A Deadly Blessing

by Kathy Bennett

and smiled right back at him as if she didn't have a care in the world. "I'm fine Drejohn, thank you. And thank you for allowing me to stay overnight in your beautiful home. Unfortunately, I'm afraid I'm going to have to be leaving soon. My family will be worried."

  One of the girls on the couch snorted.

  "Shut up, bitch!" that, from the other male as he started to move toward the trio on the couch.

  Drejohn placed a restraining hand on the other man's arm. "Big M, let Vegas be."

  Turning his attention back to Tiffany, Drejohn's tone was sweet and smooth as chocolate syrup. "We'll get you home real soon. But I was hoping I could show you around. I'm real proud of what I've accomplished here at my place."

  Tiffany's heart pounded like a machine gun, and her throat was tight with fear. Don't let him know you think something's wrong. Don't let him know you're afraid. "Sounds great. I can't wait to see."

  Drejohn turned his attention to Ginger. "Has our guest had breakfast?"

  "Yes. I showed her where everything is. Can I fix you something, Drejohn? Big M?"

  Big M declined, but Drejohn told Ginger to make him an egg-white omelet. When she asked if he'd want toast and jelly, he shook his head.

  "No, I don't think so. I'll be having me something sweet a little later on."

  PILAR – 27

  With Penny's announcement that a girl named Brenda was with Tiffany when she left the party, Pilar watched the female LAPD detective leap to action. Rising quickly from the table, she'd gone to the girl. The hot-looking male detective followed. They pulled Penny to a hallway, away from the view of the dozens of law enforcement officers jammed in the dining room.

  Pilar, from her end of the table, was able to observe Maddie Divine direct rapid-fire questions at Penny. After a minute or so, the black detective used his cell phone to make a call. After hanging up, the two detectives led Penny back into the dining room and announced that Brenda Benton's parents had reported her missing an hour ago at the West L.A. station. The announcement caused a hushed energy among the investigating FBI and LAPD personnel.

  After clearing Preston's house of the FBI and the LAPD and their witnesses, Pilar took Preston's hand and led him upstairs to his bedroom. It was the one place where she knew they'd find quiet and could talk freely without being overheard by staff or servants.

  "Well, that's quite a turn of events isn't it? Now there's a third girl missing," she said.

  "I'm somewhat relieved," he replied. "If Tiffany and Brenda are together, it's less likely they've come to any harm. Safety in numbers and all that."

  With her back facing Preston as she re-clipped her thick hair, Pilar rolled her eyes. Was he kidding? While it was less likely that two girls would be abducted and murdered at the same time, it wasn't unheard of. Pilar could think of several such cases in the three years she'd been the mayor. No sense in bursting his rose-colored bubble though.

  "Did you have any idea Tiffany was planning to attend a party?" she asked.

  Preston frowned. "No, I can't believe she lied to me. Tiffany told me she was going to spend the night at Penny's; the girl who told us about the party."

  Satisfied her hair was in place, Pilar turned toward him. "You are so naive, Preston. Your daughter is sixteen years old. She's discovering her womanly charms and wants to see how far a boy will go to get into her pants."

  "Pilar! She's hardly more than a little girl. You've got a dirty mind." Preston sank into one of two royal blue wing-backed chairs. "Do you think the LAPD will track down where the party was and who was there?" he asked.

  "If anyone can do it, they can."

  "I'm going to give your cops twenty-four hours to come up with something substantial. If they don't, I'll be calling the President asking him to direct the FBI to take over Tiffany's case as well as the Heather McCall case."

  "Why would you want the FBI to look into the McCall case?" Pilar hated the bitchy tone in her voice, but she couldn't help it. She didn't like the other woman being so prominent in Preston's thoughts. It was bad enough she had to share her lover with his daughter. Maybe with this stunt, Preston would wake up and ship Tiffany off to boarding school or something when she got home.

  "Absolutely they should look for Heather too!" He paused. "Tiffany needs her bone marrow."

  Pilar inwardly smiled with relief. Always the pragmatist, Preston had no emotional concern about where Heather McCall was; he just wanted her body parts. It wasn't that Pilar loved Preston. His attraction lay with the power he held to get her to the White House, initially as First Lady and, after that, who knew? It was an added bonus he was an excellent lover.

  "I know you're worried and stressed," she said, dropping her voice to a husky whisper, "but I've got just the trick to take your mind off your troubles." She leaned into him and rubbed her hands over his chest, slipping them inside his suit jacket. "Why don't you take this off?"

  He closed his eyes as her fingers rubbed back and forth across his shirt and hardening nipples. "Ah...I really need to get back downstairs and help find Tiffany."

  She dropped her hand to his crotch and rubbed it around his stiffening cock.

  "Ohhhh...Pilar, this is so wrong. My girl..."

  "Ssh," she whispered, sinking to her knees. "I'm going to help you relax." She unzipped his pants and exposed his erect penis from inside his boxer shorts. She took her tongue and circled around the head of his shaft.

  He made a hissing sound as he drew air through his mouth. "Ahhhh...yeah baby, yeah."

  Pilar continued doing what she knew she did best.

  Men were so easy.

  TRAVIS – 28

  Pulling into the driveway, Travis hit the button on his truck's visor to automatically open the garage door. He knew Maddie would be at work, but still, he hoped to see her sea-foam green sportster parked on her side of the garage. There was a part of him wanting his wife to be at home so they'd have all day to figure out how they were going to make their marriage right. On the other hand, on the drive home he'd formulated a plan to make everything perfect so when she did come home they could talk. He'd abandoned his efforts to call Maddie. She'd be surprised to see his truck in the garage when she got home.

  After parking his truck, he grabbed his duffle and headed inside. Out of habit, after he'd made entry, he turned off the alarm and locked the two deadbolts on the door. Still moving on muscle memory, he set his bag down and moved quickly through the house, checking that doors and windows were secure and locked.

  He noticed Maddie hadn't made the bed, and the stuff she'd tossed in the black plastic trash bags during their fight the night before was still on the bedroom floor. Makeup strewn haphazardly across the counter top next to her sink in the bathroom indicated she'd been running late and left the house in a hurry. There was nothing else out of the ordinary to cause him to worry.

  He needed to call work and check in. How humiliating. He knew everyone in S.W.A.T. would know he'd been assigned to home. They might not know the exact reason why, but they'd figure it was related to his mental state. What they didn't know, they'd have no problem making up. Explanations would get more outrageous each time a story was told. If his co-workers had been worried about working with him before, some of them might downright refuse when he returned. The whole thing was screwed up.

  Travis called into work using the "inside" line, a number not given to the public. He was relieved when the Day Watch lieutenant answered and didn't make a big deal out of the fact Travis was calling to check in.

  "Take care of yourself, Buddy. Give us a call if you need anything or there's something we can do."

  "Roger that, lieutenant."

  With that task out of the way, Travis set out to get the house in order. He wanted everything to be perfect when Maddie came home. Every time he re-lived their argument from the night before, he cursed himself. He'd been so unfair to his wife. For the past couple of years they'd both hung by a thread; each of them so wounded they'd barely interacted with each other, muc
h less had a relationship.

  But even with things so bad, Travis knew deep down in his heart they loved each other, and if they could only get set on the right path, he and Maddie would, once again, find happiness. At least that's what he kept telling himself.

  PRESTON – 29

  After Preston made arrangements for one of his staff to drive Pilar back to her office, he met in the office of his Bel Air home with Bain. Sitting at Preston's kidney-shaped desk, they reviewed his revised itinerary.

  "Governor, I've cancelled all your commitments in Sacramento for the next two days. The FBI felt it was important for you to continue with your usual routine as much as possible, so the media wouldn't be alerted that anything was amiss."

  Preston snorted. "Yeah, right. Someone will leak the story, my guess is before this day is done." Still looking at his schedule, he frowned. "I don't see any time scheduled for me to meet with those CHP officers."

  Bain grimaced. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice. Chief Fryer has requested that you wait until Tiffany is found before you personally speak with the security detail. They worry that your, uh, influence might hinder any future prosecution of kidnap suspects if that becomes a factor."

  "I'm the girl's father, for Christ's sake!"

  "Exactly, sir. The LAPD wouldn't let parents in other missing person investigations interview witnesses in a case; therefore, they think it's best to not make an exception in this