D.C. Dead

32

Holly took the first sip of her first gimlet. “Wow,” she said. “Super cold!”

“Colder than ice,” Stone said, “because alcohol freezes at a much lower temperature than water-that’s the point. You don’t have to water it down by putting it in a cocktail shaker with ice.” He offered her a canape.

She chose something with smoked salmon on it. “Yum.”

Stone took a sip of his gimlet. “I concur in your judgment of this drink.”

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“What did you find out from the DCPD?”

“I thought you’d get around to asking that,” she said, taking another pull at her gimlet.

“What, did you think I asked you over here for the sex?”

“God, I hope so.”

“Come on, cough it up.”

“The detective lieutenant I spoke with expressed considerable disappointment,” she said.

“In what was he disappointed?”

“He was disappointed that he couldn’t find a way to hang the murder on you.”

“Well, gee, the poor guy. Maybe I should send him roses, or something.”

“Or something.”

“What else did he say about the case?”

“In addition to being disappointed, he was relieved.”

“Relieved that he couldn’t hang it on me?”

“No, relieved that he couldn’t hang it on Paul Brandon, Muffy’s spouse. Mr. Brandon is very prominent and well connected locally, and he could have created all sorts of problems for the department if they’d charged him. They were very pleased that there was no substantive evidence against him.”

“Well, I’m so happy Mr. Brandon has been spared their further attention. Do they have any fucking idea who killed Milly?”

“Oh, you and Milly were on a first-name basis, were you?” she asked archly.

“Oh, yeah, I mean we knew each other for a good twenty-four hours.”

“‘Knew,’ in the biblical sense?”

“Come on.”

“She was, after all, a very beautiful woman,” Holly pointed out.

“I can’t argue that point.”

“Do you think her death has anything to do with your investigation?”

“Of course I do. As a result of speaking to her, Dino and I are conducting a new round of questioning of people who work in the White House. We’re talking with Brix Kendrick’s former secretary tomorrow.”

“And what do you expect to learn from her?”

“More about Brix Kendrick, and who he was fucking in the White House.”

“I’m sorry, I must have missed something.”

Stone told her about the questioning of Mrs. Feliciano.

“So she found the lipstick!”

“Yes, and Dino is giving it to Shelley so the FBI lab can do its thing.”

“You think they’ll find something on the lipstick a year later?”

“Once again, I refer you to Fats Waller.”

“And what she saw in the family quarters happened on the same day the Kendricks died?”

“The very same day. Mrs. Feliciano was very specific about that.”

Dino finished his drink and stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, Shelley and I are dining out tonight.” He held up the lipstick in a plastic bag and dropped it into his coat pocket s coat p.

“Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do,” Holly said.

“There isn’t anything you wouldn’t do,” Dino said, then left.

“Hungry?” Stone asked, handing her a room service menu.

“Ravenous,” she replied, pinching his cheek.

The following morning, Stone and Dino met with Brixton Kendrick’s former secretary, Charlotte Kirby.

“I believe we spoke on the phone,” Stone said.

“That’s correct,” she replied. She was an interesting-looking woman-in her early forties, he reckoned.

“And how long have you worked for Fair Sutherlin?”

“About seven months. After Mr. Kendrick’s death, his replacement wanted to bring his own secretary with him, so I stayed just long enough to get her up to speed, then I accepted an offer to work for Ms. Sutherlin.”

“Tell me, Ms. Kirby,” Stone said, “were you aware that Brix was conducting at least one affair in the White House?”

She froze. “And where did you get that idea?” she asked.

“From someone who saw him with a woman in the family quarters.”

“I can’t believe Mr. Kendrick would do something so outrageous.”

“Were you aware that he was sleeping with women other than his wife, not necessarily in the White House?”

She glanced at her nails. “I guessed that he was,” she said.

“On what evidence?”

“Mr. Kendrick took long lunch hours, something that’s very rare in the White House. He would sometimes disappear in the afternoons, too. He’d say that he was ‘making the rounds’ of the property. He’d be gone for a couple of hours, and he wouldn’t answer his cell phone.”

“Ms. Kirby,” Stone said, “did Brixton Kendrick ever have an affair with you?”

Her mouth fell open. “That’s preposterous,” she said.

“We know now that he was having affairs, and you’re an attractive woman,” Stone said. “What’s so preposterous?”

“That anyone would think I would do such a thing.”

“Not that Brix would.”

“He was his own person, he didn’t ask my permission for the things he did.”

“Did you ever know or suspect the names of the women he was sleeping with?”

“Well, there were rumors about the Hart woman,” she said, disdain creeping into her voice. “That’s the business she’s in, or so I hear.”

“You heard wrong, Ms. Kirby. Milly Hart had affairs, but not for money.”

The woman shrugged. “If you say so.”

“Any other names? Particularly in the White House?”

“The White House staff is, in some ways, like any other group of workers. These things happen.”

“With whom did they happen, in the case of Mr. Kendrick?”

“I wouldn’t know,” she said, in a manner that made Stone think she knew.ink she “Is that all?”

“For the present, Ms. Kirby. Thank you for your help.”

Her reaction, as she stood to leave, made Stone think she was happy she hadn’t helped too much.