D.C. Dead (Stone Barrington 22)

“Where?”

“In his office, on the sofa.”

“Brix was a fast worker.”

“Mr. Kendrick was a very persuasive man.”

“And when did you next have sex?”

“The following evening, at my apartment.” Dino started to ask another question, but she held up a hand. “After that, it was three or four times a week, sometimes in the evenings, sometimes he’d come by my apartment early in the morning—five or six—on the way to work.”

Stone spoke up. “And when did Brix stop having sex with you?”

She drew a deep breath and let it out slowly. “As soon as I came to work for him. He said that since we were working together, we couldn’t take the chance. After that, he was all business, except when he was talking about his affairs.”

“He talked with you about other women?” Dino asked.

“I know it sounds perverse, and maybe it was, but he’d talk about what they’d done in bed, and in great detail. He knew it made me . . .”

“Jealous?” Dino asked.

“Horny,” she replied. “He would insist that I . . .”

“Go on.”

“That I masturbate while he talked about the other women.”

Dino seemed to have run out of steam, so Stone stepped in. “And how did that make you feel?” he asked.

“Less horny.”

“Did you enjoy these experiences?”

“I’m ashamed to say I did,” she replied. “I began to look forward to them.”

“No need to feel ashamed, Ms. Kirby,” Stone said. “You’re telling the truth now.”

“And I feel better for it,” she said.

“How long did these . . . conversations continue?”

“Until the day he died,” she replied.

“Now,” Stone said, “let’s start from the day you went to work for Mr. Kendrick: who were the women he slept with?”

“There were nineteen of them,” Kirby replied.

Now Stone ran out of steam, and Dino stepped in. “Their names, please.” He opened his notebook.

“He never used their names. He either made up names, like ‘Shotzie,’ or ‘Toots,’ or he gave them nicknames, like ‘the Bunny,’ or ‘the Grasshopper.’”

“What did he call Milly Hart?” Stone asked, recovering.

“I think she was the one he called ‘the Rabbit,’” she said, “but I can’t be sure. He saw the Rabbit for a long time, and often.

”

“And what name did he give Mufd he givfy Brandon?”