Miss Chick, dressed in a feathered chicken outfit, steadied Selena and said, “Sorry. Late for the Eggspress Yourself,” and scurried away, the daisy on her large straw hat swaying in the breeze.
Selena turned from watching Miss Chick disappear to continue toward the Easter Egg Roll and ran right into Nicholas Cole. Slowly she raised her gaze to his face, taking in his strong jawline, lips tilted in a grin, his deep brown eyes.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?” His smoky voice with a slight Southern drawl always sent a thrill through her.
“The Egg Roll. To see if everything is going smoothly.”
Being at least six inches taller than her five-nine, he scanned the mass of people who tried to get closer to the Easter Egg Roll. “From what I see everything is fine. You’ve done a good job.”
“Thanks, but it isn’t over with until this evening. I won’t relax until then.”
As if she could relax with her cousin missing. Since Erin’s disappearance, Selena had constantly asked the Capitol K-9 Unit for updates about Erin’s whereabouts, but she’d pestered this man the most because he was assigned to the White House. What was the Capitol K-9 Unit doing to find her cousin? To find the real killer of Michael Jeffries, Erin’s boyfriend? There was no way she had murdered Michael. So far, Selena hadn’t been successful in proving Erin was innocent, but she was getting closer. She’d been spending her off-hours investigating the cases Michael had been working on as an attorney. Maybe one of them was the reason he was killed.
“I have a favor to ask you.” The dimples in his cheeks appeared.
And as usual she melted at the sight of them. He had the most engaging smile. “If I can help, I will.” She didn’t want to antagonize every member of the unit.
“I need a list of all the people attending today’s events.”
“All thirty thousand?”
“And the volunteers, too.”
“Oh, what’s an additional thousand or so. Security has that list.”
Now, on top of the dimples, his brown eyes sparkled, luring her to forget she was working. “I know, but I thought you might have it on your tablet. It’s important.” He tapped the device she held in her hands.
“Only the volunteers. The full list is in my office.” She glanced toward the West Wing and realized it was closer than Security. “I can pull it up on my computer for you.”
“Please.”
“I’d ask you why, but I’m sure you won’t tell me for security reasons.”
His grin grew.
Maybe if she did him a favor, he would return it and help her concerning Erin. “Let’s go. Everything seems to be going fine. If not, I’m sure I’ll be notified.”
Nicholas looked toward General Margaret Meyer. “I need to tell the general something. Go ahead and pull the list up. I’ll be right there.”
As Selena headed toward the West Wing, she glanced at Nicholas talking to General Meyer. The older woman frowned, clearly upset about whatever they were discussing. Did it have anything to do with Erin or the murder case? She knew her uncle, Erin’s father, was insisting the general’s team find the real killer.
Selena walked past the Rose Garden and entered the West Wing through the West Colonnade entrance. When she reached the door to her office, she slipped her hand into her jacket pocket for her keys. Nothing.
They were gone!
She just had them outside. She tried the knob, and it turned as though she’d never locked the door when she left hours ago. She always did. As she eased it open, it was wrenched from her grasp, and Miss Chick, in her yellow-feathered costume, latched onto her arm and dragged her into the office. Before she could react, Miss Chick smashed a vase against her skull. Selena fell backward, hitting the floor as Miss Chick fled.
She started to get up to alert Security, but the room spun before her. She sank back and closed her eyes. The darkness continued to swirl...
“Selena. Selena, are you okay?”
She pried her eyelids up and saw Nicholas’s face looming close to hers. Worry lined his handsome features. A pounding in her head quickly reminded her of what had occurred. She tried to rise.
Nicholas clasped her shoulders. “Stay still. I’ve called Security and the doctor. Someone hit you with a vase.” A latex glove on his hand, he held up a shard of a beautiful green-and-pink ceramic vase the president had given her when she’d first come to work as the White House tour director and his assistant.
“Do you remember what happened?”
“Did you see Miss Chick leave?”
Nicholas shook his head. The same costumed characters were hired every year for the event, and Nicholas had to be long used to seeing them all. “Does she have something to do with this?” He gestured to the mess in the office.
This time, despite the throbbing head, Selena propped herself up on her elbows and scanned the usually neat area. “She hit me with the vase and fled.” Had she lost any consciousness? “How long did you talk with the general?”
“About five minutes then I came straight here.” He spoke to Security through his invisible headset. “Miss Chick needs to be found and detained.” He quickly described her costume. “She attacked Selena Barrow in her office.”
Shortly, two security guards came into the room as well as Secret Service agent Dan Calvert. He took one look and said, “Fill me in.”
Selena sat all the way up, trying to ignore the light-headedness swarming her. “I came to get the visitor list for Nicholas. That’s when I discovered my keys were missing and the door was unlocked. The next thing I know, Miss Chick is grabbing me and yanking me inside then hitting me with a vase. She ran out after that. I don’t know anything else.”
“Your keys were stolen? Any idea when?” Nicholas asked, helping Selena to her feet and guiding her to a chair nearby.
She eased down, gripping the arms to steady herself. “I know exactly, but at the time I didn’t realize it. Miss Chick bumped into me outside a few minutes before you and I talked. I had my keys until then.”
Dan directed the security officers to stand guard outside the office. “What keys were taken?”
“To this office, my file cabinets, a storeroom around the corner and my house. I keep my car keys separate in my purse, which is locked in the top left drawer of my desk.”
“Was that drawer key taken, too?”
“Yes.”
Nicholas peered behind the desk. “Everything has been emptied.” Donning a second glove, he moved toward the purse on the floor and held it up. “Check to see if anything was taken. We’ll get to the bottom of this.”
She took the brown Coach bag Erin had given her for her birthday. All her life Selena had fought for everything she had, so it was nice to have a champion for a moment, especially with all the tension of her cousin Erin named a person of interest in her boyfriend’s murder and the shooting of Congressman Jeffries. That day, when they’d met to celebrate her birthday, her cousin had seemed so happy. Just a few weeks later, Michael was murdered...and Erin had disappeared.
Selena intended to help prove Erin couldn’t have done it. Erin cared for Michael and wouldn’t hurt anyone.
Then why did she disappear the night of the murder?
Selena refused to dwell on that nagging question and instead focused on what might be missing from her purse. She dumped the contents on her lap, her car keys falling out, and went through her wallet, then looked up. “No, everything is here.”
The doctor arrived with his black bag. He quickly