Chapter 13
Chapter Thirteen
Sean
Wallis and the congressman dropped me at Potomac Place, the building where I resided.
It didn’t feel like home anymore. I knew where home was, and it was nowhere near the nation’s capital.
It was a small town in Maryland on a beautiful horse farm where the sun’s rays made the green pastures plentiful for the horses to graze.
I went into the building to find two men standing at the front desk—a tall, slender man who was laughing with Ralph, the concierge, and a tall, muscular man, reading something on his phone.
They were both handsome, and when the muscular one tapped the other man on the arm, they both turned toward me.
“That’s him,” Ralph said, pointing to me.
“Mr. Fitzpatrick, I’m Austin Torrente, and this is my husband, Dominic.
It’s a pleasure to finally meet you in person.
We’ve spoken to you and Mr. Hess before, but we didn’t actually get to meet.
We’re sorry you had to evacuate the Bethesda condo in such quick fashion.
The police got a good picture of one of the three men in the drive-by so they’re looking for him, and we’ll definitely let you know when we hear anything about identifying them. ”
Austin Torrente was a beast of a man with shoulders like Atlas and thighs like tree trunks. His husband was exceptionally good-looking with a sexy smile. They made a stunningly handsome couple.
“Thank you for your help. No doubt, it’s some radical religious group dead set on ridding the world of those of us under the rainbow flag as fast as possible. I’ve been stalked by those kinds of fanatics before. I’m not worried. They get sloppy and show their hand soon enough.”
My false bravado only caused the two men to trade coy expressions, indicating they saw through me. I approached the reception desk and offered Ralph my best attempt at a warm smile. “Hi, Ralph. I’m sorry I took off without notice. It was an unusual situation.”
Ralph stood and smiled. “Detective Compton and Officer Mathers came by looking for you yesterday and asked if I’d give you a message to call them.
These gentlemen are private security that Mr. Wallis sent to meet you.
I’ll need you to execute the paperwork to supply them with passes for the garage and a key to the elevator. ”
He opened the desk and pulled out a clipboard, securing some documents under the clip before handing it to me.
I picked up the pen from the desk and began filling out the paperwork. After signing them, I handed the clipboard back to Ralph. “If you’ll wait a moment, Mr. Fitzpatrick, I’ll get your mail.”
Ralph stood from the chair and went to the back. Dominic Torrente stepped closer and whispered, “Do you trust him, Mr. Fitzpatrick?”
“I’ve lived here for ten years, Mr. Torrente. Ralph’s been here for fifteen, so yes, I trust him.” The taller man nodded.
When Ralph returned, his hands were full, and there were a few boxes. He put everything on the desk and went about scanning the stickers on the boxes to update the package log.
“Ralph, these boxes? Did they come in the mail or were they delivered? Did you get a signature?” Dominic asked as he began sorting through the boxes, the junk mail, and the letters.
“Oh, uh, let me check. I was off for a few days, so Adriana was on duty,” Ralph answered.
He leafed through the book and found the appropriate pages. “They’re all from Mrs. Gloria Lambert at The Fitzpatrick Group. The delivery person was named Todd Brown. His driver’s license number is—”
“It’s okay, guys. They both work for me. Those must be my briefing books. Let’s take this mess upstairs.”
I reached into the pocket of Jeri’s sweats that I’d commandeered and found I’d forgotten my wallet at the farm. My face flushed. “Ralph, I’ll need to tip you later. I left my wallet at my friend’s house. Thank you for all of this.” I pointed to all the crap on the desk.
“Sure, Mr. Fitzpatrick. Do you want me to help you carry things up?”
I sighed. “If you wouldn’t mind. I don’t have my keys either. Can you let us into my place?”
“Of course, Mr. Fitzpatrick. Give me a moment to get you a replacement key and card.” Ralph went into the back room again, returning a moment later.
He picked up a couple of boxes from the desk and led us to the elevator. We went to my floor, and when the door opened, the three of us followed Ralph down the hallway to my place.
After Ralph opened the door and put the boxes on the dining table, he turned to me and smiled. “Will that be all, Mr. Fitzpatrick?”
I placed my hand on his shoulder and escorted him to the door. “Thank you, Ralph. I’ll make this right, I promise. I’m not expecting any visitors, so say I’m not in, please.”
He handed me the card and key to get into my home and nodded. “Glad you’re back, Mr. Fitzpatrick. Will you go to the office tomorrow?”
“Yes. I’ll get a cab.”
“No, uh, he won’t. We’ll take him, Ralph. Thanks for the help,” the larger Mr. Torrente said. Ralph gave a little salute, and Austin closed and locked the door.
“So, how’s this going to work?” I asked the two men staring at me.
Dominic grinned. “Honeybee, I’ll go to the office with Mr. Fitzpatrick and—”
“Call me Sean, guys. It seems like we might be spending some time together, so let’s drop the formality.” I’d interrupted Dominic—I wanted to laugh that he called his husband Honeybee. It was adorable—so I nodded for them to continue.
“I’ll go to Jericho Hess’s place and pick up your other things, Sean. Do you have meetings outside the office tomorrow?” Austin asked.
I glanced at the stack of books on my dining table.
“My phone has disappeared in all the shuffling between Wallis’s condo, Jeri’s farm, and here.
I guess I should just get a new one. I left the burner I had at Jericho’s house too.
It has my assistant’s personal phone number on it.
If you could collect it so I can destroy it, that would be helpful. ”
Austin nodded. I then turned to Dominic. “You’ll be with me in the office tomorrow? Are you sure no one in my employ is involved in this fiasco?” I thought I had good people who worked for me, not against me, but fuck all if I could be sure.
“We’re waiting for your permission to check them out, Sean. Will you consent to allowing us to investigate your employees?” Dominic stared at me, waiting for an answer.
It broke my heart to do it, but with everything going on.
.. “Yes. You have my permission to investigate everyone—except Spencer Brady. He was a former congressman, so he’s had enough scrutiny in his life.
I also have a few names of others I interact with on a regular basis, so you might want to check them out too. ”
God, I felt as if I were betraying everyone I trusted. Everyone I depended on. Everyone I cared about.
Was I being a horrible person for having my own people investigated? If I couldn’t trust those I worked with, then why the fuck was I trying so damn hard to make a difference?
“Okay, Sean. We don’t check out anyone without the permission of our primary. Let’s sit down and make a list for Casper, if you don’t mind,” Dominic said.
I nodded, and the three of us sat at the dining table. “What do you want to know?” I asked.
For two hours, I went through the roster of my employees. Dom had Lawry on the phone, and I could hear the keys clicking over the speaker phone as we chatted.
“Ava Renfro is clean. She’s got a verifiable degree and has no arrest record. No known affiliations with any conservative groups. No red flags.” He went on to cite Ava’s curriculum vitae. I wasn’t surprised at all that she was clean as a whistle.
“Gloria Lambert—or Mrs. Gloria Lambert, as she prefers to be called. She’s my executive assistant. I hired her about six weeks ago. She’s shown to be a good employee, but I know nothing about her personal life.”
Thankfully, Gloria had nothing in her history that was of concern. We worked our way through everyone, and then we moved to my acquaintances who weren’t business contacts.
“Dagmar Volt and Claus Wagner. They work at the bar, Café Berlin, where I go for happy hours at the end of my workdays. They’re very nice people. I doubt you’ll find anything on either of them.” God, I hoped not.
“And how long have you known them?” Lawry Schatz asked over the line.
“About five years since I moved my office into the building behind theirs. We’re more casual acquaintances, but I think we’ve formed a mutual respect for each other.”
There were keystrokes in the background and then it was quiet.
“Okay. Dagmar Volt, aged forty-nine. Chef. Attended Le Cordon Bleu in London in 1995. Born in Berlin in 1976. Immigrated to the US and was granted a green card in 1983 when her father, Kirk Becker, was sent to work in the German Embassy in Washington. Naturalized in 1993. Married in 2001. Divorced in… Oh! Uh, there’s a problem. ”
“What?” I asked.
“Dagmar Volt has two older sisters. One is named Lena and has a wife named Lilian. They married in 2016 and live in Rehoboth, Delaware, where they own a gift shop.
“The other sister, Sophia, is married to someone named Arthur Judge. Former Special Forces training officer, retired. He currently runs a campground outside Southern Pines, North Carolina: Camp Brotherhood. It’s owned by a church in Pinehurst—Word of God Pentecostal Church—and the church extends its non-profit status to the camp.
It says the camp is used by religious organizations and operates year-round.
We knew this from my previous research, but I think we’ve found the connection to you, Sean. ”
I had a hard time believing Dagmar would help an organization that thrived on hate. If she didn’t like me, why didn’t she just stop making me extra potato pancakes? She just didn’t strike me as such a hate-filled human.