“Scared, nervous, anxious, depressed. They know Pam’s gone, of course. And that’s devastating enough. But not knowing what’s happened to Willa. It’s just too much. It’s killing all of us. I haven’t slept a wink since they took me off the drugs in the hospital. I don’t even know how I’m functioning.”
Michelle eyed the cigarette. “They’ve only got one parent left now, Tuck. Do yourself and them a favor and cut out the cancer sticks.”
Tuck dropped the smoke on the pavement and crushed it with the heel of his shoe. “What did you guys want with me?”
“O
ne thing.”
Tuck put up his hands. “Look, if this is that crap about Willa being adopted.”
“No, it’s actually about the guy you saw Pam with.”
“Did you talk to him? Who is he?”
“He’s a Secret Service agent. A pretty high-ranking one,” said Michelle.
“His name is Aaron Betack. And he basically says you were wrong in identifying him as the guy you saw with Pam.”
“Then he’s full of shit. I was staring at him through a clear glass window. No more than ten feet. It was him! I’d swear on a stack of Bibles.”
“We believe you, Tuck,” said Michelle.
“And there might be an easier way than the Bible thing,” added Sean.
“What do you mean?”
Sean pointed across the street. “He’s over there right now. We saw him go in. That’s why we’re here.”
“Betack?”
“Yep,” said Sean.
“So what do you want me to do?”
“We want you to call your sister and ask to see her with us. When we get in there we want her to call Betack in and we’ll confront him with what we know. Then if he wants to lie to her face, let him.”
Tuck suddenly didn’t seem so sure of himself. “I’m sure she’s pretty busy right now.”
Michelle took hold of his arm. “Tuck, you just buried your wife. Your oldest child has been kidnapped. I don’t think you should be worried right now about your sister being busy.”
Sean eyed him intently. “What’s it going to be?”
Tuck pulled out his cell phone. “Five minutes?”
“Works for us,” answered Sean.
CHAPTER 50
SEAN KING, who’d worked presidential protection detail when he was in the Secret Service, had been allowed in the top security clearance-required White House Situation Room when guarding the president. Yet he had never seen the private quarters of the First Family. That omission had now been corrected. After riding the elevator up and being let out of the small cage by a genuine elevator operator, he and Michelle looked around at the room they were in. It had luxurious furnishings, heavy moldings, and beautiful flower displays. Then his attention returned to the woman who was sitting on the couch across from him, a cup of hot tea in hand. A warming fire crackled in the fireplace. Across the street, protestors could be heard chanting about something in Lafayette Park.
Jane obviously heard this too. “You’d think they would have held off, with everything that’s happened.”
“It’s done by permit,” said Michelle. “They have to take their shot when they get it.”
“Of course.”
She looks tired , Sean thought. And it obviously wasn’t just the campaign. The tiny lines on the First Lady’s face were more pronounced, the pouches under the eyes thicker, the hair not as meticulous as usual. She also seemed to have lost weight. The clothes she wore hung more loosely.