The Congressman's Wife

Chapter 10

Tuesday, June 1, 2021

8:15 pm

As the team walked back into the murder room exhausted from the day, they all noticed a stunning woman of about thirty sitting at Provenza's desk.

"Who are you and why are you sitting at my desk?" Provenza asked her gruffly.

As the woman stood, she had to have been at least five feet ten and was in heels on top of it, Wes thought to himself. As she stood in front of him, they were eye level and Wes couldn't help but melt in her exquisite blue eyes. She had a beautiful shade of red hair that he wondered if it was natural and would loved to have found out. She gave Wes a smile that warmed every part of him and he couldn't help but smile back. As he was getting lost in every aspect of this woman, he wanted to slap himself. Cami already thought of him as a player and wouldn't give him the time of day despite the number of times he asked. They were good partners, she'd always tell him, but would follow with him to quit asking for it to be more. He imagined himself shaking himself out of the trance of this woman and as he did, he looked over at Cami looking at him. She rolled her eyes and walked to her desk.

Still fixated on Wes versus the rest of the room, she held out her hand towards Wes. "I'm Brandy Spencer." Wes, with the spell broken and his eye always on Cami, held out his hand "Detective Wes Nolan." He introduced himself making sure to keep his tone of voice formal.

"Hey, Brandy Spencer." The gruff voice of Louie Provenza was heard in the background. "Again, you want to tell us why you are here and why you were sitting at my desk."

The trance broken after Wes failed to respond to her flirting told the group she was a friend of Sharon Raydor's. She went on to explain that Sharon had asked her to come over to talk about the election state of Christian Marquardt.

Andy walked into the murder room after the rest of the team and looked for his wife. "Speaking of Sharon, where is she?" Right as he asked the question, Mike walked into the room. "Tao, where is Sharon?" Andy asked.

"Last time I saw her, she told us she was headed into her office to work on a report." Tao told the group.

Andy's head turned towards Sharon's office. Clearly she wasn't there and a sense of panic came over him. Although Sharon's doctor had repeatedly given her clean checkups and stated everything was in good working order, Andy still couldn't help to worry constantly about his wife. He walked into her office and over to her desk. He saw the list of touristy stops and hotels on her notepad. A rush of guilt washed over Andy. He knew his wife wasn't one to like surprises and just winging it. Maybe he shouldn't have proposed just jumping on a plane and heading to a foreign country that neither of them had been to. He chastised himself. He looked up towards the ceiling with just his eyes and shook his head angry at himself. He would tell Sharon after they left for the night that they could take the time to plan out a proper vacation that made her feel comfortable.

As he stood there chastising himself, he heard Hobbs say hello to everyone. He decided to return to the group. As he walked out, he saw Rusty with Hobbs. "Where's Mom?" Rusty asked the group.

"No one knows." Andy told him. "I was hoping you'd know."

Rusty shrugged one shoulder and shook his head no.

Sharon must have heard the conversation because she came bounding in the room with Leo Mason by her side. "Here I am! Here I am!" Sharon yelled out. Andy immediately felt his panic subside and couldn't help but smile at his wife.

"I'm sorry everyone. Chief Pope wanted to see Chief Mason and myself and I forgot to leave a note." Sharon told the group.

"Eee Gods, Chief Pope? What did our fearless leader want?" Provenza asked her sure it wasn't good.

"He just wanted an current update on the case. Chief Mason and I gave it and here we are." Sharon told him. Provenza knew she was lying but decided not to push it.

Just then, Sharon saw Brandy. "Brandy! Thank you so much for coming on such short notice. I am hoping you can give us some great insight into this case. You are so smart with this stuff!"

Brandy loved Sharon since the first day she met her eight years prior while she was doing an internship for her graduate program. After the mayor's office hired her, she made it a point to keep in contact with her. Sharon often mentored the young woman on navigating the world of politics and what it meant to be a female in a male dominated field. Even at the age of twenty-two, Sharon found Brandy smart. Jumping several grades and graduating college early, Sharon knew Brandy was going far in government. She wouldn't be shocked to see Brandy at the national political arena in her life.

Sharon looked around the room and saw her son sitting in the corner taking notes. It dawned on her that she had not told him yet of the trip to Ireland. She made a mental note to grab him before he and Andrea left for the night in case in got crazy tomorrow with the questioning of Trent Mawbry and the Congressman.

"Let's head to RACRR." Sharon told the team and all followed her.

After all had settled into their seats, Sharon asked Brandy if the death of Fiona Marquardt could help the current race Christian Marquardt was in to retain his seat.

"Absolutely." Brandy replied as she handed a graphic out to the team to show the trajectory of the Congressman's approval rating. She then backed it up with numerous handouts that showed the internal numbers showing the poll numbers for the current election. "For the first time, there was a real concern that the Congressman may lose his seat and the district could actually go Republican for the first time in fifty years since his grandfather took the office."

"I know the Congressman was in a tough fight, but do you really think the seat would have flipped?" Amy asked Brandy.

"Absolutely, the Congressman showed indifference to his constituents almost taunting them, particularly those who disagreed with him. He had a false sense of security that because his family has been in politics for almost one hundred years he was indestructible. Recently, his constituents were telling him different."

"So, what has occurred since Fiona Marquardt's death was announced this morning?" Sharon asked.

"We are already seeing a shift in polling from something called a sympathy vote." Brandy replied as she handed out a new graphic showing the shift. "If the Congressman's campaign can continue to work it and he can do some other things, such as apologizing for his votes and such, he can turn the election around. His opponent is really a likeable centrist guy. He has a true shot at taking the seat. Christian Marquardt really needed a Hail Mary pass. The death of his wife seemed to give him that boost he needed. It is now what he does with it that will determine the election outcome." Brandy finished.

All the detectives were shocked at the callousness of how Brandy talked about the death of a spouse as being a "Hail Mary Pass" and the disconnect of grieving a loss. Could politics really be that cold? Amy thought to herself.

"Brandy, I'd really like to thank you for coming down. It helps us immensely." Sharon told her friend. Both women stood up. Sharon walked over to her friend and gave her a hug. Sharon hooked her arm around Brandy's and started to walk towards the door. Brandy looked towards Wes to say goodbye but he was looking over towards the detective with the long brown hair.

As soon as they were out of ear shot, Brandy asked Sharon about him. "Wes?" Sharon replied and started giggling.

"Yeah. He is adorable. Hook a girl up, Sharon!" Brandy replied laughing.

"He doesn't know it yet, but he only has eyes for Cami. In fact, I need to sit both of them down to discuss it. Let's see what happens after that." Sharon replied.

They got to the elevator and Brandy gave her friend another big hug. "Let's do lunch next week at that little tea room we both like, huh?" Brandy said.

"I can't next week. I'll be in Ireland for the next two weeks following the wrap up of this case. How about when I get back?" Sharon told her friend.

"Ireland, huh? I am so jealous. That sounds fantastic. Give me a call when you get back and give that sweet husband of yours a big hug from me. I didn't have a chance to talk to him today." Brandy said as she got onto the elevator. She gave a slight wave as the elevator doors shut.

Sharon walked back to the murder room where the team was chattering about everything Brandy had just told them.

Sharon asked Myra to play the video compilation she had made of the shooting. The team watched it no less than six times. Each time they saw something new in the videos that they had missed before.

"OK everybody. We knew the Congressman did it. Now we know why. So really, the only really big question is what is Trent Mawbry's involvement? Sharon told the group.

"He has to be involved, Commander. There is no way he isn't involved in all of this." Provenza told her.

Sharon looked at her second in command without saying a word and then over to Myra. "Myra, I want you to break down the video. Please get several stills of the man in the mask that we can show to the Congressman tomorrow."

She looked at her team. They looked exhausted. They had been going nonstop for weeks and Sharon could see it in their faces. Like her, they were tired and needed rest.

Sharon looked at her watch. "OK, everyone. It is ten thirty. I want everyone back here at six am if we have the first interviews at eight thirty. I want an answer to this Trent Mawbry question and I think tomorrow we will get it." She told the group. "Before we leave for the night, I would like to see Rusty and Cami in my office please." With that, Sharon walked out of the RACRR room and towards her office.

Cami looked up at the sound of her name and wondered what she had done. She had tried to keep her mouth in check. It was never easy, but she tried hard. This time for everything in her, she couldn't fathom what she had said or done.