Buried (Bone Secrets, #3)(85)

He liked the idea of Jamie being locked in his trunk. And tied up. He’d experimented a bit with the bondage-type play but had never gotten turned on by it. But the long-haired woman in his car was sticking in his brain and distracting him in a big way.

Even if she never led him to Chris Jacobs, he still came out ahead.

He needed to find a different place to take the woman. He’d considered and rejected his own home or a hotel, and there was no way he could go back to the bunker. His boss had a few private vacation homes in the state that he could drive to in a couple of hours. He just needed a thumbs-up from his boss—and a key.

The big house was quiet and dark. Feeling a bit like a burglar, Gerald quietly sped through the halls and up another flight of stairs to the boss’s bedroom. He raised his hand to quietly knock and then froze.

What if he wasn’t alone?

He’d never walked in on his boss with anyone, but that didn’t mean this couldn’t be the first time. Gerald was often in the home at night, the boss knew that, but they’d never established a protocol for him needing to talk to the boss during sleeping hours. He still wasn’t answering his cell phone.

The intercom.

There was an intercom system through the phone extensions on the house landline. He’d call from one of the other rooms first. His boss hated mornings. The man was a night owl and always struggled to wake up even on normal mornings.

He tiptoed away from the door. The intercom was a bit obnoxious sounding, but that should be better than Gerald appearing at the door if the boss wasn’t alone. He headed back to the kitchen.

Nearing the kitchen, he stopped and sniffed the air. Coffee? Clinking of dishes told him someone was up. He pushed through the swinging door. His boss stood at the counter in front of the coffeemaker, his back to Gerald.

“Oh, I thought you’d still be asleep,” said Gerald.

The man whirled around, his mouth in an O.

Not his boss.

“Sorry, Senator. I didn’t know you were in town,” Gerald apologized. His boss’s brother was a common visitor in the governor’s mansion. He tugged his jacket’s sleeves down an inch and wished he’d worn his usual driving gloves.

“You scared the shit out of me, Prentice. You shouldn’t sneak up on people like that.”

“I didn’t know anyone else was in the house.”

“We’re leaving for the airport in a couple of hours. I should wake Phillip up.”

That would take care of Gerald’s dilemma. “Good, I need to talk to him real quick. I was about to call him on the intercom. I’d rather you did the honors.”

The senator chuckled with a smile, and Gerald understood why the man had never lost an election. He knew how to appear completely charming and relatable. “Phillip’s never been a morning person. I‘ll let him know you’re waiting to talk to him. Must be urgent if you’re here this early on a Saturday morning.”

Gerald shifted on his feet and pulled his sleeves again. “A personal matter, actually.”

The senator nodded. “Got it. I’ll let him know.” He poured two mugs of coffee, adding plenty of cream to both, and backed through the swinging kitchen door. “A little peace offering. We were up till one last night packing and talking. Coffee should wake him up easier.”

Gerald sincerely doubted coffee was going to help after his boss found out he hadn’t completed his mission.



“What? What the hell is it?” Mason asked Ray again. The other detective was frantically rooting through his papers. Mason was about to pull the car over and grab the papers to see for himself.

“Hang on. I want to make sure I’m not totally wrong first.”

“Christ, Ray, you’re slower than my mother’s dial-up.”

Ray scanned a page. “Here it is. Here’s the name again. Yep. Phillip Brody was the prosecutor for Hinkes’s trial.”

“What the hell? Our Governor Brody?”

“Yeah, our governor started out in the Multnomah County district attorney’s office before moving into politics. Ran for state representative, succeeded, and moved up from there. But before that, he was a lowly assistant district attorney.”

“Wait a minute.” Mason’s brain was making leaps and bounds. And somersaults. “So, Phillip Brody knew Hinkes at some point. Also had to learn what a scumbag he was.”

“There’s no way he’d keep up an association with that kind of person.”

“Christ, I’d hope not. I like to think our elected officials have better taste.”

“Governor Brody also has the type of power and access to make someone’s past disappear.”

“Shit.” Mason didn’t know if his brain could accept that step.

“Think the governor knows where to find Hinkes these days?”

“That’d be a big help. But wait a minute. Katy Darby.”

“What about her?”

“She worked on Senator Brody’s campaigns…maybe she also worked with Governor Brody? She seemed to be the type of person who would work with both men. Their politics are similar. I have to imagine that working on a campaign isn’t a year-round job once the election is over. I wouldn’t be surprised if she worked with both men. If one was happy with her work ethic, surely he’d recommend her to his brother. It’d make sense that she’d spend time during one man’s off-season helping out the other one,” said Mason.