He thrust hard and fast, his hand occasionally jerking lightly on her hair. The only sounds in the room were the grunts emitted from both of them. He glanced to the side where their reflections were captured in the mirror over her dresser and could see her breasts bouncing in time to his movements.
Sliding his hand from her hip, he captured her breasts, squeezing and palming the globes before rolling the nipples between his fingers. He could see her hands clutching wads of the bed covers and as she tired, she dropped her forearms to the mattress. This only served to tilt her ass up more, and he took full advantage of the position.
He let go of her hair and planted his hand next to hers on the bed, his chest now pressing against her back. His other hand curved around, finding her swollen bud, pinching just enough to send her over the edge as her orgasm raced through her. She threw her head back, bumping his chin, but the force of her inner muscles grabbing his cock made him impervious to everything but the feel of his own release.
Her limbs gave out, and she fell flat onto her stomach, his body spread out over hers. His cock was still buried deep inside and, for a few seconds, he wasn’t sure he could move. Rational thought finally crept in and he knew he must be crushing her. Rolling to the side, he lay on his back sucking in great gulps of air. His hand gently rubbed her ass as he asked, “You okay, babe?”
She grunted her affirmative to his question, and he grinned. Neither moved for several long minutes until, finally, she rolled into him, arms and legs tangling.
Lifting her head, she grinned. “That was quite a homecoming. I might have to go drinking without you more often if that’s what greets me when I get home.”
A chuckle erupted from deep inside and, forcing his body to move, he gathered her into his arms. “What I need to do is convince you to stay with me all the time and then we don’t even have to worry about homecomings.” The words leaving his mouth surprised him, having not been planned. And yet, the idea of them moving in together did not frighten him.
She lifted her head and stared down at him, her top teeth pressing firmly into her bottom lip as her green eyes held his gaze. “Stay with you all the time?”
“Maybe not right away, but soon. At least think about it.”
“Why?”
His arms jerked slightly, startled by her simple question. “Why? Lots of reasons. We sleep together every night, just bounce between one house and the other. I like your house, but mine is bigger, closer to work, is owned and not just rented—”
“And has an amazing deck with a view.”
He laughed and nodded. “Yeah. It has an amazing deck with a view.”
They sobered and remained silent for a moment, and he lifted his hand to brush her hair back from her face so that he could see her clearly. “If you had asked me a month ago if I believed in love at first sight, I would have said no. Lust at first sight? Absolutely. But what I feel for you, I’ve never felt before. Not with any woman. You’re the first thing I think of when I wake in the morning, and I don’t want to go to sleep without you in my arms every night.”
Her lips curved gently, and she whispered, “This is scary.”
“What’s scary about it, sweetheart?”
“Because I feel the very same way. But it’s also scary because I’ve never felt this, so I don’t know what to expect.”
“Then we take it one day at a time until we’re both at the same place.”
Kimberly barely roused from her deep sleep when Kyle kissed her early the next morning. With his lips still pressed to her forehead, he whispered, “See you tonight, babe.”
She heard him go downstairs and woke just enough to feel guilty that she had not given him a better sendoff. Pushing the covers back, she padded to the top of the stairs and had just started down when she heard his voice near the front door.
“Alex, I’m heading in early because I may have found a way to tie some of our loose ends together at Kilton. I went through Kimberly’s notes yesterday and discovered that there’s a personal tie between the Kiltons and Congressman Dell. She has pictures from inside their office and they’re all pretty chummy. Yeah, yeah, I know that’s not unusual for politicians and donors, but I’d like to follow the money trail a little more. I know I can’t use her for inside information on Kilton, but her insight gives me the idea that we should dig into them more. This might shut the Kilton pipeline down. Okay, see you when you get there.”
Her front door opened and closed, the sound of Kyle’s heavy boots fading as he walked toward his truck. She remained rooted to the floor, her heart pounding. I went through Kimberly’s notes. Discovered a tie. Shut Kilton down.
Her legs gave out and she plopped her ass onto the stairs. The sting of tears hit her eyes as her heart spasmed. She lifted her fist and pressed it against her breastbone, wondering if someone her age could have a heart attack or if it was simply breaking.
21
Kyle dragged his hand through his hair, pacing in front of the evidence board while Alex leaned against their desks. He had printed out the information he’d photographed from Kimberly’s notes, including the organizational chart of Kilton Pharma.
“I kept thinking it might be somebody lower down. Somebody from the warehouse. Somebody who could get hold of the driver schedules easily. But with this tie into the congressman, I’m now looking at this differently. Someone with pull and money put the fear of God into Beth Washington and Doug Tiller. I thought in terms of somebody who had possible reaches into prison, but now I’m thinking it came from higher up.” He stopped pacing and glanced over to Alex. “What have we got on Congressman Dell?”
Alex grabbed the folder sitting next to him on the desk and flipped it open. “Artog International Shipping. Hope City and New York are their two major eastern city ports. They have ships that span the globe, with headquarters in New York, Guangzhou, China, and are based out of St. Petersburg. Interpol lists them as having ties to Russian Mafia, but then it appears that a lot of what comes out of Interpol is controlled by Russia anyway. The FBI has certainly had their eyes on them.”
“Is there anything to tie the congressman into that shipping company? Russian Mafia? And does that even have anything to do with the drugs coming out of Kilton?”
“Artog is used as a shipping company by Kilton. They not only do port shipping but air shipping as well.”
“So, we can definitely tie Kilton with Artog shipping, tie them to the congressman, and tie them to the company that owns the truck that stole from pharmaceuticals from Kilton?”
“Right,” Alex agreed. Holding his gaze, he added, “But this is a huge mess. What do we do about it?”
“Break it down.”
Both Alex and Kyle turned around at the sound of their captain behind them. Rick Hollister moved closer, stared at the board, then turned around and looked at the two detectives. “Look, you’ve got a lot of links to some pretty impressive players in this game. But if you start chasing every angle right now, you’re going to lose sight of trying to close the pipeline of opioids from Kilton Pharmaceuticals. Focus on that. The other,” he said, waving his hand toward the board, “shipping company, Russian ties, congressman… all that can wait. Now, you can use that to put some pressure on Kilton. Don’t get sidetracked with what your case is all about.” With that, he offered a curt nod and headed back to his office.
Dropping his head and staring at his boots for a moment, Kyle then lifted his chin and stared at the board once again. “Captain’s right. Whatever we find on the other can be turned over to the FBI. But it can be used as leverage.” A slow grin spread across his face, and he said, “How about we take a little visit to Kilton?”
Walking into Thomas Kilton’s office, Kyle was impressed. Even though the building itself had a modern feel, Thomas’ office resembled a throwback to old money. The carpet underneath his feet gave credence to the glare from the assistant staring at his and Alex’s boots, probably wondering if they were tracking mud. He glanced down to assure that he was
not.
One wall was lined with wooden bookcases filled with books, manuals, and photographs in silver frames. His desk was huge, made of solid wood. His corner office windows afforded him an expansive view.
Glancing toward the shelves, Kyle observed the pictures he had seen in the photographs Kimberly had taken. Various members of the Kilton family with a multitude of politicians, Congressman Dell being one of them.
Thomas walked through the connecting door, his smile wide as he approached, dressed to impress with his dark, expensive suit, pale shirt with its matching handkerchief tucked into the pocket, and silk tie. His hair was trimmed and slicked back away from his receding hairline, and he turned his bespectacled gaze upon the detectives.
“I’m Detective McBride, and this is my partner, Detective Freeman.”
“How may I be of service, detectives?”
“We’re investigating the stolen drugs from the Kilton Pharmaceuticals’ delivery van,” Kyle began.
“Of course, of course!” Thomas enthused, waving them toward the two wooden and leather chairs opposite his desk. He settled into his own seat, assuming the position of power. With his elbows on the arms of his chair and his fingers steepled in front of him, he asked, “Is it too much to hope for that they’ve been found?”
“No, we haven’t found them. We know, of course, that they would be unsellable if they are found.”
“We would have to destroy them. We’ve already taken the loss financially.”
“And I assume all your shipments, including foreign, national, and local are insured?” Alex asked.
“Absolutely,” Thomas said. “As Vice President of Finance and Administration, that arduous task falls to me.”
“While we haven’t found the drugs, we have discerned that the truck used in the theft had been reported stolen from a laundry in town.”
Thomas held his gaze steadily, his eyebrows rising slightly at that information.
“What’s more interesting,” Kyle continued, “is that the truck was not owned by that laundry, but by a larger linen service in Hope City. We continued to follow that trail and discovered that the true owner is Artog Shipping which, interestingly enough, is the company that Kilton Pharmaceuticals uses to ship overseas.”
Nodding slowly, Thomas said, “You’re right, Detective, that is interesting. I’m not quite sure where this leads us since you haven’t been able to recover the drugs.”
“We’ve been looking into the possibility that whoever held up the Kilton van had inside information on the routes used by the drivers. The truck was there waiting for them even though their schedule had changed. What we find interesting is that the truck used in the holdup can also be traced to Kilton.”
“So, you’re thinking of an inside job? I believe that’s the terminology,” Thomas chuckled. “Or perhaps I’m just showing my interest in detective shows on TV.”
“You’re right. We’re looking at the possibility that this was, indeed, an inside job.”
“I see. While this is very interesting, I’m not sure why you’re giving me this information. If you’re considering more of an inside job operation, then you should be talking to Niles Cook, the Vice President of Kilton Operations. The warehouse and all shipping go through his departments.”
“Actually, we’ll be seeing him next. But there was another interesting loose end we’re trying to tie up that could concern the Finance Division. The shipping line is also tied to Congressman Dell.” Inclining his head toward the wall, he added, “I see the members of your family are well acquainted with the congressman. So much so that each of you individually as well as your company have made donations to his campaigns.”
His voice now sharper, Thomas asked, “What are you implying?”
“As I said, we’re trying to tie up all the loose ends. The possibility that this was an inside job from this pharmaceutical company. Possibly involving a truck that was owned by a company that has ties to both Kilton and the congressman. This congressman, by the way, works on legislation to ease up FDA requirements for testing of certain drugs that I know Kilton is producing. The street value of what was stolen is probably close to about $1.2 million. Big stakes, big plans. Right now, Mr. Kilton, we’re simply looking at all the information to see where it leads.”
“Well, I can assure you it doesn’t lead here. My father built this company from the ground up, and it’s been a life’s pursuit and lifeblood of the Kilton family. While I would like to assure you there’s no way the theft had anything to do with a Kilton employee, I obviously can’t make that claim. But I can tell you that the campaign donations to any politician have always abided by campaign laws. I know that the congressman is an old golfing buddy of my dad and we’re certainly not trying to buy favoritism.”
“It just helps to have everything out in the open, Mr. Kilton. Thank you for your time.” Kyle and Alex stood at the same time and walked out of the office, leaving Thomas still sitting at his desk.
Once outside, they drove to the other building indicated by the security guard to talk to Niles Cook. His office was in the building next to the warehouse where they had talked to Porter Miles and Tammy Rutgers. Even though he was also a vice president, his office was much more modest. He had a large window, but it overlooked the warehouse loading area. Instead of floor-to-ceiling bookcases, he had wooden filing cabinets lining part of the wall. His desk was also wooden, but not nearly as opulent as Thomas’. The tile floor did little to disguise the sound of their boots.
While in a dress shirt and tie, Niles had eschewed a suit jacket, and the sleeves of his shirt were rolled up at the bottom. He welcomed them in, waving them toward the chairs.
“Welcome, detectives. I understand you were in last week and had a chance to meet with Porter and the irrepressible as well as indispensable Tammy. What can I help you with today?”
“Thank you for meeting with us. We’ve just been talking with Thomas Kilton—” a snort interrupted Kyle, and Niles immediately threw up his hands. “I’m so sorry, detectives. That was incredibly rude.”
Kyle hesitated, tilting his head slightly to the side, waiting to see if Niles had anything else to say. He watched as a slight blush crept over the man’s face.
“If you’ve been to see the exalted Thomas right before coming here, I’m sure you’re stunned that while we have equal positions in the company, equal is a relative term, especially when it comes to office space.” Shrugging, he added, “Although an office at the ‘big house’—as we over here like to refer to it—really isn’t my style. Anyway, please forgive my rude interruption.”
Fighting a lip quirk, Kyle continued. “Upon investigating the stolen drugs, we believe that it was either an inside job or assisted by someone inside Kilton. Exactly where inside, and by who, we don’t know.”
Eyes wide, Niles leaned back. “I see. Well, I have to admit, that’s disturbing news.”
“We talked to Tammy but wondered who else is privy to the information about the routing software. We asked her but realized she might not know how far up the chain that goes.”
Nodding, Niles said, “You’re probably right. The drivers may share some of the routing information with the other drivers, but the programming would not be available to them. Besides Tammy, her direct boss is Bob Trogden, and the Department Supervisor, Porter Miles, also has access to that program. I requested him to become familiar with it several years ago.”
Bob Trogden… Kimberly’s neighbor? Keeping his face blank, he nodded. “Why is that?”
“Technology is a wonderful thing, detectives, but programs can also be finicky. For a company our size, to only have a couple of people who know a particular program that’s vital to our daily company needs is not a good plan. A few years ago, Tammy thought she might have surgery and would be out a few weeks. We were scrambling to cover what her responsibilities are. So, we made sure that Bob and Porter had that particular routing program. As it turned out, she didn’t need the surgery, but the result was good
nonetheless.”
He smiled and added, “For full disclosure, I also have access to the routing programs, but I’ll be honest to say that I’ve never been trained on it. I’m not sure that I would even be able to understand it if I pulled it up, but I certainly have it installed on my computer.”
“The other thing we’re concerned about is that the truck involved in the theft had been reported stolen but is owned by a sister subsidiary company of Kilton.”
Niles’ brow lowered and he shook his head slowly. “I’m not sure I understand exactly what you’re saying, but I don’t know anything about that, detectives.”
Thanking him for his time, Kyle was about to suggest to Alex that they talk to Bob Trogdon when Alex’s phone rang. Answering it, he said, “We’ll be right there.” Looking at Kyle, he added, “The truck’s been found.”
Arriving at an old strip mall where half of the stores were closed, they could see the white delivery truck sitting off to the side. A patrol car with two officers stood nearby, and as they drew closer, they could see Todd and Birdie there as well. Parking, he and Alex climbed from his truck and walked over.
“Before you ask, yes, we’ll have it taken in. As usual, there’s a backlog at the lab, but at least we can see if there’s anything,” Todd said.
“I opened it up and looked inside. It’s clean from what I can see,” Birdie added. “My guess would be our guys were professional, they would’ve kept everything in boxes and used gloves.”
Kyle looked around, hoping to see security cameras but was disappointed.
“Yeah, I checked with the manager of the store over there—one of the few still open—and he said there haven’t been security cameras around here in years. Not since the grocery store that anchored them on the corner went out of business.”
Kyle (Hope City Book 4) Page 18