Read Online Internal Affair by Marie Ferrarella - Free Book Online Page A

opportunity. She held out the pages to them. “Believe me, I left him enough of an opening.”
    Patrick glanced at down at the list the woman had provided for them. The names went on for several pages. And everyone was going to have to be checked out. He debated giving that assignment to McKenna, let her run solo with it.
    “Five hundred guests,” Maggi told him. “Don’t bother counting them.”
    She was quick with numbers, he thought. Handy trait to have around. He looked at Leticia as he tapped the list. “He said his staff was there.”
    A small, slightly superior smile twisted her lips. “Yes, they were.”
    He watched the woman’s eyes, looking for some tell-tale flicker. “Is that normal, to invite your reelection staff?”
    “Not really, but like I said, the congressman’s a very generous man.” She ran down the benefits of attending. “There was a great deal of good food to eat. Some of those staff members probably ate better than they ever have in their lives. Not to mention networking.”
    “Networking?” Maggi asked before Patrick had a chance to.
    “Yes, there are a lot of important, influential people attending these things. Everyone likes to be seen ‘caring’ about a popular cause. Doesn’t hurt to be around them. You never know where your next big break is coming from.” She looked from Maggi to Patrick, her manner terminating the session. “If there’s anything else I can do for you, let me know.”
    He wasn’t ready to leave just yet. Patrick took out the photograph of the dead woman and held it up to the organizer’s face. “Did you see this woman at the party last night?”
    Leticia shivered, making no move to take the photograph in her own hand.
    “Not that I remember.”
    The very air had climbed up inside their lungs as they waited for her to go on.
    “Is she…dead?”
    “Very,” he replied grimly, tucking the photograph away again.
    “Thanks for your help,” Maggi told the woman as they walked out. Patrick made an inaudible sound that could have passed for “Goodbye.”
    Outside the window, Maggi could see that the mist was getting heavier. She hoped it would hold off until she got home for the night.
    She glanced at the papers he was holding. “Looks a little daunting.”
    “Looks can be deceiving.”
    Part of her wanted to ask if Patrick was on to something, but she knew he was just pulling her chain or maybe giving her some kind of encoded message. She wanted no part of either. As he pressed for the elevator, she looked at the list over his shoulder. “So, where do you want to start?”
    He folded the list in half twice before lodging it beside the photograph. He never even looked at her. “At her apartment.”

    When she wasn’t busy working or partying, Joanne Styles had spent her time in a tiny, cluttered studio apartment about two-thirds the size of the one Maggi had lived in when she was in San Francisco.
    Standing in it now made Maggi entertain a very odd sense of déjà vu coupled with the thought “there but for the grace of God…”
    Except that she would have never let her guard down enough to have someone do to her what had been done to Joanne.
    Maggi supposed that was her inbred leeriness. It came from being raised in an atmosphere of law enforcement agents. Looking back, she knew that it was her leeriness that had gotten in her way with Tyler, urging her on to keep a part of herself in reserve, not allowing him to see all of her.
    Lucky thing, too, considering the way that had turned out, she mused.
    Patrick noticed the expression on his partner’s face as she stood looking around. She seemed a million miles away. He ignored her for a moment, then heard himself asking, “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing.” Maggi took a moment to rouse herself before turning to squarely face him. “Just trying to put myself in her shoes, that’s all.”
    He supposed there was nothing wrong in getting a female’s perspective on all this. “Can’t hurt.”
    She