Page 62 of Avenging Kelly

“Devaney and Ritchfield are actually adopted sisters. Devaney came into the family, and six-years later, Ritchfield was born. Trudeau and Fleming are half-brothers, and somehow, Devaney knew to place Mia with the Trudeau’s at Pendleton. After he was kicked out of the Raiders, he was transferred to training. I’m still trying to figure out how Trudeau and Devaney were put together.”

“Uh… say what now?” I was a little confused about his blockbuster explanation for the connections. They were sisters, which was crazy, but nothing surprised me anymore.

“Frances Ritchfield and Charlene Devaney are sisters through adoption, and their mysterious brother is Lindell Coffey,” Casper stated with confidence.

“All things considered? I can’t say I’m surprised those two are related. Their parents must have been doozies.”

Casper tsked, me the jerk. “Are you saying the name Coffey doesn’t ring a bell?” Okay, now I just felt stupid.

“I’d like to say it does—”

“Oh, for the love of god, Narc! Lindell Coffey was the Vice President of the United States just a year ago. His son is Brian Coffey, who was a member of… Where the hell is Kelly?”

Well, that would explain why there was no trace of Ritchfield’s history. The Vice President of the United States could have someone’s evil acts erased with little fuss. “He’s asleep,” I said, having a few beautiful flashes of the night before.

“No, babe, I’m not. You’re not quiet, but that’s okay. Hey Casper. What’s going on?”

Kelly looked sleep warm, and a little confused, which lit a fire inside of me. I pulled him onto my lap because I wanted one more shot at changing his mind about what he planned to do.

“I found the chain. Devaney and Ritchfield are sisters to Brian Coffey’s father,” Casper announced.

When Casper explained it again, Kelly stiffened. He turned to me and kissed my temple. “Good. We’ll see you this afternoon for tea with Mrs. Pfeifer.” With that, Kelly disconnected the call and turned his handsome face toward mine.

“Can we go back to bed?”

“Casper said you’re not HIV positive, so maybe she was giving you PrEP as a precaution? Does that make sense?” I asked him.

“No, but that bitch is crazy, so who knows why. Thank god! Now I really wanna go back to bed.” He stood from my lap and grabbed my hand, pulling me up and toward the bedroom.

Oh hell, me too!

* * *

At precisely three-thirty in the afternoon, we boarded the elevator at Spires Tower—with Franklin the doorman’s blessing—and rode to the thirty-second floor. When we got off, Casper turned on the jammer in his jacket pocket.

We made our way down the hall, and Kelly slipped into Ritchfield’s apartment while Casper and I strolled to Mrs. Pfeifer’s door. When she opened it and smiled at us, Casper turned off the jammer, and we entered a beat behind, giving the illusion that Kelly went inside before us.

I had a tiny comm in my left ear, and Casper had an identical one in his right. Dom and Austin were tucked into the stairwell with comms of their own, and Smokey was monitoring things from his truck downstairs. If we were smiled upon by the fates, we’d be finished with this clusterfuck by five-thirty.

Unfortunately, two guys in head-to-toe black stepped from behind the door, and I felt the blunt end of a gun muzzle at the base of my brain. “Where’s the other one?” the guy behind me barked.

“What other one?” I answered. Always play dumb…

“Where’s Kelly Brown?”

Poor Mrs. Pfeifer was wringing her hands, clearly distressed. Thank god she was, because I’d been afraid the old gal was involved with the bad guys and was relieved she wasn’t.

“Who’s Kelly Brown?” Casper asked, which got him cracked on the back of the head. He went down like a tree.

It was now or never, so I faced my attackers. “I don’t know who you’re looking for, but my friend, Mrs. Pfeifer, invited us for tea, and you’re ruining our good time, you fucking cowards.”

Mrs. Pfeifer was next to me, so I whispered, “I apologize for my rough language, ma’am.”

There was a sharp prick to my neck…

25

KELLY

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