Chapter 16 #2
Peyton shook her head. Her hair tickled her shoulders, and the sensation annoyed her almost as much as Rhett’s point. She pulled the tendrils into a ponytail and secured it with the elastic she’d been wearing around her wrist. “Have you looked into other politicians? Who does Andre hang out with?”
Rhett pulled out his phone and sat down in the recliner.
He brought up his email and clicked on one with four attachments.
He handed her the device and she opened the first picture—one of Andre dressed in a light-blue suit leaving one of the popular nightclubs in the Keys.
In the second, he was at an art event and had his arm around a woman she didn’t recognize.
The third picture was of him at a basketball game with a handful of guys, one of whom had a very familiar face.
“Who’s that?” she asked, showing Rhett the screen.
“Ah. That’s Renton Stone. He’s a Florida congressman as well, but from a different district. Mandy sent me those images this morning, and she’s found out some interesting facts about Renton.”
Peyton shuffled closer so her full weight sat on the chair’s arm. “I’m listening.”
“Renton has two assault charges from college. Both cases against younger female students.”
She stared at the emerald-green eyes and dark hair. His smile was cool, confident, and charismatic. “How long ago was that?”
“He’s forty-one now, so about eighteen years ago.”
She scrunched up the corner of her mouth. “Isn’t that a little too far in the past? You’d think there’d be something recent if he were involved.”
Rhett’s hand fell to her knee. “Not necessarily. Once a creep, always a creep. After the charges, he probably learned to keep his cool and save his fetishes for paid hookers.”
She read Mandy’s note at the bottom of the picture and lifted the tip of her pinky to the screen. “It says here he’s congressman of district eight.” She tilted her head. “How far is that from Key West?”
“Key West is part of district twenty-six, which Andre’s congressman of, and district eight is Palm Bay and the surrounding area.”
“That’s a few hours away.”
“Six, to be exact,” Rhett said. He circled his arm around her waist and pulled her onto his lap.
If the conversation weren’t so serious, her mind would be going in an entirely different direction. “Hmm. Seems like a long way to travel just for hookers and blow.”
“I agree,” he said, massaging her neck. “But look at the next picture.”
She opened the final attachment—a grainy image of what looked to be a profile shot of Congressman Stone climbing the stairs to the entrance of one of Key West’s finest hotels.
“Where was this taken?”
“Street camera on the night of Raquel’s death.”
She bounced on Rhett’s knee to face him. He winced and steadied her hips to keep them from wiggling any more.
“That’s huge,” she wheezed.
“Yeah. Mandy’s doing more digging to see if he has any properties in the area, anything else that can further tie him to Key West, but I think this is our strongest lead.”
“Can you arrest him?”
“Best we can do is bring him in for questioning, but Lieutenant Jackson won’t allow us to do that unless we have all our ducks in a row.”
Her shoulders sagged. “That’s ridiculous. You have proof Renton Stone and Andre are friends, and that Stone was in the same city as Andre on the night of Raquel’s murder.”
“But we have nothing to prove he was with Andre at that time.”
Rhett’s phone chirped in her hand, and she jumped before shoving it at his chest.
He snickered and read the screen. The smile fell from his lips. “It’s Mandy.” He swiped to answer and pressed the phone to his ear. “Hello?”
Peyton itched to rest her head on his shoulder so she could listen to the other half of the conversation, but that’d likely be too obvious. Rhett swirled the ends of her ponytail around his hand as he listened.
“No shit.” He scoffed. “We need to check it out. Text me the marina’s address and Stone’s slip number.” He disconnected, picked her up by the waist, and stood, dropping her to her feet.
“What is it?”
Rhett’s demeanor had shifted. His movements were jerky as he snagged his keys off the kitchen counter. “Stone has a boat docked in long-term parking at a marina. It could be nothing, but I need to check it out. I can drop you off with Mandy while—”
Irritation sizzled over her tongue. “I’m coming with you.” She stormed past him and shoved her feet into her sandals.
Rhett pressed his palm into the door above her head, stopping her from opening it.
“It’s too dangerous. We don’t know where Stone is right now, and if there’s heat circling about Jenny remembering Raquel’s attacker, he could be trying to hide evidence—or escape.
” Anxiety creased the skin at his temples.
“Please, stay back. For me. I’ll worry less knowing you’re safe. ”
She positioned her hand on her hip. “I appreciate that and all, but you said you wouldn’t leave me again after what happened at the hotel. I’m safer with you and you know it.”
He cursed and massaged his temple. “You’re going to be the death of me, you know that?”
She grinned, planted a kiss on his cheek, and opened the door. “Death by sex, maybe.”