Fatal Deception Read Free Page B

do,” he said, wiping tears from his face.
    “I have to go inside for a few minutes, and then we’ll go downtown to talk.”
    “I’m not a suspect, am I? I never could’ve harmed her. She was my life.”
    “I was told you have a solid alibi.”
    Derek nodded. “I was with the president, the senior staff and the campaign leadership all weekend.”
    “Good.” She glanced at Nick. “Stay here until I get back, okay?”
    Her husband nodded, knowing she expected him to console Derek the best way he could while she viewed the crime scene.
    The patrolman held up the yellow tape for her, and she ducked under it. Inside she went to the kitchen in the back of the house where the District’s Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Lindsey McNamara examined the body. Victoria’s long, dark hair was fanned out on the floor. Bruises covered her face, and her lips were blue. She wore black yoga pants and a yellow T-shirt.
    Sam grimaced at the sight of a woman she’d met many times in the months since she’d been with Nick.
    Lindsey looked up, her green eyes brimming with compassion. “Beaten to a pulp and manually strangled,” Lindsey said, gesturing to the bruises on Victoria’s neck.
    The kitchen bore signs of a struggle, with chairs toppled and broken dishes on the floor.
    “Any indication of sexual assault?” Sam asked.
    “Not that I can tell from visual inspection. I’ll know more when I get her back to the lab. She put up a fight.” Lindsey held up Victoria’s right hand to show Sam the bruises on her knuckles. “I’m glad she got a few hits in.”
    “For all the good it did.”
    “Looks to be some skin under her nails too,” Lindsey added.
    Sam called for crime scene detectives and then took a walk through the well-appointed house that was full of photos of the blonde baby girl who was the center of her parents’ lives. Mixed in with the family photos were pictures of Derek with his boss, the president of the United States, and other political luminaries as well as his parents and what looked to be his siblings along with their families.
    His framed degrees from Yale University and Yale Law School hung in the study along with a certificate from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and Victoria Taft’s degree from Bryn Mawr. Sam pulled the notebook from her back pocket and made a note of Victoria’s maiden name as well as the year of her graduation from college. On the shelves in the study were sports trophies that Sam took a moment to study. All of them were Derek’s. Soccer and lacrosse had been his games at St. George’s School in Rhode Island.
    Sam thought it odd that she didn’t find photos of Victoria with anyone other than her husband and daughter. In the master bedroom, which was done in shades of blue with white accents, she picked up a silver-framed photo of Derek, Victoria and Maeve and studied the woman who’d been killed, noting her serene smile and the happiness that sparkled in her brown eyes.
    She thought about what she knew of Victoria, overall impressions, pieces of conversations from the last eight months. Sam, who’d always fancied herself a bit of a fashionista, had felt like an amateur next to Victoria, who did stylishly sexy with that effortless grace some women seemed born with.
    Sam might’ve envied Victoria for that effortless grace if she hadn’t been so warm and genuine and funny. Every time she’d been with Victoria, Sam had found her to be a happy, peaceful person who was clearly in love with her shy but accomplished husband and thrilled with her sweet baby girl.
    A deep, penetrating sadness settled into Sam’s bones when it dawned on her that Victoria might’ve made for a good friend if Sam had taken the time to get to know her better.
    “We’ll find your little girl, Victoria,” Sam whispered, as the sound of a throat clearing caught her attention. She returned the photo to the bedside table and turned to face her partner, Detective Freddie Cruz. His dark