Arliss said to Davis, “Agent Sullivan, when I met you last Tuesday night with Ambassador Black, I did not take you for a bully.”
No, you took me for something else entirely.
“Indeed, after Natalie explained why you accompanied her, she assured me you have her complete confidence to keep Perry safe. I understand you saved her life last night, is that correct?”
Davis nodded. “However, the assailant escaped.”
“I am grateful nonetheless,” Arliss said. “Will you tell me now how those events led you to turn around and confront my son in the fashion you did?”
A smooth and flawless segue, Sherlock thought.
“After the shooting last night, ma’am, interviewing your son was standard procedure. However, he became quite upset at the nature of the questions we needed to ask him—”
She rolled right over him. “You should have notified this office as a courtesy, Agent Sullivan. You should have made an appointment to see him to give him the opportunity for legal counsel. You did neither of these things. Instead, you arrived at my son’s office with no prior notification, simply barged in and accused him of trying to murder the woman he is currently viewing as his future wife. Both he and I have reason to be outraged at that behavior, Agent Sullivan.”
“Madame Secretary,” Savich said, “I sent Agents Sullivan and Hammersmith to interview Mr. Abbott. It is not our procedure to notify anyone of prospective interviews. Let me assure you, however, that if we need to speak to Mr. Abbott again, I will see to it we notify your office.
“As to what happened this morning, I think there are differences between what Mr. Abbott told you and what actually happened.”
“Oh? My son is now a liar?”
“No, ma’am. A difference in viewpoint, I’d say.”
“My viewpoint, Agent Savich, is that by not notifying my son of your planned visit, and Agent Davis’s tone being what it was, the interview smacked of an attempt to intimidate, even though viewing my son as a suspect in this tragedy is ridiculous. He has loved Perry his whole life; Natalie will verify that.”
Her eyes went to Davis. “My son believes you had personal motives for your questions, your tone, and your behavior, Agent Sullivan, the reason being that you have feelings for Perry Black, the woman you have been assigned by the Bureau to protect. He believes you are jealous of him, and thus your attacks and your obvious animosity. What do you have to say for yourself, Agent?”
Davis wanted to tell her that her precious son was a jackass, that he’d been the one to attack. But he knew he shouldn’t have retaliated, shouldn’t have provoked him. What made it worse was that Davis also knew Perry had no intention of marrying Day Abbott. Davis had been unprofessional. He’d been wrong, and it burned.
He said, “I’m sorry, ma’am. Your son is right, my behavior did border on the unseemly. There were words between us, words that shouldn’t have been spoken.” He drew a deep breath. “I promise you that will never happen again.”
“For the simple reason that you will never again interview my son, Agent Sullivan, unless there is a prior appointment, his lawyers are present, and you aren’t. Are we clear on that, Agent?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Savich said, “The Bureau will gladly stipulate to that, ma’am. Since none of us wish either Ambassador Black or her daughter to come to any harm, we must continue in a reasonable and logical way to pursue evidence.”
Arliss gave him a long look. The two lawyers took this as their cue to speak.
Mr. Bernard Franklyn said, “Since you’ve mentioned the matter of pursuing evidence, Agent Savich, it is our position that the DNA sample you took from our client, Mr. Dayton Abbott, was illegally obtained.” He turned to the young man behind him and gave a nod.
Sasha Powers gave them a blinding white smile. “The fact is, Agent Savich, that your department had no warrant for such an invasive request, and it appears that Mr. Abbott would never have agreed to provide the sample if he had not been coerced into doing so.” His dark eyes settled on Davis. “Agent Sullivan himself has agreed he behaved inappropriately while obtaining it.”
Savich said, “Mr. Abbott gave Agents Sullivan and Hammersmith a sample, after, admittedly, some discussion as to the reasons for the request. The DNA is already being analyzed and matched. What is important here is that because we have Mr. Abbott’s DNA, we will shortly be able to exonerate him from any suspicion. Given this positive outcome, I see no reason why there would be any legal issues in the future about how the DNA sample was obtained.”