Conspiracy in the Capitol

by B Ivy Woods

  Flint asked for her order and gave her a small wave as he left the room. As she was smoothing the lotion across her body, she wondered if she was making a big mistake. The harassment started again once Flint entered the picture, and now the stakes seemed higher.

  She took her time getting ready because she caught herself thinking about the multiple ways that the conversation she needed to have with Flint could go.

  17

  Rae was settled into a comfortable spot on her couch, with food and wine, now she was ready to talk.

  “I want to scan through the camera footage to see if the guy I saw today popped up anywhere near my apartment over the last few days.”

  Flint nodded, his mouth still filled with food. After thinking about what to do for a second, she hopped off the couch and walked into her bedroom. A few seconds later, she came out with her laptop and placed it on the coffee table. She found the website where her camera uploaded the footage.

  “Now this is just a gut feeling, but something triggered whoever this was to step up their game. I’m assuming it was you spending the night here. I want to look through the footage the camera gathered a few days before that night and see if anyone was watching my house.”

  Flint nodded. His phone vibrated and he checked the message before setting his phone on the table.

  She could hear a pin drop in the room as the two scanned the footage from Rae’s camera. When they reached the day that Flint spent the night, Rae paid extra attention to what was directly in the camera’s viewpoint and what might have taken place on the outskirts of the camera in the surrounding area.

  “Pause it right there.”

  Rae stopped the video and waited to see what Flint would say.

  “You can’t see it clearly, but someone has been sitting in that car for at least the last hour according to the timestamp.”

  Rae replayed the clips he mentioned, and although they couldn’t confirm that person had stayed in the car the entire time, the last several clips showed someone sitting in what looked to be a black sedan.

  “It looks like it could be a man, but I don’t want to make that assumption. Too bad we can’t get a look at their face.”

  “True, but we might get an idea of how long the person sat inside their car across the street from your house.”

  And the two continued to watch. The person was still there after Flint had arrived. The couple wasn’t able to determine when the person left because nothing triggered the camera to come on after 10:00 p.m. By the time morning broke, the car was gone.

  “Well, that’s a dead end.”

  “Kind of, I am almost willing to bet that person is the same man you saw on your way home today. I have a bit of update myself.”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised either.” She turned to look at Flint. “What’s up?”

  “I had Kane check to see if my phone had been hacked. To see if that’s how someone might have been getting information about us.”

  “What happened? Why did you ask Kane?”

  “Kane has done some work with hacking and is very tech savvy. In his opinion, my phone was clean. So we should have your phone checked out if you want. We can do this weekend.”

  “What do you mean we can do it this weekend?”

  “Did you forget we’re volunteering this weekend? At Homes for Vets? The organization I cofounded with Kane?”

  Rae gave him a blank stare while she tried to recall him saying this. “Oh, yeah, I’m sorry. With everything going on, I forgot.”

  “No worries. Can you still make it?”

  “Yes, and I think I invited the girls along. Eve and Liv mentioned they could probably make it.”

  “Oh, this might get interesting.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “My mom just texted me and told me she was coming along to help too.”

  Rae smoothed her hands up and down her denim-covered legs as she rode patiently in Flint’s car. She couldn’t stop her hands from turning clammy no matter how hard she tried.

  “Nervous?”

  “I guess so, but I don’t know why.”

  “You’re about to meet quite a few people for the first time, so I get being nervous,” Flint said as he stopped at a red light. Flint was driving them to the Homes for Vets Foundation office to help prep for an event the organization was hosting.

  “Everyone will love you,” Flint said, continuing the conversation through Rae’s silence.

  Rae didn’t even know she needed to hear those words until he said them. “Are we meeting any veterans today?”

  “Potentially? I’m not sure what Kane is planning to do at the office today.”

  Rae gulped. She usually had no problem meeting new people, but today felt different. Her self-doubts were out in full force, and she was waving her white flag. She didn’t want to embarrass Flint.

  “Why do you think you will embarrass me?”

  Shit. Rae hadn’t meant to say it out loud. “I’m not sure, okay? If I knew, I would try to snap out of it, but I’m having a hard time doing that. Your mother is supposed to be there. Let’s be real - she isn’t the biggest fan of me.”

  Flint didn’t respond until he stopped his car at a stoplight. He slightly turned to her and grabbed her hand. “I don’t need to tell you this, but you are a kind, beautiful, and compassionate person. There is no need to worry. We all make mistakes, so don’t feel you need to censor yourself around anyone. And my mom likes you. Plus, Eve and Liv are meeting us there, so you have nothing to worry about.” With that, Flint squeezed her hand and turned around to put both hands back on the wheel. When the light turned green, he pressed his foot on the gas pedal and they were on their way once again.

  Flint had found the right words to say to calm her nerves. She got the feeling that even after all of this time, Gladys couldn’t care less about her based on her behavior at Rep. Clarkson’s event, but he was right that she had people in her corner.

  She checked her phone to see if Eve and Liv had said anything else about coming today but saw nothing. Rae typed a message to her friends and waited for a response. Too bad Jules couldn’t come because she might have been able to keep Gladys at bay.

  Rae: Are you still able to make it today? I should have texted you last night, but my mind was elsewhere.

  Liv: Of course! We wouldn’t miss this for the world.

  Rae: Apparently, Gladys is also coming today.

  Liv: That’s even better. I want to see Gladys up close and in person. She sounds like a potential piece of work.

  “That’s an understatement,” Rae muttered.

  “What’s that?”

  “Nothing. Don’t worry about it.”

  Eve: Don’t worry. I’ll watch over Liv…unless Gladys says or does something she shouldn’t have. Then all bets are off.

  Rae: Okay, see you soon.

  Flint and Rae soon arrived at a large office building in Crystal City, VA. He placed the car in park and turned to Rae.

  “Everything will be fine.” He then kissed her forehead and opened the driver-side door. Before Rae could react, she heard a knocking on the passenger window. She jumped and turned around to see Eve’s and Liv’s grinning faces.

  Liv opened Rae’s door, and Rae said, “That was unnecessary.”

  “I know, but it was a lot of fun. Hey, Flint.”

  Flint smiled at Liv in acknowledgment. He waved at Eve. “Ready to head upstairs?”

  Everyone nodded and Flint led them into the building. Holding the front door open for Liv, Eve, and Rae, Flint sprinted around the women to summon the elevator. The elevator came relatively quickly, and the group walked on and patiently waited until the elevator reached their floor.

  “Hopefully, my mom isn’t here yet.”

  Rae and Eve whipped their heads in Flint’s direction, and Liv asked, “Should we be worried?”

  “No, I’m just saying I wanted to arrive before she did. That’s all.”

  Liv raised an eyebrow at Flint, but before any o
f the women could reply, the elevator doors opened, and Rae was blown away. They stepped into what looked to be a reformed workspace. The exposed brick and beams on the ceiling added some character to the space that had tables, chairs, and other decor items that were mostly neutral.

  “Holy shit.”

  “Preaching to the choir here, Liv,” said Rae as she continued to survey the location.

  “I’m glad you like it,” Flint said as he walked toward the doors leading into the office. “Want to check it out?” The friends nodded and followed him inside the office.

  The receptionist at the front desk looked up and hurried to stand up for the group as they walked to the front desk.

  “Mr. West! Welcome!”

  “Ellie, please call me Flint. Mr. West is my dad.”

  “Sorry, M—Flint. Did you want to talk to Kane?”

  “Yes, but I can find him. I wanted to introduce you to my girlfriend, Rae, and two of her best friends, Eve and Liv.”

  Rae winced when Ellie mentioned Kane. She had forgotten to warn Eve about him. She squinted as she turned to Eve and saw her mouth slightly agape before she caught herself and closed it.

  Then Rae caught Flint’s eye. He gave her a wink before turning his attention back to Ellie.

  “It’s nice to meet you. Can I get you any water or coffee?”

  Everyone shook their heads.

  “We will head into the conference room. Is my mom here yet?”

  Ellie shook her head. “No, but she called and told me to have her coffee ready for her when she got here, so I assume she will be here soon.”

  “Of course she did. Don’t worry about the coffee. I’ll take care of it.”

  “Oh, thank you! I have a couple of things I need to wrap up before I can help in the conference room. Let me know if there’s anything else I can do.”

  Flint waved at Ellie as he led Liv, Eve, and Rae into the conference room. She could describe the conference room as “organized chaos.” The room was decorated similarly to the rest of the space with exposed brick and neutral decor and furniture. But there were piles of papers everywhere.

  “Are these supposed to go in these folders over here?”

  “Yes. We are preparing packets of information for staffers on the Hill. We have veterans flying in from across the country to meet with their representatives to talk about homelessness in the veteran community. Side note, there is a lobbying arm of the foundation if I forgot to mention it.”

  Rae, Eve, and Liv nodded along as Flint went into more detail about what they would do to help prepare the materials for the meeting. “Seriously, thank you both for coming down, especially on the weekend to help. It truly means the world.” Rae and Eve smiled at Flint as Liv tied her hair in a ponytail.

  “We can get started while you work on your mom’s coffee.”

  Flint looked at Rae and replied, “Sounds like a plan. I’ll be back as soon as I can. Oh, Rae, can I borrow your phone with the phone unlocked?”

  When she raised an eyebrow at him, he leaned over and whispered, “Potentially hacked.”

  She nodded her head, took her phone out of her pocket, and disarmed the passcode. She handed it over to him, and with that, he was gone.

  “Shall we?” Rae asked as she too put her hair in a ponytail and looked at the mammoth amount of materials they needed to put together.

  “One second,” Eve said. “Why didn’t you tell me that Kane would be here?”

  “Honestly, I didn’t know he would be until last minute. Sorry.”

  “It’s fine. I just don’t know why I’m frazzled.”

  “Trust me; it happens to both of us.”

  Liv nodded and the three got to work.

  The friends had put together thirty or so packets when someone cleared their throat at the door. Rae, Eve, and Liv looked up and were met with eyes that were very similar to Flint’s.

  “Hi, Mrs. West,” Rae said with a small smile.

  “Hello. I didn’t expect you to be here.” The smile dropped from Rae’s face. Gladys was impeccably dressed in a nice pair of black slacks, a white blouse, and black flats.

  Her hair was in a low bun with not a piece out of place. Her comment wasn’t the only surprise that Gladys had up her sleeve. It turned out that she wasn’t alone.

  “Cassandra, please meet Rae. She is a friend of Flint’s.” Rae gave Cassandra a once-over but refused to be intimidated.

  She was dressed up too in a long red body con dress that showed off her curves and a pair of black heels. Her long dark hair flowed over her shoulders and she had the perfect red lipstick that made her blue eyes pop. The lip was such a beautiful shade that Rae thought about asking her what shade and brand it was. She looked fantastic, but compared to everyone else; she looked like she was going to a different event. Rae didn’t dwell on it, though, because she could wear whatever she wanted.

  “Friend my ass,” whispered Liv, which earned her a nudge in the torso from Rae.

  “What was that, dear?”

  “Oh, I was just introducing myself. I’m Liv. This is Eve.” She held out her hand for them to shake.

  “It’s nice to meet you,” Gladys said as she and Cassandra took turns shaking Liv’s hand. She then turned to Eve and shook her hand. It didn’t go unnoticed that Cassandra didn’t greet Rae. “So, we just started putting together these packets, but I’m not sure if Flint wants you on a different task.” Rae mentally thanked Liv and Eve for coming along today.

  “Do you know where Flint is?” Gladys didn’t look at her.

  “He’s making your coffee, but should be back here shortly.”

  “Did someone say my name?” Flint greeted the room with a big smile and handed his mother her coffee. The women in the room turned at the deep timbre of his voice. Rae breathed a sigh of relief because she knew she had another barrier between her and Flint’s mother.

  “Cassandra. I didn’t expect you to be here.” Rae wanted to jump up and down as Flint addressed one elephant in the room.

  “You mentioned that you needed all hands on deck, so I figured it wouldn’t hurt to bring Cassandra along with me. We ran into each other while shopping, and she was eager to come help,” Gladys said before sipping her coffee. Rae looked at Liv with a pointed stare to keep her from saying anything, even though she knew they were all on the same page. They were “sure” that Gladys and Cassandra ran into each other while shopping, and while she hoped Cassandra was eager to help out of the goodness of her heart, Rae’s instincts told her she had ulterior motives about being here today.

  “Okay. I appreciate you both coming today.”

  Kane stuck his head into the conference room and said, “Hey, man, I need to chat with you about a couple of things soon. Need to find Ellie first.” Flint nodded before Kane continued, “Excuse my manners.” He walked farther into the room and said, “It’s great to see y’all again.” Rae smirked when she noticed that his attention was firmly on Eve. Eve looked everywhere around the room but at him. Interesting.

  “Rae, here’s your phone. It looks clean to me.” Rae thanked him quickly and stuck her phone back into her pocket.

  He turned to Cassandra and said, “I don’t think we’ve met. I’m Kane.”

  “I’m Cassandra. It’s nice to meet you.” She had no problem introducing herself to Kane.

  The two shook hands before Gladys spoke. “It’s lovely to see you, dear. Can we help with anything?”

  Kane said nothing for a second. Please find something else for them to do.

  “There might be something you can help me with, but I’ll need you to follow me to my office. Cassandra can help with this too.” If Rae could have jumped with glee, she would have, but she figured keeping her composure was the proper response for a twenty-nine-year-old adult.

  Although she didn’t want to, Rae said, “See you later” at the retreating figures as they left to go to Kane’s office.

  “You could cut the tension in here with a knife.” Rae was sure the look she
was giving Liv was doing nothing to relieve that tension. Flint glanced at her in puzzlement before turning to Rae.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yeah, but I think I just proved my point.”

  “About what?”

  “Your mother hates me.”

  Flint sighed and ran a hand through his brown hair. “My mom doesn’t hate you.”

  “You weren’t in here when she came in. Her glare could have body-slammed Bigfoot.” She could see that Eve and Liv turned and looked at her. Rae had no problem imagining their expressions.

  “True. But I think my mother would have told me at some point that she didn’t like you.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure about that,” Liv said in a singsong voice. Even though Rae wanted to roll her eyes, she knew that Liv was right. “And that’s not even including Cassandra.” Rae looked around the room, shaking her head.

  “What about her?”

  Rae thought she experienced whiplash with how fast she turned her head to look at him. He couldn’t possibly be this naïve. “You think she just met your mother by chance and then dropped everything she was doing to come and volunteer at your organization specifically?”

  Flint’s silence told Rae everything she needed to know.

  “Okay.”

  “Rae, d—”

  “It’s fine.”

  “I know it’s not fine.”

  Although she wanted to finish this conversation with Flint as soon as possible, she knew she couldn’t. Eve and Liv were still in the room, and this was a conversation they needed to have one on one versus in front of company. “Let’s table this conversation for later.”

  Flint turned to Liv and Eve and asked, “Do you mind if I speak to Rae alone for a minute?”

  “That is unnecessary. I said we could talk about this later.”

  “And I don’t want this festering in both of our minds for the rest of the day.”

  Rae didn’t realize she growled until after she heard the sound leave her lips.