by DJ Steele
She clicked off.
Adam West was probably the best spook she had ever known. What made him so effective was he always got the job done even if he bent the rules to do it. That’s why the agency let him go. That would have been her fate too, if she hadn’t quit first.
Right away she needed to make a call and set up a meeting.
Shockley parked his car in a spot across the street from the Rayburn Building. The sun’s rays streaming in through the windshield felt good washing across her face. The morning temperature, in the upper forties, was slowly rising. It was turning out to be a beautiful cloudless day.
Shockley raised his watch and tapped on the crystal.
"It’s time," he instructed her. "You okay making the call?"
She nodded while she thumbed the number. Before the first ring, she sucked in a deep breath and blew it out to calm her nerves.
When the woman answered, she swung her head and gave Shockley a thumbs up.
"Hello. I’m trying to reach Speaker Wagner about a very urgent matter. Is he available?"
"No. Not at the moment. Can I take a message for him?"
"Are you his assistant?"
"I’m a staff assistant to the Speaker."
"If this is Kat Lejeune, do not hang up."
After a long hesitation, the woman said, "I think you’ve made a mistake. I have no clue what you’re talking about." It was her, the woman who posed as Kat Lejeune. "I’m sorry but…."
Julia cut her off, saying, "I know who you are and what you did for your boss. If you don’t want to be charged with accessory to murder, then I’d advise we meet."
Silence. After a few seconds, Julia cautioned, "Don’t hang up on me. Be smart. We can help each other."
"What do you want from me? I can pay you the rest of the money I owe you."
"Meet me outside your office in ten minutes. I’m parked across the street."
"I can’t. This matter is too serious for me to be seen with you. Alan, I mean Speaker Wagner didn’t do anything wrong."
"I can go public with this."
"No. Please don’t do that," she pleaded. "Give me twenty minutes and I’ll meet you at the cafe on 2nd Street. It’s called The Split Bean Cafe."
"I’ll be there," replied Julia. As soon as she swiped off, she exhaled with relief.
Facing Shockley, she explained, "She said to meet her in twenty minutes at a cafe called The Split Bean Cafe on 2nd Street."
He slid out his phone and used google map to locate the cafe. "It’s less than a ten-minute walk from here. Let’s leave the car and walk there."
She gathered her bag and started to open the door when he grabbed her arm, pulled her close, and kissed her. Her entire body tingled from the taste of his lips.
"You did a good job, detective Bagal," his voice deep and penetrating.
She stared into his brown eyes.
She hoped he was right.
Chapter Fifty-Six
The Split Bean Cafe was an easy walk from where Shockley had parked. The sun was doing its best to warm the air, but the steady cool wind blowing against them was a reminder that winter was not far away.
As soon as they entered the cafe, an inviting aromatic smell filled her nostrils. Mike located a table next to the large picture window, giving her an unobstructed view of the direction from which Kat Lejeune should be walking. If Lejeune took the same route they had, she’d be able to spot her as soon as Lejeune turned south on 2nd Street.
She understood why Lejeune picked this place. Even though the cafe wasn’t large, the small tables were spaced far enough apart to give customers privacy for conversations. The inside was inviting with colorful walls covered in quirky artwork.
"We’re early." She tucked her hair behind her ears. "Would you mind getting me a hot tea while I keep a look-out?" she asked. She couldn’t shake the chill she had.
"Sure. I could use some caffeine too. Anything fancy or just plain tea?"
"If they have it, a Chai Tea Latte, skim milk, hot."
She started to reach in her purse for her wallet, but he protested. "I got it." He rose from his chair and headed to the barista standing behind a counter.
She sat by the window keeping her eye trained in the direction Lejeune would be coming from. She still didn’t know Lejeune’s real name.
There were steady streams of people walking in both directions. She only had to watch the pedestrians walking south and for a young Black woman. That eliminated many people hustling along the walkway.
Her thoughts drifted back to the day when Lejeune came into her office. It seemed like a long time ago when in reality it had only been a week. She traced the woman’s features as best she could recall in her mind. It was hard to believe that one assignment could bring her to this point in her life.
Checking her watch, she saw they had at least five more minutes till she’d know Lejeune’s real name and why she’d lied to her.
Mike set the hot cup of tea she wanted in front of her and took a seat on the other side of the table.
"You okay?" he asked.
"Yeah." She grabbed the handle and took a sip from the cup never taking her eyes off the people outside.
"Good. She’ll be here soon."
"I hope she’ll tell us the truth." She set her cup down, clasped her hands letting them rest on the table in front of her.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him reach across the table and wrap his warm hands around her tight fists. She noticed he had a reassuring smile on his face.
"She will. I think you scared her about being an accessory to murder. Which unfortunately she could be."
"Have you ever been wrong about a murder case?"
"I’ve made mistakes."
She returned her focus to the outside and thought, so have I. She withdrew her hands and took a sip of tea.
The table was small causing Mike’s long legs to touch hers. She adjusted her seat so she wouldn’t be distracted by him.
A few times she thought she spotted Lejeune, only to realize it wasn’t her. Every time it happened her heart began to race.
Mike must have gotten into her head. "Waiting is sometimes the hardest part of a case."
"Well, it definitely is now."
In the distance a young Black woman crossed the street and was now walking briskly in their direction. Julia squinted from the glare of the sun, raised a hand to protect her eyes. She strained a hard look wanting to be certain it was her.
"It’s her," she exclaimed with a rise in her voice.
Shockley swiveled in the chair to look in the same direction she was looking. "You sure?"
"I’d bet my life on it."
He swiftly moved to her side of the table and sat next to her. "Which one’s her?"
She pointed and said, "The Black woman wearing a beige knee length coat and low pumps. Her hair is short."
"Walking next to a man in a plaid parka and wool beanie?" he asked.
"No. Look to my right and behind that man. A woman and small child are near her left now."
"Got her."
They both kept their eyes locked on the woman moving toward the cafe. Julia squeezed Mike’s arm. She was feeling confident it wouldn’t be long before she’d learn the truth. Why'd she hire me?
"Whaa…" she stuttered as she stared in disbelief.
Mike turned his attention toward her. "What’s wrong?"
Without a word, she pushed her chair out from the table, stood and proceeded toward the cafe door. Mike was right behind her.
They walked slowly toward Lejeune who had stopped when she appeared to have recognized Julia. Julia’s focus was now on the man behind Lejeune who was quickly closing the gap between Lejeune and himself.
It happened without warning. She saw an older man shoved into oncoming traffic. Mike took off running toward the man lying in the street. People nearby stopped and turned their attention to the horror about to unravel in front of them. A car was traveling in the direction of the fallen ma
n. Honking. People screaming. Hard braking.
Chaos.
She saw Kat Lejeune shifting away from the crowd. A man in a long dark overcoat was walking right behind her with his hand shoved against the small of her back. Julia couldn’t see what was in his hand, but she was certain it was a gun.
She raced toward them, but abruptly stopped, shocked to see a familiar man who had maneuvered behind the man in the dark overcoat.
It was Adam West.
He quickly closed the gap.
She saw the shiny silver blade in Adam's hand hanging close to his side. What was Adam doing? In a millisecond Adam raised the knife and slit the man's neck. The man with the weapon to Kat Lejeune’s back dropped, his gun clattering against the pavement.
A woman spun around and screamed when she saw the blood pooling on the pavement beside the man's neck. The crowd panicked, more screamed and a few ducked and ran for cover.
Julia rushed forward, locked her arm around Lejeune’s arm and tugged her away from the dead man. Lejeune stared at her. There was genuine fear in the young woman’s eyes.
"He said he’d kill me if I didn’t do as he said," her voice cracked.
"You’re safe now. We’ll protect you."
She scanned the crowd searching for Adam. The person she knew was responsible for the man's death. And keeping Lejeune safe.
Adam West was gone.
Vanished.
How was that possible?
Mike shouldered his way through the crowd to the man lying on the sidewalk. He pulled his badge and waved it to the onlookers.
"Police. Back up," ordered Shockley. He knelt down and checked for a pulse. Then Shockley reached inside the man’s overcoat searching for what Julia figured was identification. Julia already knew he wouldn’t find any. Shockley stood. His eyes found hers. He shook his head.
She put her arm around Lejeune's shoulders to comfort the frightened woman.
Mike began instructing the crowd to back up. A police cruiser with lights flashing and sirens blaring pulled up and two officers jumped out. Mike barked orders to the two cops as more police cruisers arrived. An ambulance rounded the corner.
Julia kept her arm tight around the frightened woman. She was impressed with the way Mike was handling the murder scene. Two medics were running with their bags to where she last saw the old man lying in the street.
She said to Lejeune, "We need to go now. You’re not safe here."
After they were a distance from the crowd, Julia glanced back at Mike. He wasn’t going to like what she had decided to do.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
"How about we start with your real name," she said to the frightened woman.
The home was located on the outskirts of the city. It looked like every other home in this middle-class neighborhood. Only behind these doors, the Bridge Club provided a secret haven to protect those inside.
On the drive to the safe house, Julia did her best to assure Lejeune that her friends knew how to keep people safe and that this was the right thing to do. She was honest with Lejeune for the most part, but not entirely. Her motivation was self-serving.
After a long silence, the woman answered.
"Megan," Lejeune’s voice barely audible.
Perhaps there were too many strangers sitting around the oval dining table, hindering a conversation that sounded more like an interrogation.
"Yous got a last name?" asked Laquita.
"Megan Lipscomb."
Megan began nervously fiddling with the buttons on her shirt.
"Would you like something to drink, Megan? Tea, soft drink or water?" Julia offered.
"Yes please. Do you have a Coke?"
"Laquita, would you please get Megan a Coke?"
Laquita glared at Julia and replied, "Sure. I still got one good arm."
When Laquita sat back down, Julia said, "Now that we know Megan’s name, why don’t we introduce ourselves to her. Starting with you Laquita."
"Laquita Morrison. I’m Julia’s partner at the investigation business." Laquita shot Julia a smug smile and then turned her attention to the man on her right.
"Bai Lin," said the Asian looking man. I live in this home. I worked twenty years with the Central Intelligence Agency. I now work as an IT consultant."
The red-haired woman next to Lin smiled and announced, "Amy Lovelace, dear. I’m a good friend of Julia’s grandmother. I’m an expert on collection and analysis of data for our security watch list."
Neither Lin nor Lovelace acknowledged that they now worked with the Bridge Club.
The introductions helped Megan relax a little. She nodded to everybody sitting around the table.
Julia, impatient to learn what Megan knew began, "Please tell me why you hired me to do surveillance on your husband at Willow Oaks Motel?
Megan asked, "First tell me who was that man who said he’d kill me if I didn’t go with him?"
"We aren’t sure. But if you can help us put together the missing pieces of the puzzle we’ll find out. That’s what we do for a living. We work with intelligence agencies on cases like this." Julia didn’t discern anybody at the table including Laquita who wanted to challenge that lie.
"I don’t know." Megan shook her head. Her eyes downcast.
"Megan," Julia began, her voice confident. "I know you’re confused and scared. I didn’t let them take you to the police station because we believe this crime has national security implications."
Megan’s face bounced up. She asked, "Was that man going to kill me?"
"Yes, he was."
Megan’s chest began heaving in and out in short rapid breaths. "The other man who saved my life, do you know him?"
"Yes. He works with an organization that is helping us," Julia said. She hoped Megan wouldn't ask other questions about Adam West or what organization she was referring to. At first, she considered Adam might show up at the safe house. It was smart not to test if Megan could recognize him. There were other safe houses in the city.
Megan began, "Speaker Wagner told me about you and your grandmother when the attempt on the President and Vice President’s life was made. Later I learned you had bought an investigative service. We had never met." Her eyes focused on Julia. She continued, "I felt safe posing as a jealous wife when I came to your office. The Speaker never knew I had hired you."
"Then it wasn’t his idea for you to hire me?"
"No. It was my idea," answered Megan.
"The reason you hired me wasn't to get photos of your cheating husband. Was it?"
"No. I'm not married."
"Tell us the real reason you hired me," said Julia.
"I don’t snoop. Honest. But, one day I was putting some files on his desk and I inadvertently found a note about meeting a Charlotte at Willow Oaks Motel."
She blinked, fighting back tears. "I thought he was meeting another woman at that horrible place. It could ruin his career and I needed to know."
"You wanted to protect him," inferred Julia.
Megan nodded. "I care very deeply for him."
"But he never went to the motel, did he?" questioned Julia.
"No. But I didn’t know that at first."
Julia had the photos she’d taken of the man at the hotel. The man who was killed when he tried to abduct Laquita. She slid the photo of the man in front of Megan.
"Do you recognize this man?"
Megan shook her head.
"Do you know the identities of the people who were murdered at the motel?" asked Lovelace.
Megan’s attention shifted to Lovelace. She shook her head hard. "All I know is the name Charlotte from the note."
Lovelace turned to Lin and asked, "Do we have an autopsy report?"
Lin thumbed through papers in a file in front of him. He found one and removed it.
He said, "Joe was able to get a copy of the report." Lin’s finger ran down the page till he found what he wanted.
Lin read, "Male identified as Mateo Martinez. 35 years old. Local ga
ng drug runner. Female, twenty-six, free-lance reporter from Nashville. No known family. Name is Charlotte Bollinger."
Lovelace added, "That part of her story checks out."
"Megan, when did you know the Speaker was involved in a crime?" asked Julia.
"It happened gradually. I trusted him. One day I confessed to him that I saw the note on his desk. He got angry and then he told me he was working with the FBI to uncover the traitor in our government. He made me promise not to tell anybody."
"Did you?"
"No. He’s a good man."
"But?" said Laquita. "You figgered out he lied to ya."
"I only suspected. I had no proof. I began paying attention to things he said. It was a lot of little things that didn’t add up. He was leaving work during the day, told me his uncle had a heart attack and then told me he didn’t have any family still living. He changed. But I didn’t want to believe he was involved in anything bad or illegal."
"You’re in love with him," stated Julia.
Megan let her face drop into her hands sobbing. "Yes. Yes, I am."
Laquita’s phone began vibrating on the table in front of her. She picked it up, glanced at the screen and said, "I better see who this is."
She stood and moved to the kitchen.
Julia instructed Lovelace to check with the FBI and verify if they were working with the Speaker on an arranged meeting at Willow Oaks Motel.
"Julia, I need ya right now in the kitchen," yelled Laquita.
"Bai Lin, would you please take care of Megan?"
He nodded.
As soon as she put one foot in the kitchen, Laquita snatched her arm and pulled her to the far corner. Laquita frantically began whispering in her ear.
"Now what should we do?" asked Laquita.
"Keep this to yourself and tell him not to talk to anybody till he hears back from you and you only. Got that."
Laquita nodded. "Got it."
Julia walked out the kitchen door into the backyard. It wasn’t her first choice, but she knew it had to be done.
She slipped her phone out of her jean pocket and made the call.