Blood Money (12 page)

More than me,
Kelton thought, and
this time, he was pretty sure he kept it to himself.

The toilet flushed, the water ran, and a few
seconds later Jessica was walking back into the room. “You boys
miss me?”

“I know I did,” Earl said. He climbed to his
feet. Turning towards Jessica, he said, “And as much as I have
enjoyed talking to you, Milady, I’m afraid it’s time for you guys
to get back on the road. This old man needs his sleep.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

It was a little after midnight when they
pulled into a run-down motel in one of the seedier areas of
Riverside. The area had a Bourbon Street smell to it, like alcohol
had soaked into the pavement. They were parked out of view of the
front entrance, near the middle of the building. The lot was nearly
empty.

Kelton said, “How are we going to work
this?”

“I’ll take care of it,” Jessica said. She
let her hair down and shook her head, brushed some of it in front
of her face. Then she bundled the bottom of her shirt in a knot,
exposing her copper-skinned, rock-hard belly. Finally, she slid her
pants down so they were riding low on her hips, exposing the top of
her panties in the process.

“Now that’s what I’m talking about,” Kelton
said in as lewd a voice as he could muster.

“Shut up and give me some cash.”

“Yes mistress,” Kelton said. “Whatever you
say.”

He pulled the money out of his pocket,
unfurled ten 20 dollar bills and handed them to her.

Jessica folded the bills in half and stuck
them in her back pocket. “Just wait here,” she said. “I’ll be back
in a few minutes with keys to our room.”

She climbed out of the car and started
walking towards the lobby, her hips swinging in an exaggerated
fashion. Although Kelton was laughing, his eyes were firmly fixed
on her backside and his mouth was turned up in an unconscious
grin.

A short time later, Jessica exited the lobby
with a wide smile on her face. She came to his window and leaned
over, her elbows resting on the ledge, giving Kelton a good look
down the front of her shirt. She was holding an electronic key in
her right hand, waving it in front of Kelton’s face.

“Any problems?” Kelton said.

Jessica shook her head. “The kid at the
counter couldn’t have been more than twenty years old. I played him
like a banjo. He would’ve licked my feet clean if I would’ve told
him to.”

“I don’t blame him.”

“Of course you don’t. You’d do the same, if
I told you to.”

“Is that right?” Kelton said.

“Absolutely. And not only would you do it,
but you’d thank me for the opportunity afterwards.”

“You sure are something, you know that?”

“You’re damn right I know it.”

Kelton laughed. “What room are we in?”

“Sixty-nine,” Jessica said. “I asked for it
specifically.”

“Pushing a little hard now, aren’t you?”

“I have not yet even begun to push,” she
said. “Believe me, when I do, you’ll know.”

“You mind if I hop in the shower?” Jessica
said after they’d entered the room. “I’ve felt dirty for days,
since those assholes first picked me up.”

“Not at all,” Kelton said.

Jessica turned and headed towards the
bathroom, stretching her arms over her head as she walked. Kelton’s
eyes were fixed on her and she seemed to sense his gaze. After
opening the bathroom door, she paused to look over her shoulder.
“You need to grab anything before I hop in the shower? Toothpaste?
Soap? Some skin lotion perhaps?”

“No thanks. I think I’ll be fine.”

“Your loss,” she said. “I’ll leave the door
unlocked. Just in case you change your mind.”

Kelton shook his head and laughed under his
breath as she disappeared into the bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later, Jessica came out with
only a towel wrapped around her chest. She stood in the doorway for
a moment, her wet hair hanging just above her shoulders. The bottom
of the towel hung to the middle of her thighs.

Kelton tried to maintain a neutral
expression but failed miserably. There was a slight rustle in his
groin that he attempted to ignore but was unsuccessful. Trying to
look natural, he adjusted his position on the bed to hide the tent
that was growing in his pants.

Jessica wasn’t fooled. Her mouth twitched in
a brief smile. She didn’t say anything but Kelton knew she had
gotten the reaction she wanted.

“You can’t tell me you’re not pushing right
now,” Kelton said, trying lamely to diffuse the situation.

“Oh, I might be just nudging you a little,”
Jessica said.

“Well, it’s not going to work, so you might
as well put some clothes on.”

“If you insist,” Jessica said. She walked
over toward the suitcase and opened it. “I don’t suppose you have
any woman’s clothes in here.”

“Nope. Sorry.”

“Can I borrow some of yours then? I don’t
want to sleep in what I was wearing earlier.”

“Be my guest,” Kelton said. “I don’t think
you’ll be able to find anything that fits, though.”

“Oh, I’m sure I can make something work,”
Jessica said. She opened the suitcase and started digging through
the clothes. She eventually came out with a pair of plaid boxers
and a plain white T-shirt.

Sensing what was coming, Kelton turned back
towards the television. He kept his eyes firmly fixed to the screen
as she dropped her towel and slipped into his clothes, only to
realize that he could see her reflection in the television. He
didn’t look away.

After getting dressed, Jessica walked over
and sat down next to him. “See, you can be a gentleman when you
want to.”

“And you can be pretty damn bold when you
want to,” Kelton said. “Which seems to be all the time, the more I
think about it.”

She smiled knowingly and turned her
attention to the TV. “What are you watching?”

“The news,” Kelton said. “I’m been waiting
for something about our little situation back at my house, but I
haven’t seen anything yet.”

“That’s no surprise,” Jessica said. “You’re
watching national news. Our situation was just another murder. They
happen every day. It would be on a local station if anything.”

“Not this one. It should be plastered all
over the national media by now.”

“Why? What makes it so special?”

“The piece of trash I shot in my driveway,
his name was Jason Preston. Son of international banking
mogul—”

“William Preston the Third,” Jessica said.
“Holy crap.”

“Yeah.”

“And there’s been nothing on the news?”

“Nope,” Kelton said. “Not so much as a peep
on any of the channels. Not even a mention on the ticker, and I’ve
been watching non-stop since you got in the shower.”

Jessica fell quiet for a moment, then said,
“What do you think that means?”

“That the Feds are trying to keep this thing
as quiet as possible.”

“Why would they do that?”

“It’s impossible to say for sure,” Kelton
said. “But I’m guessing it’s because they’ve already put everything
together and they don’t want any local yokels picking us up on the
murder rap. They want to bring us into custody themselves so they
can control the flow of information.”

“So what does that mean for us?”

“Probably nothing,” Kelton said. “They’ll
still be focusing their search in the San Diego area, which means
we should have no problem hooking up with Walter tomorrow, as long
as we meet him up north.”

“And if we do have a problem?”

“Then we’ll just try again at a later time,”
Kelton said. “At this point, we don’t have many other options.”

He turned the television off, stood up, and
walked over to the closet. Inside was an extra pillow and blanket.
He pulled them off the shelf and tossed them on the floor.

Jessica shot him an amused look. “What the
hell are you doing?”

“What’s it look like?” Kelton said. “I’m
getting the floor ready so I can sleep on it.”

“Are you kidding me? I got us a room with a
king-sized bed on purpose. You know, so we could both fit in it
easily.”

“I appreciate the sentiment, but no
thanks.”

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Jessica climbed under
the covers, put one of the pillows under her head, patted the one
next to her. “See, there’s plenty of room for both of us.”

“Seriously, I’m fine. I smell like crap
anyway.”

“Oh, stop making excuses and get your ass up
here,” she said.

“Fine. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” He
stripped down to his boxers and a t-shirt and climbed into the bed,
pulling the covers up to his chest.

Jessica was turned on her side, facing him.
“See, that wasn’t so difficult.”

“I guess not,” Kelton said. He was lying on
his back, his body stiff as a board, his eyes probing the ceiling
for inconsistencies.

“You can relax,” Jessica said. “I won’t
bite. I promise.” She smiled ruefully. “Unless you’re into that
sort of thing, of course.”

Kelton started to blush. He couldn’t help
it.

Jessica laughed at him. “I’m just kidding,
Kelton. Chill out.” She took a moment to gather herself, then said,
“What’s your deal anyway? I wouldn’t have guessed you to be such a
prude.”

Kelton shrugged.

“Come on,” Jessica said. “You can tell me. I
won’t say anything to anyone. I promise.”

He turned to look at her. Their faces were
less than a foot apart. “Do you really want to know?”

Jessica eyes were dancing. “Absolutely.”

Kelton caught her stare for a moment, then
looked away. “I can’t. It’s too embarrassing.” He shook his head.
“I just can’t.”

“Come on,” Jessica said. “You have to tell
me now.”

“All right,” Kelton said. “But you have to
promise not to give me grief about it.”

“I swear I won’t,” Jessica said.

Kelton took a deep breath, exhaled slowly,
then said, “I’m a virgin.”

“Get the hell out of here.”

“I’m serious,” Kelton said. “I’ve never had
sex before.”

“Yeah, right. I don’t buy it.”

“Whatever,” Kelton said. “You asked, so I
told you.”

She used her elbow to prop herself up.
“You’re just messing with me, right?”

Kelton shook his head, his expression still
somber.

Jessica fell back into her pillow. She
closed her eyes and said something unintelligible under her breath
before sitting up again and facing him. Then she opened her mouth
but shut it before she said anything, opened it again a few moments
later, only to close it for good this time. She seemed genuinely
confused.

Watching her suffer fractured Kelton’s
façade; he cracked a smile, then started laughing.

“You asshole,” Jessica said. “You were just
messing with me all along?”

“Of course.”

She reached out, punched him in the
shoulder. “You really had me going.”

“I must have,” Kelton said. “That was the
first time I’ve seen you speechless since I met you.”

“How the hell was I supposed to react?”
Jessica said. “If I laugh, I’m a bitch. If I apologize, I’m a
condescending snob. And if I start probing around, I’m a
psycho-analyzing weirdo.”

“So you just shut down completely.”

She shrugged. “Seemed like the wisest choice
at the time.”

“I just can’t believe you bought it,” Kelton
said. “How sad for me that you thought it might actually be
possible.”

“Well, you are a pretty strange guy,”
Jessica said. “And you are acting like a prude for some reason that
is still, as of yet, unexplained.”

“It’s a pretty simple explanation,
actually,” Kelton said. “I’m just old-fashioned.”

“Like, no sex unless you’re married
old-fashioned?”

“More like, no sex with someone I’ve known
for less than 24 hours old-fashioned,” Kelton said. “Especially
when said person is going to be out of my life within a very short
period of time.”

“Ah, I see. You’re of the belief that sex
actually means something beyond physical contact.”

He nodded.

“I can respect that,” Jessica said. “Doesn’t
mean I necessarily agree with you, but I see where you’re coming
from. It’s kind of cute, actually.”

“Yeah right. Don’t give me that crap.”

“It is,” she said. “And to prove to you that
I’m serious, I won’t mess with you any more tonight. Hell, you can
even go back to sleeping on the floor if you like.”

“That’s all right,” Kelton said. “This bed
is pretty comfortable. I think I’ll stay, if you don’t mind.”

“Not at all.”

DAY THREE

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Kelton was halfway through his fourth set of
50 pushups when the cell phone started buzzing.

Not wanting to wake Jessica, he grabbed the
phone and walked out into the hall before flipping it open. As
always, he and Walter ran through the all-clear signal before
getting to anything important.

“Good news,” Walter said after they’d
finished the formalities. “The Feds are still working from
behind.”

“How much do they know?” Kelton asked.

“From what I can gather, they’ve connected
the two episodes, but that’s about it. Their search is focused
mostly on San Diego and they’ve issued alerts throughout the state,
but because of the inflammatory nature of the case, they’re keeping
things under the radar for the most part.”

“And the murder case?”

“They’ve enveloped it into their larger case
and taken the locals out of the loop.”

“So we don’t have much to worry about.”

“That’s right,” Walter said. “We can make
the exchange with relatively little anxiety.”

“How soon?” Kelton said.

“That depends on where you are.”

Kelton paused for a moment before
responding.

“Well?” Walter said. “How are we supposed to
meet up if you won’t tell me where you are?”