“Absolutely. Thanks for checking on her.”

“I already miss her, but if you tell her I said that, I’ll deny it with every fiber of my being.”

Smiling, Nick said, “I already miss her, too. I’ll check in later.”

“We’ll be waiting to hear.”

He ended the call as the SUV pulled through the gates at the White House. Inside, he went directly to the Situation Room to take care of business so he could check on the kids and then get back to the hospital by the time Sam woke up.

Teresa Howard, the national security advisor he’d inherited from President Nelson, was waiting for him, as were General Michael Wilson, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the other advisers he met with each morning to review global security risks.

Each of them asked after the first lady and expressed their concern for her.

“Thank you all.” Nick took his seat at the head of the table, with Terry seated to his right.

“She’s in surgery now, and as you can imagine, I’m eager to get back to the hospital. Let’s get this done.”

Gonzo updated the murder board with the information gathered thus far in the Olsen investigation. He’d started a column for similar cases, including the one Detective Lucas had brought them, as well as the earlier one that had been tied to their case by DNA.

“What’s the latest?” Cruz asked when he came into the room, where Jeannie was also working on a laptop.

“Dani and Gigi reviewed every call, text and email on Audrey’s phone from the last year and didn’t find anything other than the ongoing beef with a teacher she worked with that the boyfriend mentioned,” Gonzo said. “The guy liked to tell her she was young and naïve and didn’t ‘get it.’ He, of course, was much older and wiser and knew better in all situations. There were some texts from Audrey to Wes complaining about how the guy had something to say to her at every staff meeting and how she thought of him as a bully.”

“We need to talk to him,” Freddie said.

“I talked to him,” Gonzo said. “He was with family all day yesterday and never left the house. Multiple family members can vouch for him.”

“Crap,” Freddie said, taking a seat. “So that leaves us with no one in her life who would’ve had motive for murder.”

“It leaves us with most likely a random attack by a guy who’s done this before,” Gonzo replied. “Lindsey ran the DNA found on Audrey through national, state and local CODIS and checked it against the rape kit from Lucas’s case to find they’re a match. But nothing new popped from CODIS.”

“You should look at FDS,” another voice said.