their money to somebody and expects they’re just gonna do the right thing with it? Second of all, how did she think she was going to get away with it? Were her friends going to suddenly forget they’d given their money to her?”
“Why does anyone think they’re going to get away with fraud?” Nick asked. “I’d be so afraid of getting caught that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the money.”
“Me too,” Sam said. “How do people sleep at night when they’re stealing from their friends and family? I want you all to know I’ll never steal from you.”
“I’m strangely comforted to know that.” Freddie ducked his head to see out the window. “We’re getting close to Baltimore. Is anyone else nervous about seeing him?”
“I am a little,” Jeannie said. “I want our Gonzo back, the way he was before Arnold died. Part of me wonders if that’s too much to hope for.”
The shocking murder of Gonzo’s young partner had sent him spiraling over the last ten months, culminating in a dependence on prescription meds that’d gotten out of control before he was sent to rehab.
“It might be too much to hope for the same Gonzo,” Sam said, “but right about now, I’ll take any Gonzo I can get. It hasn’t been the same without him.”
Since he’d been in rehab, Sam had lost her father, and they’d closed her dad’s long-unsolved shooting case. Sometimes she felt like she’d lived a whole lifetime since she last worked with her sergeant.
“How come Christina didn’t come with us today?” Freddie asked of Gonzo’s fiancée.
“She said Alex wasn’t feeling great, and since we were going, she decided to stay home,” Sam said.
“What do you think will happen with them?” Jeannie asked.
“I wish I knew,” Sam said, sighing. “I just hope they’re able to stay together, because I think that’ll be critical to his recovery.”
“Have you heard any more about the Feds looking into the department?” Jeannie asked.
“We had a commanders’ meeting about it the other day,” Sam said. “From what the chief said, the FBI will be conducting a top-to-bottom look at the department in light of several of our own being charged with violent felonies. We have a meeting with the Feds this week.”
“That ought to be fun,” Freddie said, frowning.
“I heard someone call it a proctology exam,” Jeannie said.
“That’s about right, but we’ve got nothing to worry about,” Sam said. “This is why I’m always talking about dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s. Our asses are covered. The Feds can poke around all they want. They won’t find jack shit to investigate in Homicide.” At least they’d better not. Sam went out of her way to run an exemplary unit, and if there was corruption to be found within the department, they weren’t going to find it in her pit.
When they arrived at the rehab center in downtown Baltimore, Nick’s Secret Service detail went in ahead of them while they waited in the car.
“Do you have to go through this everywhere you go?” Michael asked.
“Every single time,” Nick said. “And you wonder why I’m not jumping at the chance to be president?”
“I’m not exactly wondering,” Michael said as the others laughed.
They waited fifteen minutes until Brant, Nick’s lead agent, came to let them out of the car. Inside, they were shown to a private room that’d been arranged in advance by the Secret Service.
Gonzo joined them there a few minutes later, hugging each of them and thanking them for coming. “It’s so great to see you guys.”
Sam was relieved to see him looking and sounding more like his old self than he had in the dreadful months since January. The haunted look in his eyes was gone, and the bright, engaged friend she loved so much seemed to be back. “You look great.”
“I feel really good.”
With the Secret Service positioned outside the door, they sat on folding chairs around the table.
“I wish I could offer you drinks or something,” Gonzo said.
“Don’t worry about us,” Sam said. “We’re fine. We want to hear how you’re doing.”
“Much better. The extra month has made a big difference. Andy was here last week,” he said, referring to Nick’s attorney friend.
“How come?” Sam asked.
“We’ve been talking with the U.S. Attorney’s Office, and I’m going to plead guilty to a misdemeanor.” He’d bought pills on the street during the worst of his addiction and somehow that had been reported to the U.S. Attorney. “It’s the best possible outcome and allows me to keep my job and rank.”