll be here all week.”

“I can’t wait for some downtime with you and the kids.”

“Go deal with the North Koreans and their icy BM.”

Nick cracked up. “It’s an intercontinental ballistic missile, capable of carrying nuclear weapons, thus the alarm.”

“Ah, gotcha.”

“Just so you know, I’d much rather be dealing with you than the North Koreans.”

“That’s not much of a compliment.”

Smiling, he kissed her again, then went to the bathroom to clean up and get dressed so he could go deal with the North Koreans. And people thought being the president was so exciting. From her point of view, it was nothing more than a gigantic pain in the ass, even if the service at the White House was second to none.

In her opinion—and probably Nick’s, too, though he’d never say so—the cons outweighed the pros by a mile.

Chapter Three

After spending Christmas Day with her husband and family, Detective Jeannie McBride had gone back to work on Christmas night, reviewing her notes on the case for the hundredth time. On each pass, she added to her list of questions and came to the same unavoidable conclusion. Before she went to Richmond, she needed to see Carisma’s mother.

LaToya Deasly had put herself through paralegal school, had bought a townhouse for her and her three children and, by all accounts, was a dedicated mother. Over the eleven years her daughter had been missing, LaToya had repeatedly claimed her former friend, Daniella Brown, had kidnapped her child.

No one had listened.

Jeannie had realized that a week ago. Not only had no one listened, it seemed no one had cared about another missing Black teenager. What would LaToya say now if an MPD detective showed up at her house, claiming to care after all this time? Jeannie wouldn’t blame the woman for slamming the door in her face.

But she had to try. LaToya could help her understand the dynamics of her relationship with Daniella as well as Daniella’s with Carisma.