Since Taylor didn’t know Adrienne had her private number, Adrienne hoped that once Taylor saw she had a call from her, Taylor would pick up just to berate her. It would be worth it just to know Taylor was okay. Despite everything they had gone through, including the times Taylor would talk down to her, Adrienne cared for her boss, even if no one else in the office did.
Hello, Taylor, this is Adrienne. I know this is your private number and you are probably asking how I got it and knowing you, you are pissed off at me for having it, but all that doesn’t matter. Are you all right? I have been trying to reach you for hours and you haven’t responded. Please, when you get this message, call me. You should know that, if I don’t hear from you soon, I’m coming to your house. I still have your house key from when I watched your cat. Call me, Taylor. I’m worried about you!
After hanging up the phone, Adrienne felt uneasy and it wasn’t because she had told Taylor about having her private number. Something was seriously wrong; she could feel it. Adrienne knew that if Taylor didn’t call her after the message she left on her private number and if her search at her house came up empty, Taylor was really missing and she would have no other choice but to call the District police.
With a couple of hours still left in the workday, Adrienne started on her weekly report. It wasn’t due until the following week, but in light of all that was going on, working on the report would preoccupy her mind while she waited. It took her almost three hours to complete and before she knew it, it was 6:30 pm and she’d still had no word from Taylor. Or from Yeager for that matter. She had assumed that once she called her on her private number, Taylor would immediately call her back. Now the only thing left for Adrienne to do was go by Taylor’s home, something she dreaded.
When Adrienne arrived at Taylor’s row house, she was surprised to see her car in the driveway. This was unusual. Why would Taylor park in the driveway when she had a garage? To allay some of her fears, Adrienne tried to convince herself that maybe Taylor had gone out of town and simply forgotten to notify anyone. After all, she did say she was going to take a couple of days off.
Still, she sat out front of Taylor’s house for a long time, afraid to find out the truth. Then, as she began to leave her car, something inside warned her against seeking access to her boss’s home by herself. She decided to contact the police. Adrienne knew that once she told the police who the missing person was, they would be willing to go inside and do a well-being check.
“911. What is your emergency?”
“Hi, my name is Adrienne Tenney and I am the administrative assistant to Taylor DuBois, Councilman Guy Yeager’s chief of staff. I’m calling because Ms. DuBois seems to be missing. I tried to reach her several times, but I haven’t been able to. And today, Councilman Yeager told me he had not talked to her for two days.”
“So what is your emergency?” the dispatcher asked.
“I’m at Ms. DuBois’s home now,” Adrienne said, “and her car is in the driveway.”
“I don’t understand,” the dispatcher said. “What’s wrong with her car being in the driveway?”
“That’s my whole point,” Adrienne yelled. “She never parks her car in the driveway and she has not returned any of her calls. Can you send a patrol officer to her home? I have the key but I don’t want to go in by myself.”
“What is your location, ma’am?”
“1601 Colonial Court, North West,” Adrienne said.
“A patrol car is on its way.”
“Thank you,” Adrienne said, exhaling.
Soon a patrol officer pulled up behind her car.
“Are you the one who called requesting assistance, ma’am?” the officer asked while looking through her car using his flashlight.
“Yes,” Adrienne replied as she tried to avoid the light shining directly in her eyes. “My name is Adrienne Tenney and my boss lives here. She hasn’t returned any of my calls and her boss, Councilman Guy Yeager, hasn’t heard from her in two days. I have a key to her house but I didn’t want to go in without someone going with me. It’s very unusual for her not to respond and I’m worried that something is wrong. Plus, she parked her car in the driveway and she never does that.”
“Why not?”
“Why not what?”
“Why doesn’t she park in the driveway?” the officer asked.
“Because she has a garage she uses. It’s easier for her to access her house from the garage. Also, because she is Councilman Yeager’s top advisor, she doesn’t like to be accosted by her neighbors who at times, are in opposition to his position.”
“That makes sense,” the officer said. “Why don’t you let me have the key and you wait here. I’ll check everything out and let you know once I’m done.”
Adrienne waited patiently while the officer went inside. She was glad she had called and happy the officer had told her to stay in her car. Soon, however, Adrienne knew something was wrong. Several police cars came up quickly, surrounding her car, and officers were heading into Taylor’s house. Taylor’s house now looked like a crime scene.
The officer to whom she had given the key was now walking toward her and based on the look on his face, her worst fears had come true. They must have found Taylor.
“Ms. Tenney,” the officer said, “we have found a body in the home. Will you please come in with me now to identify whether the person we’ve found is the owner, Taylor DuBois?”
Adrienne was distraught. She had been expecting something, but not that the officer would return to tell her they’d found a body. She’d actually been expecting the officer to come back and say the house was empty and based on what they found, it looked as if her boss had taken a trip.
“Ms. Tenney, are you all right?” the officer asked. “Do you need some assistance?”
“No, I’m all right. I just can’t believe you found a body and it might be Taylor.”
Adrienne was familiar with the house’s layout, but found it odd that they were taking her to a place she had never seen before: the attic. Standing in the attic were two officers. One was taking pictures and the other was leaning over a body wrapped inside a rug. It didn’t take Adrienne long to identify her boss. Once she saw Taylor lying there covered in blood, she simply collapsed in the officer’s arms.
“Oh, my God! Oh, my God! That’s Taylor! That’s Taylor!” Adrienne began to weep uncontrollably forcing the officer to take her outside for some air.
Once outside, Adrienne could see that Taylor’s home had been turned into a media sideshow. Reporters were everywhere and she could hear them declaring that Taylor DuBois, top advisor to Councilman Guy Yeager, had been found dead in her home and it looked as if she had been executed. Lights, cameras and news trucks were everywhere and Taylor had become the target of their frenzy.
“Hello! Are you a friend of Ms. DuBois?” one reporter asked as he pushed a microphone in front of Adrienne.
Guy Yeager’s perfect day was turning into a nightmare. He had received a call to turn on the news and when he had, he couldn’t believe what he was seeing: Taylor DuBois was dead. How could this be? He had given instructions to the assignee to bury the body; why would the assignee betray him? Yeager had to think fast, but before he could formulate his strategy, someone was knocking on his door.
Both cautious and weary, Yeager headed to his front door. He could see from his picture window that it was the District police. Before rushing to see what they wanted — as if he didn’t already know — he took a closer look around his den to make sure there were no remnants from Taylor lingering around. After all, it hadn’t been his plan to kill her, but since he had, he now had to make sure he wouldn’t be blamed.
He was right in his assessment. Taylor may not have left any evidence behind, but he could tell she had been there. His den now looked vacant. His favorite chair no longer sat in front of the large picture window overlooking the park, and the space and the window both looked naked, as if to imply that a harm had occurred. And the rug that had once covered
the oak floor was no longer hiding the crackling noise that had lain dormant beneath it.
Yeager knew the absence of his favorite chair and his rug told a story. In fact, the room seemed to speak as if in a silent movie and if you were following the script carefully, you knew it screamed murder. Yeager understood that there was no longer anything he could do about that vacancy in his den. Standing outside his front door was his fate and once he opened the door, he would watch that fate come true before his eyes.
“Yes, yes. Who is it?” Yeager responded to the obnoxious knock at his door. “I’m coming.”
“It’s Commander Racine, Councilman. I have something very important to discuss with you.”
Yeager opened the door with what appeared to be a surprised look.
“What is it, Commander that would have you come to my home uninvited rather than call? You do have my number, don’t you?”
Commander Racine knew from Yeager’s disposition that he would first have to endure the wrath of a self-indulgent man before he would be able to tell him that his advisor had been found wrapped in a rug in her attic.
“So what is it, Commander?”
“Councilman, I hate to have to tell you this, but about an hour ago, we found Taylor DuBois dead in her home.”
“Oh, no!” Yeager pretended to be both shocked and devastated. “Why?”
Commander Racine thought the councilman’s behavior seemed contrived. “We don’t know yet.”
“Well, what do you know, Commander?” Yeager asked deliberately.
“At this point, all we know is what the evidence seems to suggest.”
“And what is that, Commander Racine?”
“It was obvious that whoever killed her, killed her somewhere else because there are no forensic signs that her death took place in her home. Are you all right, Councilman?” the commander asked, seeing Yeager slightly stumble before grabbing hold of a chair in the foyer.
“No, I’m not all right, Commander,” Yeager said. “You just told me that someone I work closely with and someone I cared about has been murdered. Would you be all right if it were you? So, what else do you know about Taylor’s death?”
“Well, sir, that’s why we’re here to see you.”
“To see me?” Yeager said, showing shock at the suggestion. “I thought you came here to tell me that Taylor was dead. Now you want me to tell you something about her death? Tell me, Commander, what could that possibly be?”
“Well, sir, her assistant, Adrienne Tenney, informed us that she was missing. Ms. Tenney also told us it was you who first alerted her that Ms. DuBois was missing.”
“I wouldn’t say that I thought she was missing,” Yeager said, calm now that he could tell where the conversation was heading.
“Well, what would you say, Councilman?”
“I would say that I gave instructions to Ms. Tenney to have Taylor call me.”
“And when was that?”
“Yesterday,” Yeager replied. “So today, when I called Ms. Tenney and asked if she gave Taylor the message, she said that she had. The next thing I know, you’re knocking on my door telling me Taylor is dead.”
Yeager was getting even more agitated, especially as Commander Racine walked around his living room. Just a few more steps and he would be able to look directly into the den and Yeager knew Racine would see what he didn’t want him to see: a room missing something and a large dust ring on the floor that was a clear indication as to what it was.
“Well, Councilman, do you know where Taylor was heading after she left the police station?”
“Left the police station?” he replied, shocked. “I thought you said she was dead. So, if she was dead, when did she leave the station?”
“Yesterday,” Racine replied. “She had an appointment with us to discuss the Lewis case.”
And there it was, Yeager thought. Commander Racine had given him his out. “So what are you saying, Commander? Are you suggesting that Taylor’s murder is connected to the death of Stan Lewis?”
“We’re not sure,” Racine replied. “But we have some questions that need to be answered.”
“Questions? What questions?”
“First, we would like to find out why Taylor took one hundred thousand dollars out of her account the day Lewis was killed. We also want to know why six thousand dollars is missing, especially consid-ering our investigation shows that she went from work to the bank and then to the lounge where she eventually met up with Mr. Lewis.”
Yeager was surprised to hear that the police already had pieced together that much information and had attempted to connect Taylor’s death to Stan Lewis. In retrospect, Yeager thought their theory sounded plausible, despite the fact that he knew the truth. And in reality, their truth was his truth. There was a connection between Taylor and Stan’s death. They both had known his secret and now they were both dead.
“I wish I could help you, Commander,” Yeager said. “But I am just as surprised as you are. I would never have thought Taylor had that much money at her disposal and I have no idea why she withdrew it from her account or why six thousand is missing. Hell, I didn’t even know she had a meeting with Stan Lewis or why she was meeting with him in the first place.”
“I see,” Commander Racine replied. “Well, that’s all we have at the moment. Also, I apologize again for coming to your home unannounced.”
“Apology accepted, Commander Racine. But under the circumstances, I understand why you felt the need to break your own protocol.”
Commander Racine maintained his composure. He had spent enough time around Yeager to know that he loved to put people on the defensive and Racine wasn’t biting. “Oh, yes, Councilman,” Commander Racine said, “one last thing. If you think of anything you think might help our investigation, please feel free to call me.”
“Yes, yes, of course, Commander,” Yeager said. “And please keep me posted on how the investigation is going. I want to know everything. Taylor was a good employee and she didn’t deserve to die the way she did.”
As Commander Racine pulled out of Yeager’s driveway, he couldn’t help but think about Yeager’s reaction to hearing that Taylor had been killed. Not once had he asked how she died. It was as if he knew exactly what had happened without being told. Yeager was hiding something and whatever it was, it was in his house.
It took Basil less than thirty minutes to find Teddy’s ad in the Washington Daily News, despite the fact that this time, Teddy had switched the script. This time, instead of finding the code in the classified sec-tion, he found it in the personals.
Dear Lover,
Take the noon train to Bethesda Sunday. Then to Beaver Park where I will be waiting for you. I’ll be in the city square ready to go. Look for the muscle at the end of the road.
After reading the ad several times, Basil was convinced it was from Teddy. He knew she was meeting Lance in Bethesda and since the personal made reference to the location, he was confident this was her message. The only piece that was confusing was the bit about the muscle at the end of the road. What did that mean? Could she be warning him?
As tired as he was, Eli couldn’t sleep. He was still thinking about the information the brother had shared with him. Surprisingly, it wasn’t the unsanctioned hit of Taylor DuBois that had aroused his interest; it was the Yeager-Cardosa-Jones connection that had provoked his curiosity. He assumed that since he had again been summoned by the Others, they wanted to discuss his assignment and Yeager’s activities. He also knew the Others expected something from him and without it, he too could become a basis for their concern.
Thus, as Eli prepared for his meeting with the Others, he knew he would have to be deliberate and methodical in his delivery, despite the fact that he had very little confirmed information to tell other than what had been shared with him about the unsanctioned hit and the possibility that there might be a connection among Yeager, Cardosa, and Blake Jones.
In addition to reporting on Yeager’s activities, Eli had an a
genda item of his own. He had grown tired of his captive and wanted to terminate, but to do so, he had to get permission to conduct a disposal mission. Without their permission, it would be viewed as an unsanctioned hit punishable by death.
Eli felt relatively sure the Others would accept the information about Yeager and offer up a solution based on what he provided. In fact, it wouldn’t surprise him if they made the decision right then to stifle him. However, what Eli didn’t know was whether the Others would agree with his analysis that they had no more use for their captive. He would argue that since the captivity had failed to yield any tangible results, their prisoner was no longer useful.
As Eli continued with his morning rituals, he was surprised by a call from Blake.
“Hey Eli,” Blake said excitedly. “Did you see the news about Taylor DuBois?” “No, I just got up. What are you talking about?”
“Turn on the news.” Shocked at what he was looking at, all Eli could do was sit down. This was not supposed to happen, he thought. He was assured that her body would not be found.
“Unbelievable,” Eli uttered. “Have they said what happened to her?”
“No, they’re keeping things close to their chest. Hey, if you hear anything call me. It would be interesting to know how Yeager is taking the news.”
“Okay, will do.”
“Oh yeah, before I forget, I’m not working out today. Is that cool with you?” Blake asked.
“Yeah. That’s cool with me.”
Basil made it to DC with just enough time to turn in his car at the airport and catch a cab from Reagan National to Union Station. His train was scheduled to leave for Bethesda and Beaver Park at 10:45 am. He couldn’t wait to see Teddy. He now had enough evidence to prove that parts of her theory were plausible, especially that Lance was the key. Basil was sure that whoever had killed the other members of the FSA program would eventually come after Lance, too.
Once out of the cab, Basil hurried to find something to snack on before he had to board the train. Within minutes of finding his seat and eating his snack, Basil welcomed the opportunity to shut down and rest, even if it would only be for a short while.
Velvet Mafia Page 28