SPIRIT OF CONSEQUENCE (A Spirit Walking Mystery Book 1) (7 page)

Suddenly everything changed. His pulse rate spiked and his body turned cold. He was frightened.

I jumped out and saw Dodge coming through the door with Miss Mona.

Miss Mona glared at Jordan, then at the woman. “Doris? Aren’t you supposed to be getting ready for a dinner party?”

“Yes, ma’am.” She nodded and rushed off.

“Jordan, please take the Inspector back downstairs.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“And Jordan,” she continued, “remember the rules.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Sweat beaded up on Jordan’s forehead.

Jordan stepped toward the elevator. Dodge followed. We got in. Dodge nodded toward Jordan. I slipped in.

“Did you know Mandy?” Dodge asked.

“No.” Jordan shook his head. His pulse spiked and his body temperature rose. A definite lie.

“Miss Mona said you did,” Dodge told him. I didn’t need to be in Dodge’s body to know that was a lie.

“She did?” Jordan replied.

“Of course. She wants us to find the person who killed Mandy, too.”

“Mandy was a great girl. She was really beautiful and nice, too.”

“Do you remember her having any problems recently?”

“No, not recently. She did a few times when she first started here.”

“Yeah, Miss Mona gave me the reports on them.” Dodge held up the papers that Mona had given him. “Do the women usually go out or do they bring the men back here?”

“It can happen either way, whatever the client wants.”

“Is it usual for the girls to take them back to their own apartments?”

“Oh, no. That’s not allowed. They don’t go to the client’s home either. It’s either a hotel or here.”

The elevator doors opened on the main floor. Dodge stepped out. Jordan walked us to the door.

Dodge reached out his hand and shook Jordan’s. “Thanks for your help, Jordan.”

“No problem, Inspector.”

The older guard frowned at Jordan, took his arm, and led him away. I slipped out. “You got him in trouble.”

“I might have.” Dodge’s grin was absolutely wicked.

“No doubt about it.”

We got back into Dodge’s car. He put in his ear piece and started the engine. “He wasn’t lying?”

“No.”

“What was the name in the file?”

“Want to guess?”

“Samantha,” Dodge said with forced patience, his eyes narrowed.

“Ruiz Juarez.”

“Who?”

“It’s Mayor Phillips’ alias.”

Dodge grinned and arched an eyebrow. “This should be fun.”

Chapter 7

Dodge pulled away from the curb. “The mayor was involved with Mandy.”

“Well, he was her last client.”

“And maybe her killer.”

“Why would he kill her and then put you as lead of the investigation to find the killer?”

Dodge lowered his gaze. “Maybe because I’ve been screwing up a lot lately and he doesn’t think I can do the job.”

“You’ve been having a rather bad time since your wife was killed?” I asked.

Dodge glanced at me, then back to the road, his face serious and grim. “Yes.”

I would have liked to reach over and comfort him, but that wasn’t going to happen. I winked at him. “Let’s prove him wrong.”

The edges of his frown tilted slightly upward. “Yeah, that’s a great idea, Samantha.”

A few minutes later we pulled up to City Hall, a massive white building with pillars and rounded roofs. Dodge parked in another reserved parking slot, put up his on duty sign, and got out. He had to show his badge at the front door to get around all the metal detectors and security guards.

We took an elevator to the fourth floor. We were alone, so I said, “Do you really think the mayor is a killer?”

Dodge didn’t answer, just stared forward at the door.

I walked around and stood in front of him, waving my arms. “Hello? Dodge?”

He took out his notepad, flipped open to a blank page, and wrote: security cameras.

In two corners next to the ceilings were little cameras. “Oh, those. What’s the matter, you don’t want to look like you’re talking to yourself?”

He wrote: no.

“You’re no fun.”

He smiled. Then the doors opened. At the end of the hall we found the door to the mayor’s office.

Dodge opened it and we entered a large reception area with plush maroon carpet and several small leather couches. A large dark walnut desk stood in the middle and behind it sat a shapely woman in her late twenties or early thirties, with long blonde hair, crystal blue eyes, and boobs the size of Mt. Everest. Her name plate said: Gabriella Marshal, Administrative Assistant. She looked up as we walked to her desk and flashed Dodge a smile that oozed sexual promise. Maybe I should slip into her and give her a huge case of indigestion. We walked directly to her desk and Dodge showed her his badge.

She frowned, but kept her eyes glistening toward Dodge. “I’m afraid Mayor Phillips is very busy this afternoon. He doesn’t have an available appointment until tomorrow.”

“I need to talk to him,” Dodge said sternly, then added, “now!”

Her eyes widened. She picked up the phone. “I’m sorry to interrupt you but I have an Inspector Benson out here and he says he needs to talk to you.” Several seconds later she nodded and said, “Okay.”

She stood and came around the desk. “He says he’ll see you.”

“Thanks.”

She led us through a set of double doors into an enormous office. The mayor sat behind an even larger dark walnut desk in the center of the room. One wall held floor to ceiling bookshelves in the same dark wood, another area accommodated two high-back leather chairs, and behind the desk were large picture windows. I walked over and glanced out to see a magnificent view of the city and the Golden Gate Bridge.

The mayor stood and came around the desk. He was impeccable in an Armani black suit, silk tie, and a haircut that cost more than most people made in a month. But his small mouth, beady eyes, and round chubby face made him look like a dressed-up circus bear. “Welcome, Inspector,” he said as he extended his hand to Dodge.

Dodge shook his hand.

The mayor continued, “It wasn’t necessary to come and thank me for putting you in charge of the investigation. You’re just the right man for the job.”

Dodge smiled, glanced at me, and then back to the mayor. “I do appreciate you putting your faith in me, sir.”

I slid into the mayor as he motioned Dodge to sit in one of the leather chairs. He took the other one. “How’s the investigation going?”

“Well, I only took over this afternoon.”

“I know, but this is very serious business. I want to be kept informed.”

“There has been one development in Mandy’s death.”

The mayor leaned forward. “Great. What is it?”

“I found out who her last client was on the day she was killed.”

The mayor’s pulse rate accelerated, but his voice stayed calm. That was a good trick and probably comes in handy for a politician. “That’s great. Who is it?”

“Ruiz Juarez”

“Have you talked to him yet?”

“That’s why I’m here.”

The mayor’s pulse quickened, again. “Does he work here at city hall?”

“Yes.” Dodge opened his notebook and then smiled at the mayor. “According to my records, it’s you.”

The mayor slowly leaned back in the chair. “Then your records are wrong.”

Dodge flipped through his notebook again. “No, it’s definitely you.”

It was amazing how fast his heart beat and his body temperature rose, yet his voice remained calm and even toned. “I’m afraid you’re mistaken, Inspector.”

I stuck my head out. “He’s definitely lying. His heart is racing. In fact, if you keep this up he will have a heart attack.”

Dodge leaned forward. “Look, sir. I know it was you and it doesn’t matter how much you deny it. I don’t really care that you were with an escort. Just tell me when you left the girl and where, so I can figure out what happened next.”

“How do you know it was me?” The mayor asked.

“I’ve got a source, sir,” Dodge told him.

The mayor stood and paced. “It’s not possible.”

Dodge got up and met the mayor across the room. “I repeat, I don’t care about you seeing an escort.”

The mayor sat back down, this time in his chair at his desk. Was he going to a position of authority? He took a few deep breaths and calmed his heart. “Okay, what do you want to know?”

Dodge sat in one of the chairs in front of the mayor’s desk. “What time did you pick up Mandy?”

“Around three-thirty.”

“Okay, what did you do next?”

“I have a private room at the Ritz. We had dinner.”

“And after dinner?”

The mayor glared at Dodge.

“Okay. What time did you leave her?”

“Eleven-thirty. I wanted to be home by midnight.”

“Is there anyone at home that can verify what time you came in?”

“Yes, my wife woke up when I came home. She’s a very light sleeper. We had a short conversation before we both went to sleep. But I’d rather you not talk to her, if you don’t have to.”

“If I need to, I’ll talk to her later.”

The mayor nodded. “Thank you.”

“How did Mandy get home from the Ritz?”

“My driver took her.”

Dodge opened his notebook. “His name?”

“Allen Jorgensen.”

“I’ll need to talk to him.”

The mayor grabbed a piece of paper from his desk, wrote something on it, and handed it to Dodge. “Here’s his number. I’ll give him a call and have him meet you at the station tomorrow. What time?”

“Around eight?”

“I’m sure that’s fine.”

“Does anyone know about you and Mandy?”

“What are you thinking, Inspector?” the Mayor asked.

“Someone hurt her to get to you.”

“I don’t think so, but then I didn’t think anyone knew about us, either.”

“Don’t worry about it, sir. My source isn’t going to tell anyone.”

The mayor was worried. In fact, it was more than that. I leaned out. “He’s afraid, Dodge. I don’t know of what, but he’s definitely frightened.”

“Is there something you’re not telling me, sir?” Dodge asked.

“No,” the mayor replied. A definite lie and I signaled Dodge.

“If you keep the truth from me now, sir, it’s going to look bad for you if this ever gets out. Come clean with me. What are you not telling me?”

“How do you know I’m holding something back?”

“Let’s just call it instinct, sir.”

“All right. It doesn’t have anything to do with Mandy’s death. You have to promise me that you won’t pass this information to anyone.”

“If it’s not pertinent to my investigation of the murders, I’ll forget it as soon as you tell me.”

“The reason I was seeing Mandy is that she was going to be a surrogate for my wife and me.”

“You weren’t having sex with her on the day she was killed.”

“No, we had dinner. Then a doctor came over and examined her.”

“Doctor’s name?”

“Doctor Dean Peters.”

Dodge wrote the name down in his notebook.

The mayor leaned forward. “My wife and I want children, our own children. A surrogate is the only way to accomplish that without saddling my wife with the burden of carrying a child for nine months.”

“Surrogates have been legal for years – why didn’t you just go through the regular channels?” Dodge’s voice had turned stern, with a hint of irritation.

“My wife doesn’t want anyone to know. I wouldn’t do anything to cause her unhappiness.”

“Does Miss Mona know that’s why you were seeing Mandy?”

“No, separate business dealings with the escorts is against the rules.”

“Then why Mandy?”

“I met Mandy when she was an escort for a visiting dignitary. She had a wonderful personality and both my wife and I enjoyed her company tremendously. Mandy told us she wanted to get out of the escort business.”

“What did you promise her in return for being your surrogate?”

“We agreed to pay for an apartment while she was pregnant and all of her health care and living expenses.”

“And afterwards?” Dodge retorted, the anger coming to the surface.

“It was all completely above board, Inspector. We were going to introduce her to the owner of a major modeling company. No one was going to be hurt by our arrangement.”

“Have you told me everything?” Dodge’s eyes had deepened. There was definite rage in them.

“Yes.”

I slipped out. “He’s telling the truth, Dodge. It’s all about his wife and keeping her happy.”

Dodge stood up. “Fine. If I need to talk to you again, I’ll be back.”

I followed Dodge into the elevator. He didn’t say a word. “What’s up?”

He ignored me.

“Where’s your note pad? I want to know what’s going on.”

He ignored me.

“You were impolite to the mayor. He was trying to explain about his wife and how they wanted their own baby. You were clipped and rude.”

Dodge scowled at me.

“You better be careful or the people behind the cameras will think you’re scowling at your imaginary friend.”

As we left City Hall, Dodge got into his car and I turned in the other direction. What an ass! I thought. I’m done helping him. He can find his own damn killer.

I caught a cab to Pier 39, riding with an older man, maybe seventy, accompanied by a very young girl. It was probably his granddaughter. When she rubbed his thigh with her hand, I realized that they were a couple. Thank God they got out before she took it any further.

I got out too, and walked the three blocks to the Crab Shack. It was where I was going before I met Dodge Dart Benson. It’s open twenty-four hours a day for food, booze, and entertainment. The “Under the Sea” theme was accentuated by scantily clothed mermaids and mermen statues intertwined with full size shipwrecks. Even though it was early, the dance floor was packed with patrons that bumped and grinded to the pop music and strobe lights. I slipped into a woman, enjoyed several strawberry daiquiris and danced for hours. She went home with the last man who bought her a drink. I stayed behind, sat on a stool at the bar and thought about Dodge.

Why was he so discourteous to the mayor? Sure, Mayor Philips is an idiot and his wife is a prima donna. Whoever heard of a woman getting a surrogate so she doesn’t have to carry her own child? What, she’s afraid of ruining her figure? Maybe Dodge was right to be rude.

I decided to check on him. When I left the Crab Shack, it was almost nine o’clock. The overcast had crept in, giving the street lights an eerie glow. Even though I couldn’t feel the chill in the air, I changed into a pair of black jeans, a teal sweater with tiny diamonds imbedded on the collar, and shiny black short boots. I was tired of wearing the green sweatsuit.

A block away, a patrol car had stopped a black sports car which didn’t belong in the city limits. The red and blue lights cut through the mist like a beacon. The patrolman put an overweight, balding man into the back of the cruiser. I recognized him from the Crab Shack; he had been making a pass at every woman in the place.