The Last Lie She Told

by K. J. McGillick

  “I hope your dislike for him isn’t clouding your judgment,” she said, turning toward me.

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I agree with what you and Mary said earlier. It might be a setup. And I don’t intend to put myself in danger for a man whose intentions don’t seem honorable. What did your partner want?”

  “I have to call him back to put all the pieces together, but there may come a time, if this continues that a reassignment may be necessary. Like it or not, law enforcement is still a male-dominated field. Don’t get me wrong; no one has ever stopped me from getting a promotion, but I don’t fit in when it comes to ‘man talk.’ I draw the line at inappropriate jokes and refuse to step over the friendly line. David has feelings for me that aren’t reciprocated, and he found out I’m in LA, and he’s snooping around. If he found out I’m here with your firm, he might try to make something of it that may get ugly,” she said. “I could be transferred to a less than desirable area.”

  “As much as I want to say I’m appalled by that statement, it’s true that the force is a male-dominated occupation, and different rules apply. They shouldn’t, but sometimes, they do. What will you do if that happens?” I asked.

  Without hesitation, she said, “I’ll quit. My apartment is rent controlled, and I have a tidy little sum in the bank. I’d move west some place where there’s lots of land and write full time. I never considered owning a home, but the past year I’ve increasingly thought about it. But New York real estate and taxes are prohibitively expensive, even with all the overtime I work. So, I’ve always got a plan B in my back pocket.” She smiled.

  I kissed her nose and asked her if I could do anything to help the situation, and she said no. She was a woman who knew her mind and gently put boundaries in place.

  “Are you concerned you’ll be reprimanded for being here?” I wanted her to say no because I wanted nothing weighing on her mind to make her want to leave.

  “It’s a hazy line. I can do whatever I want on my time off. But let’s face it, I sort of stepped over a line when I took a job consulting with you without clearing it with my lieutenant. Am I sorry I did it? Absolutely not. Again, if anything happens where I need to leave the force, I have a backup plan,” she said.

  “It sounds like you have a ‘go bag’ packed and ready to leave at a moment’s notice.”

  “Well, I’m sort of a minimalist. I’m not married to my apartment, and my furniture is a lot of hand-me-downs. My mom loves to redecorate every three years, so she gives me all her furniture, which is new furniture since most is for display. I don’t have a car to worry about, and my wardrobe fits in two suitcases. So when you say a ‘go bag,’ it would be two, and I’m gone. The furniture would be donated to Goodwill, the keys left under the mat, and it would be like I was never there,” she said, putting her bra back on.

  I shook my head and laughed. “You’re in the wrong government agency. The CIA would kill for a woman like you.”

  A rapping on my door started again. I gave Belle the signal to stay while I put my pants on. She continued to dress, and I peeped out the hole. Mary. I told her to hold on while I made sure Belle was dressed.

  “What do you want?” I asked as I opened the door, and she walked in without an invitation.

  She surveyed the room and smiled.

  “Hightower is bitching to Jackson because he can’t get ahold of you. Jax called me, and we’re to meet in Hightower’s suite in twenty minutes. Maybe a quick shower and a wet head will provide some cover,” she said, giving me the once-over.

  “Want me to come, Mary?” Belle asked.

  “No. If he’s going to do something stupid, no need for you to get in any deeper,” I said.

  “You need some plausible deniability,” Mary added.

  “Why don’t you stay and straighten things out with David,” I said.

  “Do you still want to follow Hightower tonight?” she asked, as she retrieved her phone.

  “Depends on how stupid he plans to get. We’ll find out when Mary and I meet with him,” I said.

  “Any more on Fiona?” Mary asked.

  Belle checked her app, but nothing showed up.

  “Look, Lee, I don’t like Benjamin any more than you, but my opinion is we should keep an eye on him. What if he gets in trouble?” Belle asked.

  “And what if that means going to his rescue? How’s that going to sit if we have to call in the local law enforcement?” I asked.

  “I see your point. OK, let’s chat again after you talk to him. How about I order dinner, and we meet in my room in about an hour and a half?” Belle asked.

  “Sounds like a plan. I’m jumping in the shower. Mary, how about you tell Hightower I’ll be there and walk Belle to her room?”

  Mary smiled and tapped the side of her nose with her finger. Whatever.

  Lee

  While I showered, all I wanted to do was replay the afternoon’s activities in my mind. How had this happened? Is such intense feeling even possible in such a short amount of time? Love takes time to grow, so surely this must be lust or infatuation. However, I can’t say I’ve ever been infatuated with anyone. Ever.

  I’d loved Debby, but I can’t say I was infatuated with her. We’d grown up in the same neighborhood, and although I’d dated a lot of girls, Debby and I’d always seemed to gravitate toward one another. We’d been friends first and then became lovers. Her sense of humor had taken me out of dark places, and her bubbly personality had grabbed me by the collar and taken me along for her particular kind of adventure.

  We’d left Boston so she could complete grad school in Chicago, and the culture shock of Chicago had jolted me. I’d thought I would do anything for her smile. But in the end, my job came before us and our marriage. I was determined to climb the ranks quickly and doing so sacrificed my time with Debby. I had just made detective when she got sick and the achievement felt hollow. My thoughts returned to Belle.

  Belle, a complicated woman, led a complicated life. I found it amusing that she would be ready, willing, and able to pick up stakes in a day and morph into a new life. It had taken me six months to change my life once I’d decided to do it. Belle was spontaneous, a useful attribute in life and as a detective. Even as a younger man, I’d never possessed that ability. Everything in my life had to be planned and structured. My philosophy epitomized the phrase, “slow and steady wins the race.”

  Belle’s partner, David, might prove to be a complication to what was happening between us. If he turned on her once she confronted him, a slew of problems could follow and put a wrinkle in her career. Unrequited love is never good. I needed to determine his intentions. Wait. Did that really just go through my mind? My God, I was already planning a future with her when we hadn’t even established a present. And why should I claim someone’s life and determine how they should handle their relationships? Snap out of it.

  As I rinsed the remaining shampoo from my hair, I forced myself to focus on my meeting with Hightower. I realized chances of it going sideways were high, and it could happen quickly without warning. This was not a good position to be in. He seemed like an arrogant prick, and once faced with all that available flesh at the party he might divert from his self-imposed mission and immerse himself in the sex play. Which wouldn’t be bad in the long run if it kept him off Fiona’s radar, should she be there.

  That Fire and Ice place was bad news, though. How could anyplace be safe when it encouraged people to beat the shit out of loved ones and strangers? Rumors painted the club as a significant drug use hub, but that was the extent of the illegal activities. We couldn’t find any claims that the club or its patrons participated in distributing or human trafficking. And nothing from our research indicated Fiona did drugs.

  I shut the water off, towel dried, and did a quick assessment of my appearance. A shave might be in order, but the scruff on my face needed to wait until later. A quick text to Mary had her waiting at the door when I left my room.

  “Mary, what’s your secret? How do y
ou have all these contacts at your disposal?” I asked. It seemed preposterous, but every time we needed something done, she had the means to get it accomplished. And even better, the information she provided panned out. If it were me, I’d need to dig around, call in favors, and wait days if not weeks for a turnaround.

  “It’s a long story, but the bottom line is, money talks. I’m able to pay people to do things on an expedited timetable. And, don’t forget, we’re working with a generous budget in this case. Last year, I worked a case with the FBI that gave me the opportunity to cement valuable relationships. One was and is a criminal, and the other a foreign intelligence agent. But enough about that, I need to discuss something before we talk to Benjamin. There are so many moving parts here that we’ve spent no time parsing fact from fiction,” she said.

  “Such as?”

  “Well, for one, Claire. She sure as hell is in cahoots somehow with Fiona. I can’t figure out if she intended to help or hurt her. If hurting was her play, what’s her endgame? And what about that man Claire said she sensed watching the place. Did she purposely give us a false lead?”

  “No, Stamos is definitely in this mess somehow. Remember he traced back to the club. But there’s not enough information to determine if Stamos wants to hurt or help Fiona. The fact he’s showing up more is troubling. If we had more manpower, I’d follow him myself. Times like these makes me miss working with the police force. My gut says he’s the key to something, but I don’t know what yet. We’ve been working this case less than a week and learned a lot. But to what avail? Why are we still here? Can we get to the drive before it’s auctioned in cyberspace?”

  “I’ve got someone monitoring the auction and tracking down the IP origin,” Mary said nonchalantly.

  “No way. You are so full of shit.” I laughed as I shook my head. “I don’t care how much money you have, that kind of trick would take serious hacking skills and organization.”

  She stopped in the hall and scoped out the cameras. In spy-like fashion, she moved us out of range and turned to the wall.

  “Lee, you can trust me when I say the best of the best are intent on finding the location of the person running the auction. We know so little about what we’re searching for and its potential uses. My sources say this gene-altering tool is even more advanced than CRISPR. There’s no research published on this new tool, and yet it’s rumored to be invaluable. Think about the term, gene-editing tool. Can you even begin to imagine its enormous potential?

  “Gene editing is a technology that gives scientists the ability to change an organism’s DNA. It allows the user to add, remove, or alter genetic material at particular locations in the genome. Hightower’s project has the potential to revolutionize science. It’s believed to be faster and cheaper than any method out there,” she said. “I don’t want to imagine the potential disaster if it fell into the wrong hands, like the Russian government.”

  “Yeah, but I’m sure they had the opportunity to buy it from the Germans, just like Hightower did,” I suggested.

  “Yes, but now Benjamin has streamlined it more and probably increased its efficiency by working out the bugs. My source says it has the potential to wipe out populations, if used for nefarious purposes. It also has the ability, once perfected, to be the market leader in a cure for diseases. Flip that on its head, and maybe Big Pharma doesn’t want it out there curing disease. It’s a big deal, Lee, trust me. So even if Fiona doesn’t have it, we might be on the trail of whoever does.”

  “All right, now, more the point, what are we going to do about Hightower?” I asked.

  “I’ve asked my friend, let’s call him Tyler, to monitor the location you were sent via satellite to determine if there really is a party planned. From what he can tell, food and beverages are being taken to those coordinates, and there is activity at the place,” she said.

  What the hell? I wanted to laugh, but I began to trust what she was saying. Jax had hinted that her involvement with the FBI had left her with foreign contacts, so I let it be.

  “So,” she continued, “we need to get Hightower ready. He’s got to be careful. And in the end, we can’t control what happens if his emotions take over when he sees Fiona. So, he wants to talk? Let’s talk.”

  We turned away from the wall and continued to his room.

  I’d barely knocked on the door when he opened it. He quickly pulled me into the room.

  “Come in, come in,” he said, hurriedly closing the door.

  “You seem a little jumpy,” I said.

  “Not at all. I’m anxious to talk this through so I can get ready for tonight,” Hightower said. “I put together a plan, but I want your input.”

  Oh, this should be good.

  “Here, sit.” He motioned toward the large seating area. “Can I offer you anything?”

  We declined. He poured himself two fingers of what appeared to be whiskey into a cut-crystal tumbler. I hoped it was his first, but something in the way he touched the furniture as he walked past it told me it wasn’t.

  “I hired, shall we say, a high-end escort familiar with this form of entertainment to accompany me tonight,” he said.

  “OK, stop right there,” I said, inching forward in the chair. “What you’re going to tonight isn’t entertainment to these people. It’s a lifestyle they take seriously. The members pay thousands of dollars in fees to make sure their confidentiality is maintained so they can practice their particular form of kink. Did you read the rules in the email? They specifically forbid escorts and only allow people they’ve vetted into the party. These people are not playing,” I said.

  He brushed my question off with a dismissive wave and said, “I took those as suggestions.”

  I saw Mary wanted to say something but stopped herself.

  Hightower’s lips turned up into an odd smile, and he asked where Belle was.

  “Why?” I asked.

  “I understand from reading the expense reports that I’m paying her a consultation fee, and I want to consult her,” he said with a challenging stare.

  This was not going well at all.

  “Forget about Detective Hughes; focus on tonight and the auction for the drive. I want to be clear about our role. Now that Ryan is home recuperating, is he excluded as a suspect?” I asked.

  “No one is in the clear, Mr. Stone. Not even Dennis,” he said, draining his glass of the contents.

  “So what? You think Dennis had a partner who still has the drive in play, or is Dennis working solo in the paranormal realm orchestrating the sale?” Mary asked.

  He ignored her, as if she was an inconsequential gnat buzzing past his ear.

  “I think you should skip this party tonight, Benjamin, and I think we should all pack our stuff and head back to Seattle. We should spend more time investigating Ryan, someone we haven’t even interviewed,” I said.

  He met my eyes and stood to get a refill.

  “You might want to go easy on that stuff,” I suggested. “These people aren’t throwing a cocktail party, and they will possess implements that can hurt you. If you get yourself in a position where you need to roleplay, booze can dull the senses, including pain.”

  He stared at me, as if deciding whether I was giving him a lecture or offering him advice.

  “Okay, if we can’t talk you out of this, what can we do to help you get ready for tonight?” I asked.

  “Who will be at the party?” he asked.

  “How would I know? I met the head man this morning, and he didn’t offer me a guest list. Mahir’s mother’s private eye reported the membership is comprised of a variety of professional people like politicians, lawyers, doctors—people who have money to pay the ridiculous fees to belong. No celebrities, but there are what he termed foreign diplomats—”

  “So Fiona may be in contact with people who are representing governments that might want to purchase the drive,” he interrupted.

  As I mulled that over, my phone buzzed with a text message from Belle telling me to meet
her outside Benjamin’s room. She had news that couldn’t wait.

  “Can you excuse me a second? I need to step out for a moment to take a call. Mary, would you join me?” No way I was leaving that man unsupervised in there with Mary.

  We stepped out into the hall, and Belle motioned us over to the window.

  “David sent me some footage from Abajian’s security camera from the day before he was stabbed.”

  She showed us the footage.

  “Now, I realize it’s fuzzy, but who does that look like?” Belle asked with a mischievous smile.

  Mary grabbed the tablet, removed her glasses, then put them back on, and held it at arm’s length.

  “No idea,” she said, handing it to me.

  I moved the tablet forward and back trying to see it, but I was as stumped as Mary.

  “Jeremy Stamos!” Belle said.

  “You sure?” I asked, finding it incredulous.

  “Go ahead; look again. Move it millisecond by millisecond, and when you get to point 16:03, stop it.”

  I followed her instructions, and by God at 16:03 a clear picture of his face came into view. He hadn’t tried to disguise himself at all.

  “Look, let’s finish up with Hightower, and we’ll meet you back in my room,” I said.

  “Whoa, slow down. Aren’t you going to tell Hightower about this?” she asked.

  “No, why?” I asked.

  “Well, even though it’s inconclusive, this footage suggests Fiona and Jeremy might be working together. And we know they’re both in town, and both tied to Fire and Ice. I think Jeremy may sniff around the club tonight. Jeremy has no idea, for that matter neither does Fiona, that we aren’t going to be there tonight. What if they’re planning something? We might be able to handle what they throw at us but could Benjamin? You have to tell him about this,” Belle said.

  I thought about it and had to agree. We all walked back to his door and knocked. Hightower opened the door, and when he saw Belle, he smiled broadly.