Colby Velocity

Carrying personal protection was standard operation procedure for Equalizer cases, but the Colby Agency saw things differently. No weapons unless absolutely necessary. Rocky felt a sense of relief at this news. He much preferred being armed.

“Thank you.” Kendra stood. “I’m ready,” she looked expectantly at Rocky, “if you’re all set.”

Rocky pushed to his feet. “I’m good to go.” He didn’t have to ask who would be serving as lead on the case. For now, the Colby investigator assigned was in charge. That was fine by him. He had a reputation for being a rogue when it came to strategy in the field, and though he liked to bend the rules he rarely broke those rules. Not his style.

Within ten minutes they had picked up their weapons and bags, loaded into the agency car and headed for the airfield. Since Kendra didn’t appear to be interested in conversation, Rocky passed the travel time reviewing Sayar’s dossier a second time. Mostly he needed a distraction to keep his mind off how good she smelled. The scent was soft, subtle and sweet. Womanly.

But he was ignoring that.

She was friendly enough in a very professional way, but she paid little or no attention to him on any other level. Why should she? They were colleagues, nothing more. Obviously he wasn’t her type.

He reread the last paragraph he’d perused. Sayar had no criminal record, not even a parking ticket. Top of his class at Vanderbilt University. Hardworking family. No ticked off ex-girlfriends. According to his family, Sayar never complained about work or any of his professional associates. This tragedy was a complete shock to all who knew him, again, according to the family. The tragedy was too fresh. Later when the shock wore off a little, one or both parents might remember little seemingly insignificant details they couldn’t recall now.

Rocky closed the file and slid it into his bag. Whatever the victim’s family thought or recalled, something was going on. Otherwise Sayar wouldn’t have come to Kendra. Problem was, he was dead and all Rocky and Kendra had were questions.

Kendra stared out the car window at the passing cityscape. Rocky took advantage of her preoccupation to study his partner for this assignment. She was young, twenty-eight compared to his thirty-five. Long hair, more blond than brown. Smooth skin that seemed to be perpetually tanned. High cheekbones, thin nose and extra full lips. Big, brown eyes that reflected utter brilliance and deep compassion. Always conservatively dressed, but those modest skirts did nothing to disguise her tall, slender, well-toned frame. During the siege of the agency back in January he’d caught himself staring at her more than once. A very attractive woman.

But what he liked about her most was her extraordinarily ladylike manners. She reminded him of his mother. Prim, proper—classy—and always going out of her way to be helpful. He’d asked around about her social life and he’d learned a sad truth. Kendra Todd was all work and no play. She rarely dated. Never looked at him as anything other than a fellow investigator. Never looked at any of the males around the office in an unbusinesslike manner.

He’d asked her to lunch once but she’d declined, opting to remain at her desk with a sandwich from home. She was the first woman he’d been attracted to who wasn’t attracted to him first.

Strange.

Even stranger, he was attracted to her and she wasn’t actually his type. Kendra Todd possessed all those traits that he respected in his mother, but she was way too focused on business at this stage in her life.

Way too uptight for him.

She turned in his direction, her questioning gaze colliding with his.

Rocky blinked. Busted. “Sorry about your friend.” Shaky recovery but at least he’d gotten out something rational.

“Thank you.” She smoothed a hand over her cream-colored skirt and cleared her throat, simultaneously shifting her gaze forward.

The awkward silence that followed squeezed the air right out of the car.

Only one way to alleviate the tension. “You had time to lay out a preliminary strategy?” Safe enough question, he supposed.

A moment passed while she chewed her bottom lip. “I’m going straight to the top.”

He lifted his eyebrows in question. “Senator Castille?”

“Yes.”

Could prove dicey. “You think he’ll see you?” At the briefing she’d mentioned that her parting with the senator had been less than pleasant.

“No.”

“I guess you have a plan B.” Rocky knew enough about her to fully understand that she wouldn’t take no for an answer without a fight.

Kendra turned her attention back to him. “He will see me. He won’t like it. He’ll evade my attempts, ignore my questions, but he will eventually admit defeat.”

Approval tugged at one corner of Rocky’s mouth. Oh yeah, this lady was a ferocious tiger despite her sweet little kitten appearance. Something else he appreciated about her. “So you’re fairly certain the senator is involved somehow.”

“I’m certain of nothing,” she pointed out. “I feel confident that he is well aware of whatever rumors are traveling the grapevine regarding the murder. Those rumors might provide leads.”

“What about other lobbyists? Personal friends?” Judging by the stack of notes she had in that briefcase of hers, she’d done some serious research in the hours after her meeting with Sayar. Rocky doubted she’d gotten much sleep.

“There are two close associates, Stanford Smith and Ella Hendrix, who have publicly slammed his support of a controversial bill.” Kendra took a deep breath and appeared to consider her next words before continuing. “It would be too easy, not to mention stupid,” she glanced knowingly at Rocky, “for either one of them to be the one we’re looking for. But, like the senator, they will be privy to rumors, incidents, that we need to know that might propel our investigation in the proper direction.”

Rocky hadn’t thought of it until now but he wondered if a lack of a real social life was a lingering side effect of D.C. politics. According to the dossier, Sayar had no notable social life. Rocky opted to ask about that later. To ask now might back up any suspicions she had about catching him staring at her. Every time he had the opportunity to study her he noticed something new.

Like the small sprinkling of freckles across her nose. He’d never noticed that before. Then again, he’d never sat this close to her in a confined space for this length of time. When she smiled, those extra full lips revealed gleaming white teeth that were far from perfectly straight. Just a little crooked. Just enough to give her smile special character.

He liked that about her. Gorgeous but not too perfect.

He seemed to like a lot of things about her.

“Did you have suggestions on where to begin?”

It wasn’t until she asked the question that he realized she was openly watching him stare at her. He swallowed. Told himself to say something. “We should, of course, check out his residence. Often when someone feels cornered or afraid, he or she will hide information in a safe place in hopes of keeping a secret.” He didn’t look away when he ran out of logical suggestions. No point pretending he hadn’t been staring. She’d caught him red-handed. Twice now.

“We’ll go there tonight when the police have finished their investigation,” she agreed. “The property will assuredly still be a crime scene, but hopefully the police will choose not to post a guard once their techs are finished.”

“They’ll take his computer.” Rocky was a whiz with computers, but the chances of the cops leaving that behind were slim to none.

“They will,” Kendra echoed. She relaxed in the seat, turning her attention front and center once more. “But they don’t know about Yoni’s backup drive or where he keeps it hidden.”

Now that was a stroke of luck. “You obviously do.”

“I definitely do.” She shot Rocky a triumphant smile. “He recently moved it, but he gave me the location last night. Just in case.”

“He was aware on some level that the threat might go beyond a reputation assassination?” In Rocky’s opinion the idea that the victim felt he was in physical danger put a slightly different slant on the case.

“He didn’t say as much, but I got that impression. Yoni wasn’t one to break protocol. He played by the rules.” She gave Rocky another of those pointed looks. “All the rules.”

Rocky studied her eyes, the certainty there, and the determined set of her jaw. “Once in a great while a true innocent is mowed down in a scenario like this, but only once in a great while. I’d wager your friend has at least one secret that’ll surprise you.” He didn’t have to spell out the glaring fact that Sayar did not want to go to the police.

Another of those long, awkward pauses lapsed with her staring directly into his eyes.

“Maybe,” she admitted.

“If I’m right, you owe me lunch.” A long-awaited lunch, he didn’t mention.

Her assessing gaze narrowed slightly. “You’re on.”

He grinned, leaned into the headrest. Lunch was a given. Rocky had never met a man or woman, dead or alive, who didn’t have at least one secret. Yoni Sayar surely had his.

“If you’re wrong,” Kendra said, cutting into his victorious musing, “you have to wear a suit to the office every day for a week.”