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He was breathing heavily now, her hand over his mouth, his nostrils flaring, widening, then closing again.
Shit.Shit. SHIT!
Getting spotted by the mayor wasn’t exactly ideal, but that cat was out of the bag now. She glanced towards the door. Still shut. She glanced down at the wide-eyed, nostril-flaring, panicking politician.
Then she said quietly, “I’m going to remove my hand. If you scream, I’ll hurt you. Clear?”
He blinked once. More hyperventilating, his chest rising and falling and lifting the bunched blankets and his silk pajamas.
Slowly, she removed her hand from his lips.
He opened his mouth. She tensed.
But he didn’t scream. Instead, he swallowed, releasing a little whimper. “I said I’d pay,” he hissed at her. “I said I would. He said I had time!”
She stared down at the man. Clearly, he thought she was someone else.
Cora considered this. Then she said, “Who do you think I work for?”
The mayor blinked and sat up. He leaned back against the headboard, still breathing heavily.
Cora kept glancing at the door, guaranteeing that they were still alone. Once she had finally settled, she fixed her gaze on the mayor.
“Who’s after you, Castillo?”
He did a double take suddenly, his eyes, which had initially been widened in fear, narrowed suspiciously. He swallowed once, the sound audible even over the noise machine. “Whoare you?” He said slowly.
“I’m someone that knows your wife was killed, your advisor was killed, and now your daughter. And you’re cowering in that bed, suspecting that I came here to finish the job. So, let’s stop asking each other stupid questions, and help me find out who’s doing this.”
She came across a bit strong as far as sales pitches went. But she wasn’t here to make friends.
The cryptic text messages, the fear in the man’s eyes, the certainty that she had come to finish him off suggested that someone besides the mayor was behind the murders. This might have struck others as obvious, but Cora had seen too much to rule out any suspect. Now, though, she felt justified in determining the mayor’s innocence.
He didn’t look nearly so convinced of hers.
“I don’t know who you are; you’re not police. You’re not my security. And you’re sneaking around in my room!”
His eyes moved up and down, clearly determining that she was not carrying a weapon. She decided he didn’t have to know about the knife in her thigh sheath.
“Who hired you?” he kept going, still keeping his voice low in case Cora was the threat he suspected. “Is this a test? Are they seeing if I’m going to squeal? Because I swear,” he said, panic returning rapidly to his eyes, “I wouldnever. I’ve never even thought of it. Just check the news. I haven’t told anyone anything!”
“I’m not whoever you think I am, Sir. I’m trying to find the person who’s doing this. But I’m starting to suspect that you have an idea who that is. If you don’t care to bring the man who murdered your wife and daughter to justice, that’s on you. I’m here about Janice Lochhead. So, you could save me a lot of time and trouble if you just told me who murdered her.” Cora hesitated, glanced at her fingernails, then looked up again and added, “And also where I might find them.”
There was a finality to her words. The mayor shifted in his bed, his silken pajamas doing little to hold back the sweat now visible around his armpits. “If I knew, I would’ve told the police,” he said firmly.
She tapped a finger against her lips, then pointed it at him. “Your politician is showing. I just got a rehearsed delivery. Try again.”
His eyes widened, and he gave a little gasp of exasperation. “I told you,” he snapped. “Idon’tknow.”
“I think you do.”
The mayor leaned his head back against the headboard once again.
She frowned at the motion. She said, “Do you notwantthis person caught? They killed your wife. Your daughter. You don’t want justice?”
He snorted in derision. “This isn’t about justice. It’s about preservation. I don’t know who’s doing this. But I know the people who hired him. Serious people. And if you think sneaking around someone’s bedroom is going to help you tangle with a guy like that, you’re insane.”
“So, who hired him then?”
