Daddy's Little Killer

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

 

Haverston swept right past David and Seleeby. Unlike me, his radar didn't register in the red zone at the sight of certain attitude. Federal agents exude it. I turned left and headed back to the restaurant, but I could feel them following and hear the steady click of polished patent leather shoes on the marble floor.

"Helen," David's fingers gripped my shoulder. "We need to talk."

I shrugged out of the light restraint. "No, I have nothing to say to either one of you."

"Then you'll listen," Seleeby chimed in. "Because we're not leaving until we've spoken our piece."

"Whatever it is, I simply don't care. My life in Washington is behind me, permanently. Is that clear enough for you, Agent Seleeby? Whatever you do, whatever information you think you've gathered, it simply doesn't matter to me."

"Helen, we think that Sully Marcos had Rick assassinated."

Well hallelujah and praise Jesus. There was that word again. Assassination. Technically, it implied the murder of an important person. I supposed that it signified the government's sense of loss of an important witness, one who I knew would never turn on his master. 

"It's hardly rocket science. Marcos probably feared what you hoped would happen."

David's head jerked at Seleeby who, like the obedient dog, slouched off to the corner. David took a step closer to me. "Helen, you scared the life out of me. We had no idea what happened to you after you left the brownstone."

"Like I would stick around to witness them knock holes in the walls."

"They did no such thing. Mark told me that you accused us of sending another team to watch you. I wish we had. It would've saved me a lot of anxiety."

"Your comfort is the least of my concerns."

"You don't mean that. I know you don't." David's hand snaked out, fingers brushing lightly against my newly coiffed hair. "You look so different. It suits you."

I slapped his hand away. "Stop it, David. You can't woo me back into complacency."

"Can I woo you back home where you belong? This thing has blown over as fast as I thought it would. They had to look at you, Helen. Until we had concrete evidence of Sully Marcos' motive, there was no choice but to look at anyone who had a relationship with him. When you resigned, the way you did, it looked bad."

"I gave ten years of my life to the bureau. Monday was my reward. Thanks but no thanks. My life is moving in a different direction now."

"To Darkwater Bay? Helen."

"This is none of your business."

"Aren't you curious about why Marcos had Rick murdered?"

"I really don't care." My arms wrapped around my waist. Whatever path they were hurling headlong down really wasn't my concern. As long as they didn't consider me a suspect, it meant less than nothing to me.

"Someone embezzled a very large sum of money from an account managed at Rick's firm," David said. "An extremely large sum of money."

"Shame on Seleeby and company for not making sure all of the assets linked to the Marcos crime family at Rick's firm weren't frozen. He has no one to blame but himself, yet here I am, tainted once again. Well I won't endure a second round of what I went through when Rick was arrested, David."

"I understand what you're feeling, Helen, I really do. But running away isn't the answer. Darkwater Bay absolutely isn't the answer. Nobody survives the corruption in this city. It's a career ender."