Ray answered his phone and found out the chief of staff had arrived. He asked for the chief to be placed in an interview room and slipped his sport coat on. Mason grabbed a freshly sharpened pencil and his notebook.

“What’s his name?” Mason asked as they moved down the hall.

“Her. Nissa Roberts.” He pronounced it Nee-sa.

In the interview room, a red-eyed young woman shook their hands. Mason didn’t think she looked old enough to drive, let alone run a congressman’s staff. Nissa Roberts was petite, with sleek blond hair that curved just under her chin.

They all sat and Nissa slid a file out of her laptop bag, removed a page, and handed it to Ray. “Here is Carson’s schedule from the last two days here in town. Before that we were in DC.” She flipped through a few more sheets of paper before passing them along. “This is his DC schedule from last week. It’s accurate,” she said simply. “And here’s a record of his recent votes on bills. I assume you’ll want to look through his mail? We separate out the threatening correspondence.” She wiped at her nose with a tissue and eyed the detectives expectantly. “What else do you need?”

Mason glanced at Ray, who seemed speechless. No wonder she’s in charge.

“We’re very sorry for your loss, ma’am,” Mason stated, wondering if she ever slowed down.

Nissa’s lips quivered. “Thank you,” she said sincerely. “It’s been a huge shock. Carson was like a big brother to me. I loved working for him.”

Mason leaned forward and rested his weight on his forearms on the conference table. “Let’s slow down for a minute. You’ve provided us with some great details that we need, but let’s just talk for a while.”

She leaned back in her chair and exhaled, covering her face with her hands.

“I’m afraid if I stop, I’ll crumble,” she whispered from behind her fingers. “This is how I function.”

Her nails were bitten to red stubs.

Is that recent? Or the chronic sign of a worry-aholic?

“You were the one who let the police and crime scene techs into his home, correct?” asked Ray.

“Yes. As soon as they called me. I have copies of all his keys.” She frowned. “They say he didn’t die on the bridge.”

Mason didn’t ask who “they” were. “That’s correct. We’re looking for the original murder scene.”

“In a way I’m glad to know he didn’t die like that. That would have been horrible.”

Mason didn’t disagree. Death by hanging could take a long time unless the neck instantly broke.

“The two of you live in DC, correct? But you have homes here, too?” Ray asked.

Nissa nodded. “I stay with my parents when we’re in town, and I rent a place in DC. Carson rents in DC, too, but owns a condo in Vancouver. He travels back and forth a lot. I come about a third of the time. It depends what’s going on in each city.”

Ray studied one of the sheets. “He’s busy every minute. Especially when he’s back there.”

“Yes, when he’s here, it’s usually a sixty-hour workweek. Back East, even longer.”

“But he made time for a movie two nights ago,” Mason added.

“He has to have a life at some point.” Nissa’s blue eyes grew cold, and Mason wondered how often she had to defend her boss.

“Of course he does. Do you know McKenna Drake very well?”

“Yes. I introduced them. She’s a sweet girl.” Her eyes thawed a bit.

“Are they romantically involved?” Mason asked.

“I’d say no. They’ll usually get together once or twice when he’s in town. But he dates other women, too. He keeps it all at a friendship level. There isn’t someone special in his life, detectives. He often moans that he doesn’t have time for a relationship besides his job.”

“Not an easy life.” Mason understood that all too well. He’d been divorced for a number of years. Ava was his first stable relationship since the divorce. So far it seemed to work because she was married to the federal government, and he was deeply involved with the state. They understood each other’s job duties. “What about hate mail? Harassing phone calls? I assume you keep records of that sort of thing?”

“Yes, definitely. The disturbing ones we forward to the Secret Service, but the rest we hang on to in case of a situation just like this one. I asked one of the guys back East to compile a file for you. I’ll forward it when I get it.”

“Is there anything you recall off the top of your head?” Ray asked. “When you heard he’d been murdered, where did your train of thought go as far as possible suspects?”

Nissa pressed her lips together and looked at the wall behind Mason. “My mind went in a million different directions. Most of them I immediately discarded as ridiculous.” She cracked the knuckles on her right hand, trying to collect her thoughts. “Every vote brings out the weirdos. Sometimes Carson felt like he couldn’t do anything right.” She looked Mason in the eye. “I often told him to vote as his constituency and his gut directed him and to ignore the haters. There will always be someone with a different opinion.”

“Sounds like it wasn’t the most pleasant job,” offered Mason.

“It was hard.” Nissa twisted her fingers. “No one knows this, but he wasn’t going to run again. He’s been up and down deciding if he wanted to continue, but this past year has simply been too stressful. He was giving it up,” she said softly. “It was too bad. He had so many good things he wanted to do, but the process and never-ending public scrutiny were destroying him inside.”