Colby Velocity (7 page)

“Next time you look at me the way you did a minute ago,” she pushed away from the wall but
kept her gaze fixed on his, “do something about it or walk away.”

He watched her stride out of the elevator and across the marble lobby before he had the presence of mind to follow.

Do something about it?

He could do that.

The thought had him licking his lips.

No, he couldn't do that.

His attention lit on her once more as she waited at the main exit.

But he would.

Eventually.

It was feeling more and more inevitable.

10:40 a.m.

K
ENDRA LEANED FORWARD
as Rocky made the turn into the private drive of the Castille estate. A limo sat in front of the stately home, the uniformed driver fitting luggage into the trunk.

“Looks like we got here just in time.”

Kendra made an agreeable sound.

“No reason to expect the senator will show up?”

“According to Castille's secretary, he's in the office all morning. A lunch appointment at one, but otherwise he'll be in his office all day preparing some big presentation.”

“Then the missus is going away for…” Rocky grunted as he parked behind the limo and got a closer look at the stack of designer luggage in the truck “…for a week or two.”

Kendra chuckled. “Maybe for the weekend.” She reached for her door. “The lady likes to travel in style with every possible accessory. A senator's wife never knows what might come up.”

They rounded the hood and approached the driver together. “My name is Kendra Todd,” Kendra said when the driver had finished sizing her up with a critical eye. “I'm here to see Mrs. Castille.”

“Is Mrs. Castille expecting you?” a male voice behind her demanded.

Kendra's attention moved to the grand steps that fronted the house. Andrew…something, Mrs. Castille's personal assistant, descended a step or two as he waited for Kendra's response.

“Andrew, it's good to see you.” Kendra used the ruse to approach the steps. “This is my friend Leland Rockford.” She gestured to the man beside her. “I'm in town for a couple of days and I wanted to stop by and say hello to Mrs. Castille.”

“I'm afraid she's unavailable at the moment,” he said in a condescending tone.

Kendra claimed one step upward, defying his decree. “Why don't I leave my number? That way
if she has the time she can call me while I'm in town.”

Andrew pulled out his PalmPilot. “I'll pass along the message.”

“Eight-seven-two,” Kendra began.

“Andrew, is the car ready?” Mrs. Castille appeared at the door.

“Mrs. Castille.” Kendra jumped at the opening, moving up the steps despite Andrew's scathing glare. “I was just leaving my number with Andrew.”

“Kendra.” The senator's wife pasted on a smile. “Judd didn't tell me you were in town.”

Kendra accepted a quick cheek-to-cheek hug. “He's such a busy man. I'm sure he has far more on his mind than my itinerary.”

“Andrew, tell the driver I'll be a few minutes.” Sharon Castille motioned for Kendra to come inside. “Let's have a coffee.” She managed a more genuine smile for Rocky. “Who's your friend, dear?”

Kendra made the belated introductions as she and Rocky followed the senator's wife into her parlor. Andrew disappeared down the entry hall, probably to usher the kitchen help to prepare a tray. Or to call the senator and alert him to their presence.

“You're here on business?” Sharon asked when they'd settled amid her luxurious furnishings.

Kendra chose a fairly direct approach. “I'm here
to support Yoni's family. I was devastated to hear of his death.”

Hesitation. Blink. “Yes…it's just awful. The senator says he'll be greatly missed.”

“I know he was a good friend to you both,” Kendra suggested.

Two blinks this time. Blank expression. “I'm sorry to say I didn't know him that well. I saw him a few times at social events and occasionally at Judd's office. Still, it's tragic. Just tragic.”

By the time she'd finished speaking her voice had reached that sympathetic tone she'd clearly been striving for. Too bad she'd had to work so hard to accomplish her goal.

“You saw the press conference this morning?” Another couple of rapid blinks.

“Yes.” Kendra worked equally hard to restrain her anger. What was the woman hiding? Yoni was dead! Was there no one close to him who cared to see that justice was served?

“Tragic,” Sharon repeated. “Just tragic.”

Kendra went for broke. “Yoni mentioned to me that the two of you spoke occasionally. By phone, I believe he said.”

Despite the store-bought blush applied so meticulously to her cheeks, the color drained from Sharon's face. “Really? I can't recall speaking to him by phone?” She pressed a finger to her lips,
then said, “Perhaps there was that once…when Judd was out of town.” She shook her head. “I'm not sure actually.”

“I could be mistaken,” Kendra offered, then frowned as if trying to recall the conversation. “Maybe it was someone else.” She shook her head. “It was last month. I may have the whole thing confused.” She feigned a laugh at her confusion. “He kept talking about some automobile accident. Doesn't matter anyway. So,” Kendra stared into the woman's startled gaze, “how have you been?”

The conversation turned short and crisp from there. The coffee tray never arrived. Within ten minutes of their arrival Sharon appeared to suddenly remember that she was on her way to her sister's house in Alexandria. She really had to go. The driver was waiting after all.

Rocky guided the rental car around the circle driveway and back onto the street. “I think that's the first time I've been in a room with two other people and not said a word.”

Kendra laughed, mostly because she was frustrated and disappointed and needed a break in the tension. “I assumed you were too busy analyzing the target to speak.”

“It didn't require that much effort.”

Kendra made another sound that couldn't quite be labeled a laugh. Rocky was definitely right about
that. Sharon Castille had lied through her perfect white teeth. She was probably on the phone to the senator right now.

How was it that the people closest to Yoni could care so little for his life that they would cover up the truth about his death?

There was only one reason.

To cover up their own guilt.

“You up to a little street walking?” Rocky asked, dragging her from the painful thoughts.

Kendra turned in her seat to study his profile. “I was just thinking that should be our next move.”

“Great minds and all that jazz.” He shot her a smile.

She liked his smile. Liked spending time with him. She'd been alone for so long. It hadn't bothered her until now. Funny. “So,” she redirected her thoughts to their next step, “that gives us a few hours.”

The ladies of the night preferred the dark. “I'd like to do some research on the Transparency Bill Yoni talked about. Find out who supports it, who's against it. Maybe something will jump out at me.”

“Where to?” he asked.

“The library.”

“Just tell me the way.”

“Take the same route back to D.C. proper that we came.” That he kept checking the rearview mirror
as she talked tripped an internal alarm. “Something wrong?”

“Nothing I can't handle.” He made an abrupt right.

Kendra braced, keeping an eye on the side mirror for their tail.

Rocky had no more straightened out from the turn than a silver sedan skidded into the same turn.

“I hope you know this area well.” Rocky stomped the accelerator.

“Fairly well.” She kept her focus on the street signs. Hoped her memory didn't fail her.

“Take the next left.” That would take them back to the Beltway where they could more easily get lost in the traffic.

Rocky barreled into the turn, skidding wide. Kendra held her breath. Horns blared as they crossed traffic out of turn.

They hit the Beltway, pushing well beyond the posted speed limit. A few abrupt lane changes and a last-minute exit and the silver sedan was no longer in the rearview mirror.

Rocky doubled back one exit and reentered the Beltway. He laid back with the slower traffic in the right lane.

“Good job.” Kendra exhaled some of her tension.

“For now.” Rocky sent her a pointed look.
“Whether it was your visit with Burton or Mrs. Castille, someone's marked you for surveillance.”

Which had to mean they were getting warmer.

L Street, 9:05 p.m.

Rocky wrapped his arm around Kendra's shoulders. The move startled her at first but then she recognized that it was designed to ensure they didn't stand out. She relaxed. Most of the couples were holding hands or wrapped in each other's arms as they cruised the popular street.

If anyone had tailed them to or from the library they were very good at covert surveillance. Neither Rocky nor Kendra had picked up on a tail.

Levi Stark had completed decrypting the files and sent all to Rocky's laptop. Most of the information was related to the various bills Yoni had been working prior to his death. But one had proven unsettling. It read like a transcription of a meeting or telephone conversation with only one side of the conversation recorded. According to the transcript, Senator Castille had exchanged heated words with
an unknown party related to his refusal to pay a fee in exchange for silence on a subject that was never mentioned.

Possibly the conversation was connected to the blackmail threat Yoni had spoken of. But no particular bill, or subject for that matter, was mentioned. No names were revealed. Which made no sense at all. Why had someone bothered to steal the hard drive from her hotel room if it contained nothing of significance?

Kendra could only assume that, like her, the thief had assumed something important would be in the files. That not being the case, she had no answers and nothing concrete on which to move forward.

Yet, Kendra had to presume that the information carried some sort of hidden significance that, apparently, only Yoni understood.

The most disturbing aspect was that she and Rocky had been on location more than thirty hours and they knew nothing useful to the investigation.

While at the library Kendra had looked up the Ferguson accident in a number of the local papers. In each instance the vague mention was buried so deeply one had to be specifically looking for the article to locate it—if it was reported at all. The one detail she had discovered that changed her view of Ferguson's death in any manner was the name of the detective in charge of the investigation.

Wayne Burton.

Too much of a coincidence to actually be coincidental.

Music wafted from the L Street Lounge. Kendra wished her friend hadn't been murdered…that she hadn't had to come back here for
this.
She wished she were on a date having fun like other women her age. How long had it been since she'd gone out for a night on the town with a man just for the fun of it?

Too long.

Maybe she never really had. Her relationship with Wayne had felt more like a necessary accessory that everyone expected.

It hadn't felt natural or relaxed. She'd never been involved with a man who made her feel those things.

She glanced up at the man holding her close to his side. A man like this one. Handsome. Compassionate. Considerate.

He looked down at her. Made a questioning face. “I should've shaved this morning. If we run into any of your fancy friends they might mistake me for someone you picked up on this street.”

Kendra laughed, the sound came from deep in her belly. “You're right, you know.” She shook her head, watched the couples drifting into the lounge.

Without warning Rocky stopped moving forward,
held Kendra even tighter. “Hang on.” He ushered her to a lamppost where he basically wrapped the rest of his big body around her.

“What's up?” She wanted to lean her head to one side and look past him to see whatever he'd noticed, but that wouldn't be smart.

“Hear that?”

She listened, heard a gruff male voice.
You show up here again and I'm calling the cops.

“Watch to the right,” Rocky murmured.

Three young women strutted down the sidewalk away from the lounge directly behind Rocky's back.

The man, a bouncer evidently, had ordered the women out of the lounge.

Rocky pulled Kendra away from the lamppost, his long fingers curled around hers, and started after the women.

Kendra hadn't recognized any of the three but she understood what Rocky saw…ladies of the night. Super short miniskirts. Sky high heels and tight, revealing blouses.

“Stay close,” he warned before releasing Kendra's hand.

Before Kendra could question his strategy, he'd hustled up behind the ladies. The women stopped walking and started flirting.

Kendra took a position at the next lamppost. She
didn't want to get too close. The ladies might not be as forthcoming with her.

One wrapped her arm around Rocky's and tip toed to whisper something in his ear. He smiled.

Kendra's throat tightened.

Ridiculous.

Rocky was doing his job. When he pulled out his cell phone and showed the screen to each of the three, Kendra knew he was asking if they had known Aleesha Ferguson. He'd downloaded a photo of her from the data they'd gotten from the agency.

The move didn't go over well with one of the girls. She backed away from the huddle. When she whirled around, her bottled blond hair flew around her shoulders. Long skinny legs thrust one in front of the other as she stormed away from the huddle.

As she stamped past Kendra's position, Kendra made a snap decision and followed her.

Stay close
rang in her ears, but Kendra ignored the warning. This woman's reaction to seeing what Kendra presumed was Ferguson's photo spoke volumes.

This direction might take them to a dead end as far a Yoni's murder investigation, but it was the only lead they had at the moment.

Kendra quickened her pace to catch up with the long strides of the other woman. When she'd moved
up next to her, Kendra made another snap decision. “I've got fifty bucks. Do you have a minute?”

The woman stopped and gave her a cold once-over. “Make it a hundred and I might be able to help you.”

Kendra didn't have that much cash handy. “Just three questions, okay?”

The woman's hard gaze narrowed. “What kind of questions?”

Kendra reached into her purse, careful not to take her eyes off the woman. “Does it matter?”

She stared at the cash in Kendra's hand. “Guess not. I get all kinds,” she muttered. She jerked her head toward the next building. “This way.”

Glancing back to see if Rocky was still talking to the other two would only make the woman suspicious. So Kendra followed her to a narrow alley between the next two buildings.

“This'll be fine,” Kendra said two steps into the dark alley. She wanted any information she could get, but she wasn't a fool. The weight of the weapon in her purse pulled heavily at her shoulder, but she had no desire to be forced to use it.

The woman leaned against the building and reached into her tiny shoulder bag.

Kendra's hand slid back inside her own as new tension rippled through her even as she recognized
that it would be difficult to conceal a weapon in a bag that small.

The woman pulled out a cigarette and lighter, lit the cigarette and after a long drag, demanded, “So ask your questions.”

Kendra maintained her position square in the middle of the narrow alley. If the woman bolted it would have to be into the darkness away from the street. “I'm looking for the truth.”

She laughed. “Afraid you're looking in the wrong place, lady. We don't sell the truth on this street.”

“My friend showed you a photo of my sister,” Kendra lied. “I want to know what happened to her.”

The girl threw down her half-smoked cigarette and pushed away from the wall. “I don't need your money that bad.”

“Wait.” Kendra moved to the left, blocking the path she'd intended to take. “Please, help me.”

The woman's glare burned through the darkness. “I can't help you.”

“Three questions,” Kendra reminded. She offered the money to her. “Just three.”

She stared at the money. “Okay.” Her gaze met Kendra's once more. “But I'm not making any promises that I'll answer all of them.”

Kendra nodded. “Fair enough.” Big breath. “First, and this one doesn't count, what's your name?”

One second, two, then three passed before she caved. “Delilah.”

“Nice to meet you, Delilah.” Kendra offered her hand. “I'm Kendra.”

Delilah reluctantly accepted the handshake.

“First question, were there any witnesses to the accident?”

“What accident?”

Kendra dredged up some additional patience. “You know what accident I mean.”

“Yep.” Delilah lit another cigarette. Coughed. “But what you read in the papers or whatever the cops told you was wrong.”

Kendra waited for her to continue. She wasn't going to waste question number two if she could help it.

“It was no accident.” She looked past Kendra then met her eyes once more. “He hit her on purpose.”

“He?” Damn it. The question was out of Kendra's mouth before she could stop it. But he? According to Roper it had been Mrs. Castille.

“Yeah. A guy. Dark hair. Young. I didn't see him up close so that's all I know. But I won't forget that big fancy white car he was driving.”

Delilah witnessed the accident? Kendra's heart hammered in her chest. She only had one question left for the fifty bucks. Think! “This man had some beef with Aleesha?”

Delilah shook her head. Took another draw from her cigarette. “I don't think so. I guess he could have been one of Aleesha's friends, but it was the car that I recognized.”

Kendra held her breath. Prayed she would keep going. Any information she could provide might kick-start this investigation.

“That old bitch had been stalking Aleesha for weeks.” Delilah threw down her smoke and stuck out her hand. “Give me the money.”

Was she referring to Sharon Castille? Kendra needed to know who Delilah was. Was Delilah a professional name? Did she live in the area? Finding her again was essential. “I might have more.” She dug around in her purse. Pulled out her sunglasses and thrust them at Delilah. “Hold that for me, will you?”

Delilah huffed with impatience, but she wrapped her fingers around the sunglasses.

Three, five…Kendra had five more dollars. She added that to the fifty along with one of her business cards and offered it at the woman. “Will that get me one more answer?”

Her face puckered with annoyance, Delilah shoved the sunglasses back at her. Kendra accepted them by grabbing the very end with her thumb and forefinger.

“Depends on the question.” Delilah stuffed the
money into her tiny shoulder bag without counting it or noticing the business card. “Make it fast. I got stuff to do.”

“Do you know the woman's name? The one who was stalking Aleesha?”

Delilah held Kendra's gaze, clearly wrestling with the decision to answer. “Castille. Sharon Castille. That senator's wife.”

Kendra kept the shock off her face. She wanted to ask so many other questions…wanted to know more—needed to know more. More than anything she didn't want to let this woman go but she was out of cash and pushing the limitations of her patience already.

Hesitating as she stepped around the barrier still in her path, Delilah searched Kendra's face. “Aleesha didn't have no sister.”

“You're right,” Kendra admitted. “I wasn't completely honest with you but that doesn't mean I don't want to right this wrong.”

“She's dead. You can't right that.”

“Wait!” Kendra needed to know her last name. “Delilah what? What's your last name?”

The woman kept walking. Didn't look back.

Kendra wandered back onto the sidewalk. Even if Mrs. Castille was responsible somehow for Aleesha's murder, what did that have to do with Yoni's. Yoni had dark hair and was young but
he couldn't—wouldn't—have done such a thing. Kendra absolutely refused to believe that about him. Covering up a murder was absolutely not possible.

A big body bumped into Kendra, turned her around and ushered her in the opposite direction. “Keep moving.”

Even if his voice hadn't given him away before Kendra's distraction cleared, his scent would have. Rocky. “Did you learn anything?” She wanted to tell him her news but she wanted to hear his first.

“We have two tails,” he said without looking at her or slowing his rushed pace.

Kendra had to focus to keep up with his long strides. “They spotted you on the corner?” She was relatively certain no one had tailed her to the alley.

“Yes, ma'am. But, as I approached your position I noticed a guy hanging around who may or may not have been part of the tag team.”

Damn.

“We parked in the other direction.” Getting to the car seemed like the best strategy right now.

“That's a fact,” Rocky agreed as he guided her between two clusters of pedestrians. “But we don't want to lead them to our means of escape if we can help it.”

Rocky executed a right face and hustled her into a cafe. He bypassed the hostess and weaved through
the tables until they reached the corridor where the restrooms were located.

“Kitchen.” He pointed to the door labeled Employees Only.

She recognized his strategy now. “Wait.” She dug in her heels. “I'll get a table.” He was already shaking his head before she finished explaining. “You go out the back, get the car and when you're in front of the cafe text me and I'll come out.”

“No way am I leaving you here.”

“They're not going to approach me in front of all these people.” She backed away from him. “Go.”

She didn't give him a chance to argue. She moved back through the dining room and hooked up with the hostess. A table situated in a straight line and only a few feet from the door served Kendra's purposes for a hasty exodus. She spotted two men loitering outside the window, one blatantly watching her.

“A waitress will be right with you,” the hostess promised.

Kendra thanked her and pretended to study the menu. The watcher's accomplice came inside and took a seat at the bar. Kendra calculated the distance between them, ten yards max.