I know we were the lucky ones because we had access to everything close by. They had to take a long Metro ride to get to anything good.”
“I always thought it was weird that there are two Chevy Chases.”
“Right? And don’t mistake them. There’s the DC Chevy Chase and the Maryland Chevy Chase.”
“And they’re right next to each other. Bizarre. And we’re coming to see Cheri Clark in Chevy Chase. It’s a double-C kinda day.”
“I got a lotta words I can think of that start with C that describe this day.”
“But you’re not going to share them.”
“Dingier Freddie loves my dirty words.”
“No, he doesn’t.”
“Cock, cocked—”
“Sam! Shut up.”
While she laughed at her own joke, she found a parking space three blocks from Clark’s office on Connecticut Avenue. They fought against a chilly headwind as they walked.
“That’s the second lady,” a guy said to his friend when they passed him on the sidewalk. “Hey, tell your husband he needs to run. There’s no quitting in politics!”
“Am I allowed to shoot him?” Sam asked Freddie.
“I’ll pretend not to see anything, as long as I don’t have to do the paperwork.”
Thankfully, the loudmouth didn’t pursue her, so she didn’t have to shoot him. They stepped into the lobby of a three-story office building, found Cheri Clark Real Estate on the directory and hoofed it to the third floor.
“They need an elevator in this place,” Sam said when they reached the third floor.
“Or you need to work out more.”
“Shut your face.”
His snicker would’ve made her mad if she wasn’t so winded. He might be right about needing to work out if climbing two flights of stairs made her feel like she was going to die. Not that she planned to tell him that.
The lights were off in Cheri’s office, and when Sam tried the door, it was locked. “Mother effer. If she’s not here after we drove all this way, I’m going to arrest her for wasting my time.”
“No, you’re not. I’m definitely not doing that paperwork.”
“You’ll do it if I tell you to. Find out where she lives.”
Freddie got busy on his phone and had an address within two minutes. “It’s about a mile from here.”
“Let’s go.” Back down the stairs they went, Sam lamenting that she’d climbed them for nothing, and now she knew exactly how out of shape she was. “Is there a picture of this woman?”
Freddie handed over his phone.
Sam took a good long look at a perky woman with shoulder-length blonde hair and perfect teeth highlighted by red lipstick and handed the phone back to him. “I’m glad I don’t have a job that requires me to wear lipstick all the time.”
“We’re all thankful for that.”
“You’re in rare form today, Frederico,” Sam said as they walked back to the car.
“Don’t call me that. You sound like my mother.”
“How is my friend Juliette?”
“She’s driving me crazy asking when I’m going to make her a grandmother.”
“Ah, the eternal question of mothers everywhere. You get a month, maybe two, after the wedding before the questions start.”
“It’s annoying. Elin and I aren’t in any rush to have kids, and I’m not letting anyone pressure me into it, even my mother.”
“That’s the way. Stay strong, grasshopper.”
“I’m trying, but the struggle is real. Hey…” He pointed.
When Sam saw the woman he was pointing at, she took off running.
The woman saw them coming, blanched and then spun around, attempting to run on three-inch heels. To say they had the advantage on her would be putting it mildly.
Sam caught her easily and had her handcuffed before Freddie reached them.
Because he was the less winded of the two of them, she let him take care of reciting the woman’s rights. Sam really needed to get back to the gym, or actually join a gym in the first place.
Cheri struggled against Sam’s tight hold on her. “I haven’t done anything!”
“If that’s the case, why’d you run?” Sam asked.
“I was scared. Everyone knows how you are.”
“How am I?” Sam asked as they perp-walked her to her car.
“A hard-ass bitch.”
“Oh, that’s so mean! I’m hurt! Aren’t I hurt, Detective Cruz?”
“It’s too bad that people don’t realize you take that as a compliment.”
She loved him so much. He was the absolute perfect wingman. “I know, right?”
“I want a lawyer.”
“It’s funny, isn’t it, Detective Cruz, how often ‘innocent’ people lawyer up at the first sign of cops?”
Cheri glared at her. “I’ll tell you the same thing I told the Feds: I had no idea what Ginny was doing when she asked me to show