She moved to slap him but he caught her by the wrist.
“You can’t sleep your way out of this one, lady. This is not about some lousy government contract and screwing your way to the nice condo life on the water. Unless you cooperate with me you’re looking at being a clear accessory on a murder-kidnapping charge. In Virginia, where it took place, that’s a capital offense. And death by lethal injection may be painless but you still end up really dead.”
The tears started to flow now from Cassandra. “I had nothing to do with any of that, I swear to God.”
Sean pulled out a digital recorder and set it on the coffee table.
“Sit.”
She sat.
“Here’s the deal. Unless you tell me the absolute truth, and I know enough about it that if you try to screw with me even a little, this all gets turned over to the Feds ASAP, got it?”
She nodded, brushing tears from her eyes.
“Great.” Sean turned on the device and said, “On the day before his wife was killed, Tuck was here with you. He stayed at your condo, is that correct?”
She nodded.
“I need to hear you.”
“Yes, he was here.”
“He’d spent the night before, hadn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“And you two were having an affair?”
“Yes.”
“Did his wife know?”
“I don’t know. Tuck didn’t seem to think so.”
“Tuck hired you because of your former job at DHS. He thought that would give him an inside track on winning a big contract from Homeland Security, correct?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re now double-crossing him with Greg Dawson and Science Matters?”
Cassandra hesitated. Sean reached for the recorder. “Okay, have it your way.”
“Wait. Yes. I’m working with Greg Dawson behind Tuck’s back. He was having us followed. He found out about the affair. He came to me and offered a better deal. I took it.”
“Tuck Dutton was supposed to come back to Virginia on the day after his family was attacked. But he came back early. Do you know why?”
“We… we had a disagreement.”
“About what?”
“I… I think he suspected something was going on.”
“With Dawson and you?”
She looked surprised. “No. It was the opposite of that.”
Sean looked puzzled. “The opposite?”