One Safe Place (39 page)

At 7 a.m., Suzy Q called and told him to meet her in the office. No rest for the weary. She lived off four hours of sleep or less.

When he arrived, he found Suzie Q and Zelda at the conference table. Zelda, the security agent apprentice, was working. Velvet was not in yet. Spread out on the table was a large flow chart full of notations, information, and questions.

“What do we have?” Psalms' voice bounced off the wall while he stretched against it. He looked as if he were pushing the wall over to the next building. Then, he grabbed his leg and lifted it above his head. Being strong and limber were tools of his trade. Since he had hurried down from his bed, he was doing his daily ritual now while meeting with Suzy Q and Zelda.

Suzy Q walked over and faced him, and suddenly threw fast, powerful punches at Psalms that would hit most anyone else, but he blocked each one.

“I guess you're awake, mate, eh?”

“What's on the table?” He looked down at the flow chart.

Suzy Q nodded to Zelda.

“This is all the info I have gathered about Evita's disappearance.” Zelda had a singer's smoky voice as if she was trying to sell herself on a corner. She came to Psalms' company by way of Officer CC, the Seattle policewoman who traded work favors with Psalms. Zelda had played lone wolf, and avenged herself on the job where something went wrong. Instead of arresting her for
murder, Officer CC brought Zelda to Psalms. Officer CC knew Zelda had done the right thing, but because of her troubled past, she could be found guilty. Suzy Q helped to clean up her mess, and Zelda became a part of the team.

While Suzy Q and Psalms worked on Gabrielle's problem with The Duck, she let Zelda hone her skills to track down and trace Evita. Zelda followed up on the leads Suzy Q gave her, and came up with a few on her own. She went underground, and put money in the right hands to find things out. She used the computers. Velvet helped her learn how to comb through crime and news reports, and to find sources of info on the computer.

Zelda stood tall over the table. Clearly her body was built for speed. With long legs placing her slightly over five feet ten inches, she was the best female track runner in the state of Texas years ago. But life had been rough on her. Her hair had been through too many wrong turns of worthless advice, but as of late, it was growing out. Her flawless, dark skin and narrow almond eyes made her appear suspicious, and dangerous, yet ultra-pretty at the same time. Men and women kept their distance from her.

She had never lost a fight, but had gained a few chipped teeth in them, and her broken nose twisted her attitude. She treated herself as ugly when she was actually an extremely pretty woman. Suzy Q, Mintfurd, and Velvet had guided her with her health inside and out. Her teeth were now perfect, and she had received surgery to fix her nose. As of late, Lois Mae was guiding her in her education, and in a year she'd graduate from college.

Zelda pointed to a position on the flow chart. “We can trace her movements from the last day anyone saw her. Two people for sure came in contact with Evita: her coworker, Jamie, from the True Essence Humanity Foundation, and the parking lot attendant at
the lounge where her car was towed. We can clear the coworker, but after asking her several times, she did admit that Evita had assaulted a man who groped her butt. Another man did sit at her table, but Evita had told her, he was showing off buying drinks for everyone in the bar.

“The coworker, Jamie, was hesitant to say anything because she knows you, Mr. Black, and did not know how cool it was for her to say that Evita was in contact with other men.”

Zelda pointed to another spot on the chart. “The other person to come in contact with Evita was the parking lot valet. This is where we find a direct problem, other than the man who sat at Evita's table and bought drinks. I do have some question about that, but first this.

“The valet's name is Phoenix. She is a cross-dresser and known to be inappropriate in her behavior. Evita had evicted Phoenix from the program several times, and Phoenix has had a few stints in prison. Phoenix, a naturalized citizen from Canada, has been on both sides of pimps and pimping, and drugs. She targeted other kids in the program for sexual conquests. It looked as if this Phoenix cleaned up her act and Evita helped her out by finding a job as valet.”

Psalms stood, and craned his head side to side and rotated his shoulders. He was tight and tense from all the airplane rides of late, and the work he and the crew had done. He sat down and stared at the flow chart. He wanted to let Zelda know she had done an impressive job, but he could see there was much more.

Zelda continued. “We know the keys to the Audi R8 that Evita was driving were still in the valet station when the car was towed. Being that the car is high-end, they didn't have it towed away as fast as other cars. The lounge is connected to a marina of million-dollar
yachts, and so all assumed maybe a yacht owner was out on his boat, and had overstayed his parking time.

“Another part of this is that on Friday, Evita was there when Phoenix asked for days off to go to Canada. She never came back to work a week later.”

Zelda pointed to another position on the chart. “Three weeks ago the body of Phoenix Royce washed up in Puget Sound near downtown. The police believe the body drifted over from one of the islands or maybe the middle of somewhere. Her body had a bullet hole at the base of her skull.”

Psalms sat up straight and looked at the printed Internet news article that Zelda handed him. He walked around the table reading, and stopped and poured some coffee.

“A day later, the harbor police found a man's body a little farther down, and he, too, had a bullet hole at the base of his skull. When I checked both their histories, I found out the man worked security at a youth prison that Phoenix spent time in a few years ago.”

“Yer did good, mate, yer really doing good,” Suzy Q said to Zelda.

“I couldn't find out any more through news accounts, so I did a people search on both dead folks, and all I could trace was the next of kin for Phoenix and the man. She has someone who appears to be her aunt or maybe an older sister in Vancouver, Canada using the last name of Royce. The man appears to be related to an ex-husband of this aunt or sister.”

Psalms closed his eyes slowly and concentrated on a visual. A name tag came into his mind's eye. It was the name tag of the female guard at the prison where he and Tylowe had visited Elliot. She was the one who'd come over and flirted with him and Tylowe when they'd knocked Elliot out. Her name, Sergeant Royce, came into full view in his mind. He remembered her unattractiveness,
and how he thought someone had told her she was cute when she was not.

What made Psalms proficient at protecting is remembering when and where, and when something felt odd. Something was definitely odd about how Sergeant Royce wanted attention and a connection that he and Tylowe would never give her.

His eyes were open now, and outside, the morning sky reflected in his golden eyes. But, his vision circled back on that visit to a man he detested. He and Tylowe had been set up. Psalms filled the two ladies in on what he knew, filling in more missing information.

“That lily-livered fucker is still in play, eh?” Suzy Q cleared her throat and turned away and spat in the trash. She put a small, white tipped cigar in the corner of her mouth, although she never smoked. “What is going on has all been in play for a long time, mate.”

Psalms opened the door to let in some fresh Puget Sound air. He motioned to Velvet to come in, but she still was still getting out of her car carrying her morning drink. She no longer bought expensive coffees. She bought expensive, no-sugar-added fruit smoothies.

He turned back to the ladies. “Yeah, you are so right. We need to put our heads deep into the hot house and focus on how we counter, how we hide our cards, and what is the end game for Elliot. We also need to know who else is connected.”

“Mr. Black,” Zelda said.

“Zelda, you have worked for me for a year now, and I'm your employer, but I'm your friend first. Call me Psalms. You do excellent work. More responsibility is coming your way. You are valuable to this company, and with that, do you think you still need to do ultimate fighting? I know you're the best on the West Coast, but we need you healthy. Plus, those teeth and that nose job cost us a pretty penny.”

“Thank you, sir. I'll keep my mouth and nose protected. Besides, it's the other women that need to keep their faces clear of my fists and feet. Anyway, I have some information on the man who sat at Evita's table. I wish I could get more, but he has money, and a trace has been hard. The man did buy a round of drinks for the whole place to the tune of a thousand-plus dollars. He also tipped the staff two hundred dollars.

“Evita's coworker, Jamie, had said Evita mockingly called him ‘Pretty Boy.' I'll need Mintfurd's help to override and send in a tracking worm to that lounge's computer system to allow me to get more information on the credit card he used. The waitress does remember a good-looking, highly manicured man who used his phone and a barcode that they scanned to pay for the drinks.”

Suzy Q sat quiet as she knew things about Evita that she kept to herself. Evita loved pretty boys to have her sexual fun.

“I need to call Tylowe. He and I need to make a trip to Vancouver, to let Elliot know we have the kids, and to get a read of what he might know. He wants to play poker. We can do that. Gotta make him feel he is winning, and if we don't go up there, he will know we are on to his ass.

“Q, it now makes a little more sense what that Russian told you in Vegas about serving a black and white Russian.”

O
ut of the corner of his eye, Mintfurd saw that his phone started blinking; it was a message of urgency. His head was propped up high on several pillows. He was on his back, and Darcelle's pussy was parked right at his nose. Her thighs were spread as she had pulled her knees toward her upper body, much like how a baby sleeps arched with their butt in the air.

He took deep breaths of her scent with his nose. Her pubic hair at the bottom of her pussy and between her asshole touched his lips. His tongue slid out and in as he licked the moist lips of her pussy. They had come back from taking an invigorating shower after sheets-ripping-off-the-bed sex late in to the night. She had stepped out of the shower before him and had put fresh sheets on the bed. She had a cup of hot water with honey. She told him to hold the hot water in his mouth and lick her. She knew the warmness, and the honey would make her pussy feel good, and the sweetness in his mouth mixed with her taste would make him eat with sweet pleasure.

Darcelle wanted something she had never felt before, a man who loved to eat her, and he had skills with his tongue and lips and fingers. Mintfurd was skilled, and loved what he did with his tongue. And he had no limits.

She took all of his thick, throbbing dick, but damn, he had made
her sore inside. She couldn't take any more dick. She smiled while looking at it lying on his belly, as the head drooled into his belly button. She meditated on the sight, and loved all she was feeling. She reached for the dickhead, held it mildly, and slowly stroked him. He groaned, and she felt his body vibrate through his vast chest as she hunched over his body. His dick went up like a flag on the pole. She wanted some sexual healing. She wanted…she wanted…wanted her kitty licked. And he licked. He reached under her arms and almost lifted her with his massive strength. She loved that he could make a rag doll out of her. He sat her up straight, and she felt his hot muscled tongue curl, and slide up into her ass, in and out and out and in. She placed her hands on his chest and humped his face until she couldn't take it anymore. She hunched her body back over his chest again and backed up until she felt his tongue on her clit. His tongue felt like a flexible dickhead, and a flicking human vibrator. It felt so good her fist pounded on his thigh. Her hips circled on his face.

• • •

Late last night, it was the other way around. He had her on the bed and had hovered over her with his dick in her mouth. She had held his dick with two hands, and sucked hard as he went in and out of her mouth. She had made sucking sounds as his dick sometimes came all the way out of her mouth. He had exhaled loud breaths with each stroke of his dick as he humped her mouth.

He had stood up off his tall bed. She almost had to hop up to get in his bed it was so tall. Mintfurd had moved to the edge of the bed. Darcelle had moved her head to the edge, almost letting her head hang off, and he had squatted down for her to lick his balls as he stroked his dick. He loved that he didn't have to tell her
to do anything. It was as if she knew to put herself in the action right away, no matter what he did. Most women he encountered loved a good fuck, and in return let him do what he wanted to do. It was something entirely different when a woman was just as active and wanting to give.

He had picked her up and put her legs in a wide V, hanging over his back. His hands pushed her ass up and toward his face. He had driven his tongue into her pussy, as if he were in a pie-eating contest. He had tongue fucked her pussy, driving deep into her sensitive tunnel. She wished she could have reached his dick somehow with her mouth or been able to stroke him in her hands.

He had put her down, and she had turned over on all fours. With the bed's height, she had backed her ass up to the edge, and her pussy and his dick lined up. He only had to squat a little, and that was because she had spread her legs so far apart as she angled her ass up. He had taken his hardness in his hand and massaged it in a circular motion, right at the opening of her pussy lips. He softly had worked inside a little at a time. She hadn't felt pain, but she'd felt pressure, and let out a deep vulgar grunt; it had made his dick throb. His girth and length had gotten to every internal limit she had. She had felt discomfort for a quick moment, but she was so ready and wanted him, she had found herself quickly pushing back in to his dick and riding it. She could take it deep, but his girth made her breathe erratically.