She watched a tic in his jaw and recognized the tension as he appeared to fight with his emotions. “It wasn’t bad, no matter what you might think. It wasn’t like something you see in a movie where the other girls were mean and the nuns were horrid. Quite the opposite, actually. The nuns were very sweet, and the school was excellent. The other girls were wonderful, and I had friends. Sacred Heart made sure I had grief counseling, and while there were times I cried buckets over the loss of my parents—still do, occasionally—I was loved and nurtured.”
He sighed again and shook his head. “I’m just so sorry that I introduced you to my family in such an overwhelming way—”
“Kyle, stop. Don’t apologize. Your family and friends are amazing. They laugh and talk and joke, and most of all, care. At first, it seemed like a lot to take all at one time, but then I realized that it’s in their coming together that they exude the best about family, which is love.”
He reached across the console and linked fingers with her, smiling. “Never thought about it that way.”
She squeezed his fingers as she watched the Hope City skyline come into view as they neared his house. “That’s the best way to think about family. Love.”
19
“How do you work with this shit in your gut?” Kyle asked, grimacing after one sip of coffee while staring at Todd. He and Alex had gone back to talk to Todd and Birdie, getting a call that they had more information on the truck involved in the Kilton Pharmaceuticals thefts.
“Quit bitchin’,” Todd said. “You can’t tell me yours is any better.”
“That’s why I don’t get it at the office. Got a shop down the street.”
Birdie rolled her eyes. “Seriously? You’re arguing about coffee?”
“Point taken.” Kyle inclined his head at the file on Todd’s desk and said, “What have you got for us?”
“It was a couple of blocks away, but we’re pretty sure we picked up the truck leaving the scene. Tracing the tags, it’s owned by Jon Ying. He runs a laundry service that has contracts with several hotels in the area. But before you get excited… he says he reported it stolen last week. We checked, and he did file a report.”
“Anything suspicious about him?”
“Nope,” Birdie said. “I know you want a connection, but this guy is on the up and up. He’s pissed about his delivery truck being gone and is having to get another one to use. Said corporate is making him jump through hoops, hoping we’ll find it for him.”
Todd added, “We wanted to get this to you. It’s just one of many robberies we’re working on, so we can’t give it our full attention. But you’re more than welcome to take this information and run with it. And if there’s anything you need from us, let us know.”
The four sat for a few minutes, each reviewing the reports, hoping that something would stand out to them. Kyle was a firm believer that the more eyes on a situation the less something would slip through and was glad Todd and Birdie felt the same.
Looking up, he said, “Corporate?” Seeing the others stare, he added, “You said corporate was making him jump through hoops to get another truck. So, he’s not just some independent business owner?”
“He didn’t gain financially from the loss of the truck,” Todd said. “In fact, he’s out of luck until he can get another one.” Dragging his hand through his hair, he shook his head. “But I didn’t check to see what the fuck he was talking about when he said corporate.”
Birdie began tapping on her keyboard, and the three turned their attention to her. Grumbling and cursing under her breath, she continued searching for several minutes. “It looks like he was referring to Hope City Linen and Uniform Service. I can’t tell if they actually own his business or if he just has a contract with them.”
“Print that off for me, if you don’t mind,” Kyle said, standing. “We’ll take all this now and see if there’s anything we can go with. A laundry service hardly ties into Kilton Pharmaceuticals, but I’m willing to chase down a few rabbit holes to see if I can get something.”
On their way back to their office, they detoured to talk to Jon Ying. Expecting a small dry-cleaning business, he was surprised when they pulled up to the wide, glass storefront of an old brick building. The area had seen better days, but it was bustling with activity.
Walking inside, they moved down a long counter where a young woman on one end was taking laundry and dry cleaning from walk-in customers. The noise from the large machines in the back was almost deafening, and he wondered how she could hear. As soon as she was free, Kyle stepped forward, showing his badge. “We’re here to talk to Jon Ying.”
Her eyes widened and she smiled. “Oh, you found my uncle’s truck?”
“If you could just get him for us, please.”
She hurried toward the back, and his gaze followed her as she weaved between the machinery and disappeared. A moment later, she hustled back to the counter to take the next customer, calling out, “He’s just coming.”
A small, dark-haired, bespectacled man came from the back, his gaze pinned on Kyle and Alex. “You are not the same police I talked to before.”
Showing their badges, Kyle introduced, “That’s right, sir. I’m Detective McBride and this is Detective Freeman. We’d like to ask you a few more questions, please. Is there somewhere a little quieter we can talk?”
“Quieter?” Jon seemed perplexed, and Kyle assumed the man’s hearing was either gone or he simply no longer noticed the noise roaring around him.
“Yes, please.”
He waved them back, and they moved around the counter, following him past the machinery. The noise grew in intensity and the scent of bleach, detergent, and indefinable chemicals combined to make his nose burn. The heat from the machines made the air stifling. Finally, they reached a small office near the back. The office was a mess of papers, files, clothing piled in a chair, forms tacked to the walls and, somehow, there managed to be just enough room for the three men to stand once the door was closed.
“Have you found my truck?”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Ying, but no. I’d like to get a little bit more information from you about what was in the report. I believe you told the other detectives that the truck was bought by the corporation, given to you to use, but you wouldn’t be able to file a claim on it being stolen. Is that right?”
His head bobbing up and down, Mr. Ying confirmed. “Yes, yes. It wasn’t in my name, so I don’t get any money. That’s why I want it found.”
“Exactly what corporation were you referring to?”
“Hope City Linen and Uniform Service.”
Nodding, he continued. “Now, do they own this business?”
“No, it’s my business.”
Glancing quickly in Alex’s direction, he could tell his partner was confused as well. Trying again, he said, “So, Ying Laundry is your business. What does Hope City Linen own?”
“They’re a big business. They do most of the fancy hotels and many restaurants in Hope City. I had room to expand here years ago, so I still run my laundry and dry cleaning out of one end but bought the huge industrial cleaners. I have a contract with Hope City Linen and Uniform Service. They provided a couple of vans so that my drivers could get around to all the locations that are assigned to us. With one truck missing, my drivers are having to work overtime to get to everywhere. I need it back.”
“If the truck was actually owned by Hope City Linen, then why didn’t they file the police report?”
“I called them, but they said it was my problem. If I lost the truck, then I need to find it. But I didn’t lose it. The truck was stolen right from the alley behind us.”
Pinching the bridge of his nose for a second, Kyle asked, “And you have no security cameras?”
Shaking his head, Mr. Ying said, “Too expensive. How am I going to make money if I have to keep buying trucks and put up cameras?”
“One last question for now. Who is your contact at Hope City Linen?”
“Contact?”
“When you call them to talk to somebody there, who do you talk to?”
“Ah, I talk to Roger Solten.” Keeping his eyes on Alex’s notepad, he continued, “That’s R.O.G.E—”
“Thank you, sir. I’ve got it.”
Promising to call if they found any information, they walked back through the heavy machinery and out of the building. Stepping onto the much quieter street, Kyle shook his head slightly. “Fuck, man, my ears are roaring.”
“Even if there were employees around when that truck was stolen from the back, I can now see how that happened. If you’re inside, you can’t hear anything happening on the outside.”
As they climbed into Kyle’s pickup, he started the engine, then sat for a moment. “You know, it takes balls to steal a vehicle in broad daylight. Whoever did it had been in that building before. They knew that no one on the inside was going to hear them start the engine and take it. They also knew that once it made the morning run to bring linen in, it was going to sit there for several hours until it was time to start taking linen back. And they knew there was no security camera.”
Alex shook his head and said, “Todd and Birdie checked out the other employees. They were all working and there’s not a blemish on their records. There’s nothing to tie them into the theft at all.”
“Might not be somebody who works there. Could be somebody who’s been there just to check it out.”
“Then, with the number of people going in and out with their laundry and dry cleaning, that could be hundreds of people a week that had been in that building.”
Sighing, Kyle pulled onto the street. “Let’s do some digging into the Hope City Linen company. Maybe there’s something up with them. Shit, anything to see if we could tie them into Kilton Pharmaceuticals.”
“You know this is a fuckin’ long stretch, right?”
“I know, but I’ve got nothing else right now but loose ends. Something’s gotta start tying them together.”
Kyle stopped at the coffee shop next to headquarters, getting the biggest coffee he could, dumping creamer and sugar into it. Alex refused to pay for coffee when he could get it free at the station, but Kyle was afraid that sludge would eat a hole in his gut.
Back at their desks, he pulled up his laptop and tried to find information about the Hope City Linen and Uniform Service. Once on their website, he started searching. Within ten minutes, he was ready to throw in the towel. “Who the hell knows how to dig through this business shit to figure out who owns the company?”
Alex looked up from his desk and said, “What about Harlan?”
Detective Harlan Peters was a new hire from the surrounding county. “He’s a nice guy, but what makes you think he can do this?”
“Because I pay attention when info comes out about a new hire. He came from a financial fraud background. He’s probably good at this shit.”
Brows now raised, Kyle stood quickly and hustled down the hall to another workroom. Eyes landing on his prey, he called out, “Harlan? You got a few minutes?”
He explained to Harlan what he needed, and the young man nodded. “I can help you out with that.” The two walked back into Kyle and Alex’s area and he handed his laptop to Harlan, who immediately began searching.
Harlan was scribbling notes on a pad, occasionally mumbling as he worked. After almost an hour, Harlan looked up and grinned. “I think I’ve got it, but I don’t know that it’ll do you any good.”
“Let’s have it anyway,” Kyle said.
“Okay, so I just wanted to double-check what the laundry owner told you. And that’s true, Ying Laundry Service has a contract with Hope City Linen and Uniform service. Now, HC Linen is a subsidiary of Artog, Incorporated, an international shipping company.”
Harlan paused and looked at Kyle with a big smile on his face. “Fascinating stuff, isn’t it?”
Kyle wondered if his expression was as glazed over as it felt. One glance at Alex, and he could see his partner was in the same boat. “Gotta tell you, Harlan, it doesn’t thrill me as much as it seems to excite you. But, so far, you’re not giving me much.”
Wiggling his eyebrows, Harlan said, “I’m not finished yet.” Turning back to his notes, he said, “Artog is huge and owns a lot of different companies, but I couldn’t find a tie in until I came to one that’s local. Delmont. When I dug into it, it looks like it’s a holding company. Doesn’t really do anything except just give the owner a chance to have tax write-offs and whatever the fuck else they want to hide under it. But it’s tied into Montgomery Dell.”
“The congressman?”
“Ding, ding, ding… give the man a prize!” Harlan called out. “Now, keep in mind that it’s not necessarily illegal for him to have this company that doesn’t do anything but own other companies. But I’d say he prefers people not to know about it since the only name associated with it is his private lawyer.”
Nodding, Kyle was intrigued but still didn’t feel like he had any tie into what he wanted. He sat for a moment pondering the information but, no matter how he looked at it, it seemed useless. He turned to thank Harlan but noticed the young detective was staring at their evidence board.
Harlan inclined his head toward the board and said, “You looking into Kilton Pharmaceuticals?”
Nodding, he didn’t say anything else before Harlan immediately began tapping again. He looked over at Alex but received a shrug as a reply. They sat quietly for a while, letting Harlan continue to tap on the keyboard while occasionally grunting. Finally, Harlan looked up and grinned.
“Well, it seems that Hope City Linen and Uniform also has a contract with Kilton. Probably does uniforms and lab coats and things like that. And what’s more… one of Congressman Dell’s biggest donors is Kilton Pharmaceuticals. Last I saw on the news, he’s pushing for easier FDA requirements on testing drugs.”
20
Just as Kyle walked into Kimberly’s house, his phone rang. Seeing it was her, he greeted, “Hey, babe. Will you be home soon?”
“Yes, I promise it’s just one drink with a few people from work and then I’m coming straight home. Did you get in okay?”
“Yes, did you think the key wouldn’t work?”
“I just wanted to be sure you weren’t sitting outside.”
She had given him a spare key the day before, wanting him to come to her house for dinner since she had work to finish. He had not reciprocated yet… but had no qualms about giving her a key to his place.
“You want me to come to get you when you’re ready?”
“Nope, it’s good. We’re actually at a little place down the street and Bob is here. Are you sure you don’t want to join us?”
“Nah… it was a long day. You enjoy. I’ll chill and be here when you arrive.”
“Okay, see you in about an hour. Dinner is in the slow-cooker so we’ll eat as soon as I get there.”
“Got any more whipped cream?”
“Uh… actually, yeah. Want to use it tonight?”
He had been joking, but at her response, the blood rushed south and the image of her spread eagle on her bed, strategically placed whipped cream ready to be licked off, filled his mind. “Make it a short drink, babe.”
Laughing, she disconnected, and he walked through the living room and into the kitchen. The scent of dinner cooking filled the air. Opening the refrigerator, he snagged a beer. Heading back into the living room, he noticed her laptop, notebook, and papers scattered all over the coffee table. Curious, he sat down and looked through a few.
He smiled when he saw Tammy’s picture, standing in front of a big map of Hope City, and remembered his own interview with her. Employee of the month. He could easily see her being featured in Kimberly’s Faces of Hope City articles.
As he scanned through some of the others, he noticed the picture with Thomas Kilton and his gaze zeroed in on a picture behind him. Congressman Montgomery Dell was standing with the Kilton family, his arm around Sidney. There were interviews with warehouse workers, some w
ho knew Terry when he was sleeping with Beth. She had notes on the various uses of fentanyl and how the bio-chemist worked on the compounds. A niggle of guilt moved through him, but he grabbed his phone and began snapping pictures of her notes as well as the printed pages, including photographs from her laptop.
Placing everything back the way he found it, he settled back onto the sofa and began surfing the Internet on his phone to see what he could find between the congressman and the Kilton family. Time passed quickly, and he jumped when he heard Kimberly’s voice outside the front door saying goodbye to Bob. Shutting his phone down, he quickly glanced at the coffee table, satisfied that it was just as she left it. Throwing open the door, he waved to Bob as he dragged her inside, kissing her in the middle of a giggle.
She immediately wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him down and holding him close. A growl erupted from deep inside his chest. Lifting her in his arms, she wound her legs about his waist, and he swore he could feel her heat against his cock through the layers of clothing.
Still kissing her, he managed to mumble, “Will dinner keep?”
She nodded as their lips and tongues stayed connected. He turned and stalked toward her stairs. Not sure how he was able to continue kissing her while maneuvering up the staircase, he nonetheless made it to the bedroom without incident. He slid one hand to her ass, giving a little squeeze, and she dropped her legs so he could set her feet onto the floor.
This was no slow seduction but a wild tossing of clothes while their hands and mouths devoured each other. Soon they were both naked, and she stepped back, grinning. She crawled onto the bed on all fours, tossed her long hair over her shoulder as she wiggled her perfect, heart-shaped ass at him. Thankful he’d started keeping condoms within easy reach at her house, he quickly covered his aching cock. Climbing onto the bed behind her and with no finesse, he slapped her ass gently as he mounted her. Plunging in from behind, he kept one hand on her hip and the other he wound through her long hair.
Kyle (Hope City Book 4) Page 17