D.C. Dead (Stone Barrington 22)

“The very same day. Mrs. Feliciano was very specific about that.”

Dino finished his drink and stood up. “If you’ll excuse me, Shelley and I are dining out tonight.” He held up the lipstick in a plastic bag and dropped it into his coat pocket s coat p.

“Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do,” Holly said.

“There isn’t anything you wouldn’t do,” Dino said, then left.

“Hungry?” Stone asked, handing her a room service menu.

“Ravenous,” she replied, pinching his cheek.

THE FOLLOWING MORNING, Stone and Dino met with Brixton Kendrick’s former secretary, Charlotte Kirby.

“I believe we spoke on the phone,” Stone said.

“That’s correct,” she replied. She was an interesting-looking woman—in her early forties, he reckoned.

“And how long have you worked for Fair Sutherlin?”

“About seven months. After Mr. Kendrick’s death, his replacement wanted to bring his own secretary with him, so I stayed just long enough to get her up to speed, then I accepted an offer to work for Ms. Sutherlin.”

“Tell me, Ms. Kirby,” Stone said, “were you aware that Brix was conducting at least one affair in the White House?”

She froze. “And where did you get that idea?” she asked.

“From someone who saw him with a woman in the family quarters.”

“I can’t believe Mr. Kendrick would do something so outrageous.”

“Were you aware that he was sleeping with women other than his wife, not necessarily in the White House?”

She glanced at her nails. “I guessed that he was,” she said.

“On what evidence?”

“Mr. Kendrick took long lunch hours, something that’s very rare in the White House. He would sometimes disappear in the afternoons, too. He’d say that he was ‘making the rounds’ of the property. He’d be gone for a couple of hours, and he wouldn’t answer his cell phone.”

“Ms. Kirby,” Stone said, “did Brixton Kendrick ever have an affair with you?”

Her mouth fell open. “That’s preposterous,” she said.

“We know now that he was having affairs, and you’re an attractive woman,” Stone said. “What’s so preposterous?”

“That anyone would think I would do such a thing.”

“Not that Brix would.”

“He was his own person, he didn’t ask my permission for the things he did.”

“Did you ever know or suspect the names of the women he was sleeping with?”

“Well, there were rumors about the Hart woman,” she said, disdain creeping into her voice. “That’s the business she’s in, or so I hear.”

“You heard wrong, Ms. Kirby. Milly Hart had affairs, but not for money.”

The woman shrugged. “If you say so.”

“Any other names? Particularly in the White House?”