Page 58 of Devil
“Maybe we should drop everything we think we know and look at everyone involved again?” he suggested.
Lily’s phone rang, but she nodded her agreement as she answered. “Hey, Stella…Yes?…Okay, thanks…Tomorrow, a little over twenty-four hours….I’ll keep that in mind…Actually, do you have a good strategist?…Yeah?…Do you think he’d mind joining Darius and me?…Great, thanks. We should be back in twenty minutes or so.”
She ended the call and gazed out the window before turning back to him. “Stella’s got someone who’s going to come over and help us with this puzzle. I’ll fill you in on the rest later,” she said.
He nodded. They didn’t need to terrify the taxi driver by talking about some of the things they needed to talk about. He did have one question, though. “Franklin won’t mind you bringing someone else in?”
Lily shot him a mischievous smile. “He’ll grumble, but since he’s the one who first introduced us to Stella, by way of her brother, he can hardly blame us. Or if he does, he won’t show it too much, because he knows that will only make us call on her more often just to annoy him.”
“Tormenting an old man seems a little beneath you.”
“You don’t know Franklin. It’s how he knows we love him.”
“Strange man.”
Lily chuckled. “You have no idea.”
Thirty minutes later, someone knocked on the front door of the house in Alexandria. With his hands full in the kitchen—heating up some lasagna for a late lunch—Lily answered the door.
“Chad!” she exclaimed before throwing her arms around the man. Darius stilled and frowned. Lily was not one for overt displays of affection. What had this man done to earn one?
Whoever he was, he stood in the doorway, his hands at his sides. Then his shoulders raised on a breath, and he lifted his arms and awkwardly patted Lily on the back. “Devil, it’s good to see you again.”
Lily laughed. “Admit it, you missed us,” she said, leading him into the dining area after closing the door.
“Like the pox, darling. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t say that,” the man replied.
“Darius, this is former FBI agent Chad Warwick. Beni recruited him from the FBI to join Stella’s team, but we worked with him last May on the Shanti Joy debacle. He didn’t know Gavin and Six were a thing and hit on Six. Gavin got a little funny about it. Gavin doesn’t rile often or easily, so of course we had to take every opportunity to aggravate him.”
“And all at my expense,” Chad said. “Let me tell you, it was a super fun few months working with the club and preparing for trial.” He held out his hand.
Darius set the lasagna down and shook Chad’s hand. “Commander Darius Washington,” he said. He had no idea who Benny was or what his relation was to Stella. Hehadheard about the Shanti Joy case, though. It was impossible to live in the US and not have heard about the downfall of the successful cosmetics company. When a company that touts itself as the pinnacle of ethical businesses is found to be involved in everything from bribery of government officials to treason and torture, it tends to make the news.
“Who’s Benny?” he asked, pulling three plates out of the cabinet as Chad set a bag down on one of the dining chairs.
“Benita Ricci,” Lily said. “And it’s Beni, with aninot ay, if you’re wondering.”
The plates clattered to the counter. “Benita Ricci, as in the wife of the vice president?”
Lily nodded. “She’s a friend, and she’s awesome.”
“She’s scary as shit,” Chad said. “The only reason I agreed to work with Stella is because Beni terrifies me.”
Lily laughed. Darius wasn’t so sure the guy was kidding. “And Stella? I assume that’s Stella Matthews, Vice President Matthews’s sister?” Lily nodded. “How did I not know that the woman you’ve been talking to for the past several days is Stella Matthews?”
Lily shrugged. “Maybe because it’s not important who her brother is. Her security firm is the best in the country. And don’t lie, Chad, Beni might terrify you, but you love working for Stella.”
A small smile played on the guy’s face. “Maybe, but don’t tell her I said so. She still thinks Beni strong-armed me so is being super accommodating. I don’t expect it to last, but I’m curious how long it will.”
Laughing, Lily grabbed the plates and brought them to the table. “It’s your funeral, Warwick. When she finds out you’ve been playing her, you’re going to regret it.”
Chad shrugged and reached for the knives and forks Darius had set out on the counter. “Probably, but why worry about that today? I’ve got lasagna, good company, and an attempted assassination of the Chinese president to foil. I’ll just enjoy the moment.”
That brought a chuckle out of Darius as he joined them and placed the lasagna on a trivet. Chad might grumble about working with the club, but it didn’t take a genius to see he liked it.
“Okay, lay it on me,” he said when they all had their plates filled with the steaming pasta.
Starting with Nadia and Sonia’s break-in of Lab 14 and ending with the meeting with Crawford and Highborn, they spent the next ninety minutes filling Chad in. Unlike the summary they’d given the agents, he and Lily provided Warwick with the minutiae of everything. From the makes and models of Sonia’s and Nadia’s cars, to the precise amount of time the intruders spent in Lab 14, to what had happened at Jennifer Pritchard’s farm.
