“You said you had something for me, something I needed to see.”
Bingham nodded. “Right. I do.” Reaching inside his jacket, he pulled out a disk. “Your father had a safe-deposit box.”
“I thought all the safe-deposit boxes had been cleaned out after their deaths,” Rome said looking at the disk, not yet willing to take it into his hands. Baxter, his parents’ butler and the man who’d taken care of Rome after their deaths, had gone through all his parents’ things. He’d told Rome he’d given him all their possessions. Now thoughts of what could possibly be stored on this disk ran through his mind, causing his heart to pound with both anticipation and dread. This might put him one step closer, one clue nearer to finding their killers.
“This one was in my name. I’d forgotten all about it until my assistant retired and the new girl they hired brought this invoice to me. I went there myself and cleaned it out.”
“And that was the only thing in there?”
Bingham nodded. “And a note that I should make sure this got to you should anything happen to Vance.”
And something had definitely happened to him. He’d been brutally murdered by one of his own kind. Rome only hoped this disk would tell him why.
This was insane, she thought for the billionth time tonight. Attending this function was dangerous for too many reasons. For one, Kalina deduced as she pulled her car to a stop, thumping her fingers on the steering wheel, she could blow her cover. Greer Culverson, the chief of police, would surely be here. His connections in the political arena were no secret; there were already whispers of him putting in a bid for mayor next term. Not to mention any number of suspects she may have come across, because despite what most thought, drugs and drug dealers existed even in the tallest office buildings and highest-priced houses in DC. The epidemic wasn’t limited to the streets or what was called the lower class. Over the years she’d investigated and even arrested her share of businessmen and political wannabes for their roles in the drug game.
In addition, what if Roman saw her? What would she say? What would be her reason for attending this function? The decision to come here had been made quickly, just as the one to slip the tracking device onto the collar of his tuxedo had been, and the one to follow him to his house last night. She couldn’t pass up the opportunity, she’d decided that when Mel invited her to lunch. The secretary had casually mentioned she’d have to pick Roman’s tuxedo up from the dry cleaners and this plan was hatched. Hurrying back to her desk Kalina had called Ferrell, telling him what she wanted to do. Within the hour she was going down to the parking lot to meet Ferrell, who handed her the equipment.
“We’ll work on getting you tickets to the event tomorrow. I want you to watch everybody he talks to and make note. He might be going to this thing for more than political reasons. It could be a transaction going down, and I don’t want to miss it.”
And yet he’d known nothing about Rome even attending tonight’s ball until she told him. He’d been talking fast, his dark lips chapped from smoking too much. He wore a wool hat over his balding head but his eyes were astute, watching her like she was the one under investigation.
“Don’t mess this up, Harper.”
She snatched the plastic bag with the receiver in it from his hand. “I know how to do my job.”
“Yeah, well, you’re taking your own sweet time doing it.”
She had wanted to punch him. Never before had there been a co-worker or commanding officer whom Kalina disliked as much as Ferrell. There was just something about his personality that made her want to puke, then wipe her mouth and kick his ass for making her go to all the trouble.
“I’ll get the information. Just get me into that party.”
“Right,” he said, turning away from her as if she were the one who disgusted him.
Over chicken quesadillas and diet Cokes she and Mel had talked about Mel’s family, her time at the firm, and how the woman enjoyed working for Rome. Kalina had been careful not to ask too many questions about the man. She didn’t want to give Mel the wrong idea, even though she thought it was probably too late for that. While she didn’t want Mel to think she was trying to snag the boss, she certainly didn’t want her to know she was investigating him.
As soon as the device was activated, she’d switched on the transmitter and hidden it behind the monitor on her desk until the workday was over. When he’d been there as she’d packed up to leave at five, she’d almost been afraid he’d found out. Being busted by Rome again was going to wreak holy hell on her confidence as a cop.
But as he’d stood there staring at her as if he could literally eat her up on the spot, she suspected he’d stopped by for another reason entirely. Walking her to her car had been a shock. She hadn’t pegged Reynolds for the chivalrous type, and yet the kind gesture seemed to suit him. The dominant aura that pushed his hard body against hers had also seemed like second nature to him. Roman Reynolds was definitely a man who got what he wanted. Kalina just had to make sure that what he really wanted wasn’t her.
Even though she’d pulled out of the garage before him, she’d waited until his car had come out, then followed him to what she assumed was his home. It was a large estate in one of the district’s high-end neighborhoods near the Virginia state line. She only knew the neighborhood from glimpses in the society pages but now figured the newspapers didn’t do the palatial estates in this area justice. The house itself was huge, the grounds seeming to go on forever, with the plushest, greenest grass she’d ever seen. He’d stopped at a black iron gate, punched in a code, and waited while the gates opened for him. Of course they’d closed and she wasn’t able to drive up the winding driveway behind him. But that was just as well. She didn’t want to get too close.
Her body reacted strangely when in close proximity to this man. Well, not exactly strangely … Kalina knew sexual attraction when she felt it. She just didn’t want to feel it for Roman Reynolds. Still, as she’d watched him walk to his car, briefcase and suit jacket in one hand while the material of his dress shirt molded his absolutely kick-ass upper body, her mouth had watered. Even now, just sitting in her car thinking about him had her nipples hardening, her center pulsating with need. A need that hadn’t plagued her in years.
She tensed at the thought, heat moving in slow rivulets throughout her veins. Heat she hadn’t felt in … heat she had never felt before in her life. That’s what this attraction to him was, it was new and unwanted and she detested it. He was a criminal and deserved to be treated as such. How dare she want on her body the same hands that exchanged money with the cartels, which in turn shipped drugs to the streets that were killing kids? How could she sit here and wonder how it would feel to walk into that big house with him, to spend the night in his bed, beneath his muscled body, letting him do whatever he wanted to bring her pleasure? It was deplorable and ridiculously inappropriate to think of him that way.
And yet she couldn’t stop.
So tonight she was at Ralph Kensington’s first political banquet to support his run for the Senate. She didn’t support him or the crooked people he had working for him—whom she couldn’t actually connect him to. Kensington was in the drug game up to the crisp white collar of his expensive dress shirt, but he was good at covering up his less savory deals. Tonight, however, she couldn’t afford to worry about all the corruption going on in the government. She was here to watch Rome and there was no turning back. Stepping out of her car, she handed the keys over to the valet, who looked young enough to still be in high school. He smiled at her as she walked by, that I wanna get with you. Give me your number? kind of smile. Kalina was flattered but not at all moved to try her hand as a cougar. Younger men were definitely not her style. As a matter of fact, no man—at least for the last couple of years—was her style. Funny she would think about that now—the fact that she didn’t have and hadn’t had a man in a long time.