Merit Badge Murder

by Leslie Langtry

  Riley shook his head. His fries were gone, and he was now eating mine. I pretended I didn't see that. "Ahmed's always had a thing for blondes. He went through a slew of European prostitutes over the years. Hell, I almost bleached your hair and sent you in there once."

  "What? You almost what?" I stared at him. Part of me thought, Well, you wished you'd been hot enough to be used for sex, but the other part of me wanted to strangle my former handler with a bar rag. A dirty, greasy one.

  "I didn't do it." Riley waved me off like this was no big deal. "I just said I thought about it." Like that was okay.

  "I told you," I growled through clenched teeth, "that I didn't do stuff like that. Don't you remember that I specifically told you the 'sex-for-secrets' thing was a total no-go?" I was pissed. I'd always thought of our working relationship as a partnership. I had no idea he thought he could dress me up and whore me out anytime he wanted.

  "I didn't do it, Merry." He rolled his eyes like he didn't know what the big deal was. "It's a non-issue."

  I glared at him for a few moments. Toyed with the thought of killing him with a straw right here. Straws make excellent weapons. You just need to put your thumb over one end and it'll go through an eyeball like nothing.

  "It's not a non-issue," I hissed.

  "Fine. Whatever," he said, throwing his hands up in the air. "We can argue about that later. The important thing is that Lana met with him, and may have had sex with him, on two occasions."

  "You thought you controlled me so thoroughly that you could just send me out to sleep with anyone." He reached out for one of my fries, and I yanked the basket out of reach.

  Riley sighed. "I didn't do it, Wrath. I thought of it for, like, about one second, but I didn't act on it."

  I folded my arms across my chest. "The fact you thought about it is bad enough."

  "Let's deal with this later. We need to focus on the task at hand."

  "Which is? That Herr X (German was definitely more sinister) is after Lana? You still haven't proved your point," I said with a hint of total hostility. I wasn't going to let him off the hook, but we needed go over whatever it was he thought he had.

  "Wait for it." He held up two fingers. "Number two—I found flight records showing Lana made six different trips to Medellín over the last two years."

  "That doesn't necessarily mean she met Carlos the Armadillo. Maybe she was on vacation." I said that, but to be honest, now I was starting to wonder. I mean, who goes to Medellín on vacation?

  Riley nodded. "Yes, but each time, she took the same taxi out to the country—to the same location as Carlos' third home. The place where he goes with his mistresses." He sat back in the booth and loosened his tie a little. "I had Espinoza, our South American guy, check into it. Lana always used the same cab driver from the same cab company. Always." What was with him repeating things to me? Did he think I was an idiot? I needed to talk to him about that.

  "Espinoza is good…" I murmured. He was used for everything down there. "But why would Lana be so stupid as to use the same cab and driver every time?" I felt a small nibble of doubt in my stomach. Until just recently I'd thought Lana stupid enough to do something like that.

  Riley ignored me. "And the third thing is that we found a connection between Lana and Midori."

  My head snapped up at that. "Lana told me that Midori was a real bitch. She didn't say anything more. I chalked it up to those rumors we'd heard about the Russian mob and the Yakuza."

  He nodded. "They had the closest connection of all. Lana was holed up with a highly-placed Russian official back in 2012, for about nine months. Midori was his aunt."

  My eyes grew wide. "What? Are you serious? Midori had family? I'd heard that she ate her young."

  "So you see—we have a bit of a problem here." Riley sat back, ignoring my jab. His basket was completely empty. He'd eaten all of it. I thought of warning him that he should get some antacid for tonight but changed my mind.

  "Lana!" I cried.

  "What is it?" Riley asked.

  "I left her at home. Alone!"

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Riley threw money on the table, and we ran out to his SUV and climbed in. His car was faster, and I had the keys to the house. I dialed the cell Riley had bought Lana before he'd dumped her at my place, but there was no answer.

  "If she's the target, I left her alone…practically gift-wrapped!" I shouted. How could I be so stupid? I dialed again. No answer.

  "We weren't gone that long," Riley said. "She's probably just in the shower or something." But he didn't sound like he believed that.

  It took six minutes to reach the house. We roared up into the driveway and ran to the front door. I fumbled with the keys until I got the right one. Then we burst into the house.

  "Lana!" I shouted as I ran back to the bedrooms. Riley went into the kitchen. We met in the hallway.

  "She's not here!" I said. Riley nodded. The house wasn't that big. If she was there, we'd have found her.

  "I'll search her room. You try her phone," I said over my shoulder as I took off down the hall.

  Her door was open. All of her stuff was still inside. There was no sign of a struggle. It looked like she'd just gone for a walk with every intention of coming back.

  I called Kelly. It was a slim chance, but maybe, for some inexplicable reason, Lana had gone off to visit with her new friend. Kelly answered and told me she was at work. Robert wouldn't be home either. It was a dead end.

  "Any luck?" Riley stuck his head in the room.

  "No. You?" There was a slight hint of panic in my voice.

  "Nothing."

  "This is all my fault." I looked around the room again. "I should never have left her alone. I should've brought her with me."

  Riley put his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye. "This is not your fault. And I didn't want you to bring her with you. I needed to bounce these ideas off of you before approaching Lana."

  "Yes, but you should've given me a hint, and I could've parked her at Kelly's or something." I wasn't really mad at Riley. I was mad at myself. And a little surprised. A few days ago I would've done anything to get rid of the Russian. Now I was worried about her and wanted her back. Did that make sense? Yes, because she's great with my Girl Scouts, and I kinda sorta enjoyed having her around a little bit. Believe it—no one's more surprised about this than me.

  "Who else did she meet here?" Riley asked. "Besides Kelly?"

  I felt a twinge as he said my best friend's name, but I ignored it. "Well, she helped with my Girl Scout troop today. The girls loved her. But I don't think we should put second-graders on the watch list."

  "Has she called anyone? Acted weird?" Riley asked.

  "I have no idea. She's in her room a lot. She takes really long showers and spends an hour on her hair afterwards. As for weird, I don't think so. Do you think maybe she thought of this too and fled? Would she do that?" I asked.

  Riley shook his head. "I don't think so. You don't seem to think any of her stuff is missing." His gaze swept the room, taking in clothes, the air mattress, cosmetics. "How did she go from a woman with nothing but a dress and stilettos to having so much stuff?"

  "I took her shopping." I said. "You'll be getting a bill." Everything seemed to be there—I didn't see anything missing.

  Where did she go? And how long had she been gone? I was really worried about her. Now that Riley thought she was the target of Overlord X (Yes! That's the one!), all I could think about was making sure she was alright. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to Lana.

  The front door slammed. Riley and I raced down the hall to find one giggly blonde with none other than my Detective. Lana had her arm looped over his, and Rex was clearly enjoying her company.

  Now I wanted her gone. All concern for her safety flew right out the window. She'd taken things too far.

  "Where have you been?" I asked, my voice probably showing more anger than I would've liked.

  Lana's eyes grew wide
as she saw the two of us. "Oh! Merry! Riley! I didn't know you were back! How is Grandmother?" Ah. The old grandmother routine. I'd played this game before.

  Riley didn't miss a beat, "She's fine. She asked about you."

  "We came back to get you. Riley thought seeing you would cheer her up." I tried very hard to keep the malice out of my voice. I failed miserably.

  "Sorry Ms. Wrath," Rex said. "Your cousin came over to borrow some sugar."

  I'll just bet she did.

  "I don't have any," Rex continued, "but she told me all about your family. I guess I didn't realize you were Russian on your mother's side." He looked at Lana. "Second generation, was it?"

  Lana nodded. "You are so smart to remember that!" Her flirtation was off the charts. Funny how not two hours ago she was saying to my face that Rex liked me. I guess you can't change a zebra's stripes. Lana was going to hit on any man unless you dangled cute little girls in front of her. I remembered that Kelly said she had been snuggling up to her husband.

  "Thanks for walking her back," I said tightly, "but we need to have a family discussion."

  "About Grandma's end-of-life plan," Riley said smoothly. What, Fake Grandma was dying now?

  He held out his hand, and Rex shook it. "Nice to see you again, Detective Ferguson."

  "No problem." He turned and opened the front door. "And thanks for the yearbook, Lana. I thought Ms. Wrath was going to bring it over, but it gave me the opportunity to meet you." He shut the door behind him and was gone. I waited for him to cross the street before yelling.

  "You gave him the yearbook???" I growled. "I was going to give him the yearbook!"

  Lana looked upset. "Did I not do the right thing?"

  Riley looked at her levelly, "Lana—you can't go off and talk to the police. They're investigating Merry. And now you've invented a whole family you'll have to brief us on."

  I thought about that. A family where I was related to Riley and Lana. Seemed kind of like a nightmare. Especially now that Lana was flirting with my "boyfriend."

  "I worked on that thing forever! It was my excuse to go over there!" I pouted.

  Riley turned to me with a strange look in his eyes. "Why did you want to go see the Detective?" Hmmmm…either he was worried I'd botch everything, or he was jealous that I liked him. I didn't know whether to be insulted or happy.

  "Doesn't really matter, now, does it? Especially now that Lana has her sights set on him."

  Lana looked at me in surprise. "But Merry! I…"

  Riley held his hand up. "Save it. You know, maybe that's not a bad idea…Lana could seduce Rex and keep an eye on his investigation. She could firm up the family thing which would defuse his quest to find out if Merry is local and maybe throw a few red herrings into the investigation."

  He really needed to quit saying red herring. I made a mental note to buy him a thesaurus and shove it down his throat. That was, after I killed Lana for going after my soon-to-be spouse.

  Lana shook her head. "Those days are over. I don't want to seduce anyone for secrets."

  I glared at her. So her interest in Rex wasn't professional. She just had the hots for him. Which was much worse. I was an idiot to think Lana and I could be friends. The minute I meet a guy, she moves in with her blonde hair and boobs.

  This was getting out of hand. "Lana has to go," I said.

  Both of them stared at me.

  "This isn't working out. And now she's messing with the local police. I think it's time for my 'cousin' to go back to Russia."

  I should've said I didn't like her going after Rex. I should've stepped on her neck and held her down until she explained herself. Hell, in the first place I should've refused to take her in. But I was too pissed off for a discussion that would basically turn into me screaming incoherently. She'd only make some excuse or lie to me anyway.

  Lana burst into tears and ran down the hall to her room, slamming the door behind her.

  Riley stepped closer to me. He was frowning. "Look, I know she complicated things just now, but Lana stays."

  I shook my head. "The Slutty Roommate goes. It's my house. And I don't work for you anymore."

  "You can't do that," Riley said. "You're being investigated by the CIA and the Feds. This local thing is just the tip of the iceberg. The media gave up, but the two government agencies won't. You're in it whether you like it or not, and you need my help. Lana stays."

  "You can't be serious," I said, arms folded across my chest to form a barrier between us. He was standing pretty close to me. "You can't tell me what to do."

  "What are you going to do? Go and confess to the cop? Confess to the world? It won't help you. You'll have to move, and you'll try to start over, but it'll be worse because you'll never feel safe. I'm trying to help you."

  Riley put his hands on my shoulders. He looked deep into my eyes. I wanted to believe him. I wanted to think he could just make this go away. And for some reason, I wanted to think he was jealous of Rex.

  Wait…did I just think that? Why would I care what Riley thought? I held his gaze. There was something else in his eyes…other than professional concern. Or was I just hoping to see that in there?

  He was handsome. He was smart. And he smelled wonderful. I felt the tug of his sex appeal drawing me toward him.

  "But…but…" I floundered, grasping for a counter-argument.

  Riley put his index finger on my lips. His voice softened. "But nothing. I just want to help you, Merry. Let me help you."

  And then he kissed me. On the lips. His mouth was completely on mine. I didn't think there'd be fireworks like that, but in my head I heard them explode over and over. The sensation was tingly and zapped me all the way to my core. Just as I was about to climb him like a tree, he pushed himself away.

  "Sorry." He ran a hand through his hair and looked a little shaken. "I don't know what came over me."

  I just stood there, blinking like an idiot.

  Riley cleared his voice and straightened his tie. He walked to the door and opened it. "Lana stays, Wrath. End of discussion." And out the door he went.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  I stood there for I don't know how long, staring at the doorway. Riley had kissed me. And I liked it. Really, really liked it. What the hell was going on? Hey! He walked out on me! I continued to stand, staring out the door, replaying things in my head. Riley Andrews of the CIA had kissed me. And I hadn't been kissed like that since…well, it's been a really long time. In fact, I don't think anyone had ever kissed me like that.

  That was a depressing thought. It snapped me out of my trance. I locked the door and turned out the lights.

  I got ready for bed, ignoring the sobbing Russian in the next room. A tiny, obnoxious voice inside said I should try to talk to her. Make her explain herself. But did I really want to hear it? No. She should think about what she'd done and stew over it a while. If I still felt like I needed answers—I'd ask them while she was packing her stuff in the morning.

  I shoved the thoughts of Lana's betrayal out of my mind and started thinking about the kiss. Riley's kiss. I couldn't fall asleep, wondering what it meant. Was Riley attracted to me? Or did he kiss me to shut me up and get his way? I couldn't tell. I'd worked with him for years and always assumed he was on the take where women were concerned.

  Had he ever had a serious relationship? I couldn't think of any. But then, I didn't know how he spent his personal time. I guess I always thought he went surfing and overused words like red herring. Of course, in his down time he'd have tons of lady friends. Even in the future I saw him as the guy in the nursing home who had a different girlfriend for each night of the week.

  There'd been soooooooo many women. It was impossible to count. In fact, I couldn't attach a name to any one of them. Thinking of Lana, I wondered if Riley had seduced those women purely to get intel. Is that why he did it? I'd written him off a long time ago as just a Casanova—a handsome guy who slept with women because he could. But was that accurate?

  And was
I just another woman falling for it? I hated to think that was true. I'd avoided using sex as a tradecraft tool, but maybe that was Riley's thing. Like Lana.

  I was seriously pissed at her, and a little hurt. She'd used whoring to get what she wanted her whole life. In fact, she lied for her living. It was possible she'd lied to Kelly and me about the orphanage thing. Now I was even angrier. She'd manipulated us completely, making us feel sorry for her! And we'd fallen for it. Kelly—forgiving her for sleazing up to her husband, and me for, well, everything. The fact that I'd believed her was the worst. I'd been a good spook. I saw through cover stories and lies. How had I missed this?

  Grumbling, I got up and started pacing the room. Great, now I couldn't sleep. I glared at the door. The sobbing had ended. Maybe the boyfriend-who-wasn't-really-my-boyfriend-yet stealer was asleep. She'd better sleep well because tomorrow, I was moving her ass out, and the CIA was getting a huge, obviously inflated bill from me.

  As soon as she was gone I'd figure out what to do. Hell, if Riley was right and she'd been the target all along, maybe the trail of dead terrorists would follow her, and everything could go right back to the way it was.

  I felt a small pang at the thought of Riley leaving. Of him going back to Langley. Maybe it was for the best. Falling for someone like Riley was out of the question. Rex was a much better bet. A nice guy. More stable. And he lived here.

  Rex. Why wasn't I angry with him for getting all gooey around Lana? It was clear he couldn't help himself—a knockout blonde fawning over him—who could resist that? Then I realized that's what Riley had done to me.

  No, Rex was a safe bet. And I was attracted to him. Why had Lana done it? Why did she take the yearbook over? She knew that I wanted to do that. Clearly she couldn't resist. I didn't need someone like that in my life. In my house.

  I had to shake off this investigation if I wanted Rex to think of me as something other than a suspect. But if Riley was right, and this was about Lana—her moving out of here would take care of that.