“You mind my asking what the meeting was about?”
Tuck slowly removed his hand. “Nothing too exciting. You know I’m a defense contractor. We have a small office down in Jacksonville. My company is a subcontractor on a team working on a biodefense proposal for Homeland Security. We were just polishing our submission.”
“And you got back right in time to get your head crunched,” said Michelle.
Tuck spoke slowly. “They told me about Pam. How she died.”
“Who? The police?”
“Guys in suits. FBI, I think they said. Head’s still not working right. Sorry.”
They asked him the same questions that they had the children and got the same unhelpful answers.
Tuck smiled weakly. “It was a great day for Willa. She got to go to Camp David for her birthday. How many kids get to do that?”
“Not many,” agreed Michelle. “Too bad you had to miss it.”
“First time I ever missed one. And Camp David too. I’ve never been there.”
“It’s pretty rustic,” said Sean. “So the First Lady has played a big part in Willa’s life?”
“Oh yeah. I mean to the extent she has time. Some days I still can’t believe she’s married to the president. Hell, I can’t believe that I’m his brother-in-law.”
“But you two have always been close?”
“Yeah. I like Dan too. Even voted for him.” Tuck managed a smile before choking back a sob. “I can’t understand why anyone would do this, Sean.”
“There’s one elephant in the room on that, Tuck,” he said.
“You mean that it’s connected to Dan and Jane?”
“Folks know you’re family. You’re a much easier target.”
“But if that’s the case what do they want? If it’s money the president can’t just dip into the Treasury and pay a ransom.”
Sean and Michelle exchanged another glance as Tuck looked from one to the other. “I mean he can’t, right?”
“Let’s just focus on the facts, Tuck. There’ll be plenty of time for speculation.”
“We don’t have time, Sean. What about Willa? They’ve got Willa. She could be…” He sat up in his agitation.
Sean gently pushed him back down on the bed. “Look, Tuck, the FBI is all over this and we’re going to do everything we can too. What we need now is for everybody to remain calm and just tell us what they know.”
Sean pulled out the copy of the markings on Pam’s arms.
“Do you recognize this?”
“No, why?”
“The FBI didn’t ask you about it?”
“No. What the hell is it?”
“This stuff was written on Pam’s arms with a black pen.”
“Oh my God. Is it some sort of cult thing? Is that what this is?” Tuck’s expression changed from anger to terror. “Has some kind of modern-day Charlie Manson freak with a beef against the government got Willa?”
The nurse came in the room and said sternly, “I’m going to have to ask both of you to leave. You’re clearly upsetting him.”