Since she had time for a break, she went into her office, closed the door and sat behind her desk, wincing at the pain radiating from her hip. She pulled the BlackBerry out of her pocket and sent a text to Nick. Call me if you have a minute to talk. Nothing urgent.

The phone rang a minute later, making her smile simply because she got to talk to him. “Hey.”

“Hey, yourself. What’s going on?”

“You aren’t going to believe it.”

“Lay it on me.”

She told him about the possible connection to Ramsey’s son.

“No way.”

“Right?”

“Holy shit, Sam. What’s the plan?”

“Gonzo and Jeannie have gone after the son and are bringing him in for questioning.”

“Won’t that send his father into orbit?”

“We’re trying to keep it quiet until we know if he’s our guy.”

“How will you figure that out?”

“We need a warrant to get a DNA sample from him, which is in the works. He’s not apt to give us that voluntarily, and the warrant isn’t assured, so we’re thinking outside the box. We may check our DNA sample against his father’s to see if there’s a familial match.”

“Christ, Sam. What if it is him? His father will claim you guys framed him.”

“Which is why we’re doing this as by the book as by the book gets.”

“Just be careful. That guy has it in for you even when you’re not looking at his son for being a serial rapist and murderer.”

“I know. In other news, I’m off the hook with the mayor on the deputy chief’s job because she offered it to Jeannie.”

“No way! That’s amazing. Is she going to do it?”

“She is. We’re very excited for her.”

“I can imagine. Tell her I said congrats.”

“I will. What goes on over there?”

“Other than my VP nominee getting skewered on the Hill?”

“Is she?”

“It’s bad. She’s handling it as well as she can, but they’re ripping her apart, digging into every aspect of her life, her marital woes, all of it.”

“God, I hate that. What the hell do her marital woes have to do with what kind of vice president she’ll be?”

“It has nothing to do with it, but they’re digging into that stuff because their only other reason for opposing her is that she’s even more inexperienced than I am.”

“Inexperience isn’t disqualifying, is it?”

“No, but they’re doing their best to discredit her in every way they can think of.”

“Probably doesn’t help that she’s a woman either.”

“Nope.”

“Even though I’ve had my doubts about her, I find myself rooting for her, because if there’s anything I hate more than misogyny…”

“You hate airplanes and needles more.”