First Family (Sean King & Michelle Maxwell 4)

“I guess I got all the issues.”

“Why did you want to go back to the farmhouse?”

“I told you, I don’t know.”

“I’ve never known you to take an idle trip.”

“First time for everything.”

“Is that how you want to leave it with your dad?”

She gave him a look. “Exactly how am I leaving it?”

“Up in the air.”

“Sean, my mother was murdered after apparently cheating on my dad. The woman who killed her almost killed me. My father saved my life, but there are issues there too, okay? In fact, for a while there I thought he’d been the one who killed her. So excuse me for being a little conflicted right now.”

“I’m sorry, Michelle, you’re right.”

She laid down the binder she was holding and put her face in her hands. “No, maybe you’re right. But I don’t know how to deal with this, I really don’t.”

“Maybe you start with just talking to the guy. One-on-one, nobody else around.”

“That sounds absolutely terrifying.”

“I know it does. And you don’t have to do it.”

“But I probably do have to do it if I ever want to get past this.” She stood. “Can you take over going through these? I’m going to try and find my dad.”

“Any idea where he might’ve gone?”

“I think so.”

CHAPTER 66

JANE COX RODE in the limo coming back from Mail Boxes Etc. Unbeknownst to her, the FBI had run a trace on the post office box she’d been visiting every day. They had come up empty. Phony name, paid in cash for six months, and no paper trail. They’d given the store manager hell for not following the rules.

“This is how 9/11s start, you clueless moron,” Agent Chuck Waters had snapped at the middle-aged man behind the counter. “You let a terrorist cell get a mailbox here with no background info, you’re helping the enemies of this country attack us. Is that what the hell you want to be remembered for? Aiding and abetting Osama bin Laden?”

The man had been so distressed by this tongue-lashing that his eyes had actually started to tear up. But Waters had never seen this. He was already gone.

Jane reached the White House and climbed slowly out of the car. She had not been seen much in public as of late, which was a good thing, actually, because she looked older and haggard. The HD cameras deployed now would not have been too flattering. Even the president had noticed it.

“You okay, hon?” he’d asked during a brief stopover on the campaign trail where he would give an address to a group of veterans followed by a belated visit from the women’s college basketball national championship

team. She had gone straight from the limo up to their private quarters to find him sitting there going over some briefing papers.

“I’m fine, Danny. I wish people would stop asking me that. I’ll start to think there’s something actually wrong.”

“The FBI has briefed me about these visits to the post office box.”

“And not the Secret Service?” she’d said quickly. “The spies among us?”

He sighed. “They’re just doing their job, Jane. We’re national property now. National treasure, at least you are,” he’d added with a quick smile that usually did the trick in boosting her spirits.

Usually, but not today. “You’re the treasure, Danny. I’m just the baggage.”

“Jane, that’s not—”