Fatal Identity

“He’s always sir to me now, ma’am.”

Though Marti scowled, her eyes glimmered with amusement.

“If I have to be called ma’am in my own house, so do you,” Sam added.

“Fair enough,” Marti said with a laugh. “I assume this isn’t a social call, so I’ll leave you to talk to your uncle Joe. I’m off to the grocery store.” She gave Sam a kiss on the cheek. “Don’t be a stranger around here, okay?”

“I won’t. Sorry it’s been so long since I stopped by.”

She swept away Sam’s apology with the wave of her hand. “No apologies needed. You’re the second-busiest lady in America these days, and I’d venture to guess Gloria Nelson’s schedule hasn’t got anything on yours.”

“Your words, not mine.”

Marti laughed. “Spoken like the wife of a politician. You take care.”

“You too, Aunt Marti.”

Marti kissed her husband before she left through the kitchen.

“You two are still honeymooning, huh?” Sam asked as she took a seat, propping her elbows on her knees. Her family had always teased the Farnsworths about their adorable PDA habit.

He eyed her shrewdly and muted the game. “Is that why you’re here? To tease me about kissing my wife?”

“No,” she said with a sigh. “We have a situation.”

“How’s it possible that you have a situation when you’re suspended?”

“Well, it’s sort of like this.” Making use of the department-issued tablet that sat on his coffee table along with files he’d brought home from the office, she showed him the age-progression photo, explained how Josh Hamilton had sought her out and everything that’d happened since then, concluding with the information that he was now on the run. As she spoke, Farnsworth’s normally amiable expression hardened.

“So let me get this straight—while you’re serving out a suspension, you took on a new case involving the son of the FBI director, you called in the District’s chief medical examiner to take a swab that will be processed through the District’s lab and asked Detective Cruz to provide protection for Mr. Hamilton—”

“At my expense.”

“Still, you involved Detective Cruz, and now the man you were trying to protect has gone missing. Do I have the facts correct?”

It took everything she had not to squirm under his intense glare. “You do.”

He stared at her for a long time before he shook his head in apparent dismay. “You do not make it easy, Lieutenant.”

She was about to ask him what he meant by that but she didn’t have to.

“You’re always coloring outside the lines, and it’s becoming increasingly more difficult for me to defend your actions.”

Ouch. That hurt. “I don’t expect you to defend me or to understand why I do the things I do. You want results. I get you results. Every time.”

“You’ll never hear me deny that. But the means to the end, Lieutenant, is where we have a problem.”

To hear him say they had a problem raised all sorts of alarms within her, but now was not the time to worry about alarms. “You have to understand the spot I was in—Josh refused to deal with anyone but me, and if it turns out that he is this missing kid, how could I not try to get those answers for the poor parents who’ve spent thirty years looking for him?”

“I do understand the spot you were in, and I hope you understand the spot you’ve put me in. You’ve got a man accusing the FBI director of kidnapping, and you didn’t think I needed to know that the second it happened?”

“No one has accused Director Hamilton of anything.”

“Semantics, Lieutenant. The second you involved Dr. McNamara you involved the department, and you know it.”

“So what do we do now? Hamilton is on the run, and he’s convinced that if his father finds him, he’ll kill him.”

“He said that? Those exact words?”

“Those exact words.”

“Jesus. And you believed him?”

“Both Detective Cruz and I believe he was genuinely afraid for his life.”

Farnsworth reached for the landline extension that sat on the coffee table and dialed a number, keeping his steely stare fixed on her. “This is Chief Farnsworth. Put me through to Conklin.” After a pause, he said, “Hey, it’s me. I’m with Holland and we need an APB for Josh Hamilton.” He provided a description based on the photo Sam had shown him. “I want everyone looking for him. Notify Maryland and Virginia State Police. He was last seen on foot in the Crystal City area just over an hour ago. If we find him, take him into protective custody.” After a pause, he said, “Yes, she knows she suspended. I’ll fill you in later. Ask for hourly reports from Patrol.”