Dangerous (The Complete Erotic Romance Novel) (67 page)

The police were keeping the media at the perimeter of the property, and she eyed them from the window before leaving Reid’s house. She put on a pair of sunglasses and carried her laptop bag, moving quickly to her car.

She prayed it didn’t choose this morning to refuse to start. This one prayer was answered and the Honda rumbled to life. She considered the crowd of reporters in her rear view mirror and decided to just ease through them as well as she could. If she made slow and steady progress, they should give way.

As they had the night before.

Kendra didn’t remind herself that she’d been in a police car then. She backed up the car, her heart skipping when it looked as if one photographer wouldn’t move. A policeman in mirrored sunglasses rapped him on the shoulder and then touched his elbow to encourage him to move. Kendra continued to back up steadily, her heart pounding.

The reporters did part but then surrounded her car, the many flashes from their cameras making her glad she’d worn the sunglasses. She felt trapped and cornered, not a good feeling, and fought her instinctive urge to floor the accelerator to escape. They were shouting questions at her and she did her best to ignore them.

“How’s it feel to sleep with a murderer?” one shouted at the windshield.

They’d condemned Reid without a hearing.

Kendra honked the horn, then put the car into first. She hit the gas a little harder than strictly necessary and the reporters darted out of the path. She glanced in the rear view to find them taking more pictures of her departure. Some made calls on their cell phones and others got into their own cars.

Kendra hoped there weren’t more of them at the plant, but she knew better than to expect as much. To her relief, there were security guards already at Esperanza. They had condoned off the parking lot and were checking identification before letting anyone in. The front door was similarly guarded, although Kendra couldn’t imagine they’d have any kind of a normal day.

The phone was ringing when she got to her desk and she answered it.

“Kendra Jones?”

“Why?”

“This is the Daily News. We’d like an exclusive interview with Kendra Jones and we’re prepared to pay—”

Kendra slammed down the phone and turned to hang up her coat. Ginger and Marianne weren’t in yet, or maybe they’d been smart and decided to stay home.

“I’ll guess the killer won’t be in the office today,” Ethan said from behind her.

Kendra spun to face him. He looked sulky, like a kid caught stealing at the corner store, and he had a helluva shiner. “Nice souvenir from Mr. Stirling,” she said, wanting to rub it in a bit.

Ethan grimaced then winced. The expression must have hurt.

Kendra was glad.

“Looks like you would have gotten worse than a black eye,” he said, eying her. “Lucky for you the police locked him up.”

“He’ll be out on bail.”

“Then you’ll end up just like his wife.” Ethan shook his head, then tossed a piece of paper on her desk. “Here’s my resignation, just like he said. You can have it since he’s not here.”

Kendra opened the letter and read it. “Where is that other job?”

“Damned if I know. I’ll take the rest of my pay now, thanks.”

“Marianne’s not here yet.”

“I’ll wait.” He threw himself into a chair, watching her with disapproval. Kendra did her best to ignore him. She had roughly a hundred new emails, many of which were from their newer clients, so she set to work answering them.

“Is it the money?” Ethan demanded quietly.

“What?” Kendra glanced up despite himself.

“What’s he got that I don’t have?”

“It’s not the money.”

“Then what?”

Kendra considered Ethan. He was still good-looking, even with the bruise on his face. There was an intensity lacking in him that she admired in Reid, a focus that made it possible for him to excite her with a glance. It was more than that, though. Reid exuded a sense of restrained power, of passion curbed and contained on purpose. She’d had no doubt when he let loose, it would be explosive. Maybe that was part of what had drawn her to him.

But it was his mix of tenderness and toughness that had made her love him.

“He’s a man,” she said simply, smiled a little then went back to work. She felt Ethan watching her, his eyes slightly narrowed, then Marianne finally came in.

“It’s crazy out there! Did you see the reporters? They’re like vultures.” She threw down her coat on her chair and considered Ethan as she unzipped her winter boots. “You lose your way to the shipping dock?” Then she evidently saw his shiner because she grinned. “Or maybe you lost something else this weekend.”

“I just quit. I want the rest of my pay now.”

“Your final check will be ready in two weeks, just like usual...”

“Mr. Stirling said we should square up with Ethan now,” Kendra interrupted.

Marianne looked at her, then at Ethan’s shiner again. “You know that, even though he obviously won’t be in today?”

“He told me, before yesterday.”

“Which would be Saturday, the only day that is before Sunday but after Friday.” Marianne sat down at her desk and turned on her computer. “You and Mr. Stirling seeing each other on the weekends?”

Ethan snorted.

“He called me about it.”

“Perfect little assistant, always ready to take the man’s orders,” Marianne said with a shake of her head. Ethan smirked and Kendra felt herself blush, but she refused to look at either of them again.

“She’s in love with him, you know,” Marianne told Ethan, her tone arch.

“Fat lot of good that will do her,” he replied, took his check and left.

If Kendra never saw him again, it would be too soon.

Her phone rang again and this time, she didn’t answer it. Marianne swore and picked up the call at her desk, then shook the receiver at Kendra. “For you.”

The last thing Kendra wanted was to talk to another reporter, but she took the call. It was Reid’s lawyer. He had an announcement from Reid to read to the staff. “I can set up the call to broadcast through the plant. “It’ll take maybe fifteen minutes.”

He agreed to call back and Kendra had to dig out the manual for the telephone system. She couldn’t remember when they’d last used the system for an announcement. Ginger came in as she was working through the instructions and stood in front of her desk until Kendra looked up.

“What are you doing, Kendra Jones?”

“Programming the phone system,” Kendra said, glancing at Marianne who was listening avidly.

“Not that,” Ginger said. “Are you fucking the boss man, too?”

“What?” Marianne said with a hoot.

Kendra’s face was burning hot. She might have lied but Ginger shook a finger at her.

“You’re on the news, leaving his house this morning, where you clearly spent the night.”

“He’s in jail.”

“It probably wasn’t the first time you stayed there, was it?”

“I’ve got to get this done for the lawyer...”

“Uh huh. Keep your secrets.” Ginger shrugged. “As secret as they can be, with the press following you around.”

“You sly cat,” Marianne murmured. “More than one way to the top, isn’t there?”

“Well, she
is
the executive assistant.”

“Did you know he killed his wife before you did him?” Marianne asked.

“He didn’t kill his wife!”

“She didn’t know,” Ginger said with a shake of her head. “And she thinks it’ll be different for her.”

“I told you all along that she was in love with him,” Marianne agreed.

“Oh Kendra, Kendra, haven’t we taught you anything about what bastards men are?”

“They might execute him,” Marianne said.

“No, his fancy lawyers will get him off,” Ginger insisted. “But he’ll never come back here again.” She fired a knowing look at Kendra. “We’d better stock up on chocolate and wine. Ms. Jones is going to have a broken heart soon.”

“Thanks so much for your help,” Kendra said as the phone rang again. “Now maybe we could all get back to work?”

* * *

The lawyer read an official statement to the staff. It had clearly been written by Reid, because it was factual and clear, with very little reference to his own situation. He was detained. Kendra was in charge until further notice. Everyone would report to Kendra instead of Reid. Monies were being deposited in Esperanza’s account to ensure the payroll would be covered and they should all continue to work together for the recovery of the firm. The business plan they were following had been Kendra’s in the first place, so they should have complete confidence in her ability to see it to fruition.

The security guards would remain for as long as they were needed. It would be appreciated if the staff did not speak to the press, although they were certainly within their rights to do so. Mr. Stirling had every confidence Esperanza Enterprises would emerge from this challenge stronger and more profitable than ever.

There was a small cheer from the ladies in the back after this last detail, then the lawyer spoke to her for a moment, giving her contact information. To Kendra’s surprise, people did settle down to work with new enthusiasm. Ginger watched the news on her computer, checking it more frequently than would have been ideal, but otherwise work proceeded. Jimmy had done the updates to the website design and they talked about the launch date. Several of the buyers called, maybe wanting to dish about Reid, but ended up placing orders instead.

Kendra worked steadily, telling herself she could get through this.

And justice would triumph in the end.

* * *

There were days when Moynihan couldn’t decide whether the worst problem confronting society was the criminals or the lawyers.

Then there were days like this particular Monday when he was dead sure of the answer. He caught one glimpse of the expensively-attired lawyer checking his Blackberry and wanted to snarl. That had to be Stirling’s lawyer. He had to have come to get his client out on bail. He was suave and confident, which was just salt in the wound.

No, what really burned was the bastard was right. He would have Stirling out on on bail by the end of the day, maybe even by lunch. No previous record, no problem posting bail, an apparently upstanding citizen who probably had a history of generous political contributions, Stirling would probably be released on his own recognizance.

It was enough to make Moynihan believe that justice was blind.

He marched into his office and set to work, knowing all the while some lawyer would be along at any minute to ruin his day.

But it wasn’t a lawyer who did that.

It was the superintendent of the apartment building where they’d found Stirling’s little nest.

She arrived with a young man, who was maybe twenty years old, and demanded to see Moynihan. The sound of her voice—and his name—at the desk made Moynihan look up. He nodded to the desk officer and invited her into his office, hoping she’d brought another damning bit of evidence. The junior officer who had taken an interest in the case stepped into the office behind her and remained near the door.

“This is my nephew, Anthony,” she said. “I brought him to show you the little security system he made for me.”

Moynihan and the other officer exchanged a look. It was clear neither of them knew what to make of this.

The young man opened his laptop and turned it on, then placed a camera beside it. “You see, Auntie lives alone and I think that’s dangerous.”

“Pshaw,” said his aunt but he ignored her.

“She won’t have a security system—”

“No one’s going to listen in on me!”

“Or let anyone else stay with her. And she won’t come to stay with us.”

“It’s my job to be there!”

The young man shook his head indulgently. “So, I got her this camera. You see, it’s on but it doesn’t look like it. I took it apart and blocked the light from the inside. She leaves it on a table in her apartment and it’s taking shots all the time.”

“Lots of memory,” the junior officer said.

“Well, it has the biggest memory card,” Anthony acknowledged. “And it sends me a message when the card is nearly full. I created a utility for it to pass the data to me over a Wi-Fi net then my computer wipes its memory so it can start again. Like it’s backing up to my hard drive.” He looked up at Moynihan, clearly proud of himself.

“And you’re telling me this why?”

The older woman leaned forward. “Because that man on the news, the one you arrested—”

“Reid Stirling,” Moynihan supplied.

“No,” she said with a shake of her head. “That man never rented an apartment from me, and Anthony can prove it.”

With a tap of his fingers, Anthony pulled up the photos his camera had taken of a man in the superintendent’s apartment.

“Email that to me and we’ll run it for an ID,” the other officer said while Moynihan stared at the image in silence.

The man called himself Reid Stirling. He’d been roughly the same height and build, and had the same coloring.