Page 41 of Trust No One

“You think Larrimore’s gonna go to Kingsley’s office?” Mel asked after a while.

“My guess? Probably not. Maybe that was why Kingsley took off like his ass was on fire yesterday. Maybe he told Larrimore not to show up, and Larrimore said he was coming anyway.”

“So maybe this wasn’t the place to wait,” Mel said, sliding her hands beneath her thighs. He’d watched her enough to know she did that when she was nervous. “Maybe they set up a meeting and neither of them will show up today.”

Dev drummed his fingers on the steering wheel, considering Mel’s idea. “I don’t think so,” he finally said. “Kingsley’s all about power, because power brings money. And he’d want to make Larrimore jump through hoops today. Especially since he was pissed off yesterday.”

“So he’s going to make Larrimore meet him here?” Mel studied Dev for a long moment. “In my book, that would be a mistake for Kingsley.”

Dev shrugged one shoulder. “Ego getting the better of him, maybe,” he said. “I suspect Kingsley always thinks he’s the smartest guy in the room. And why wouldn’t he? He’s accumulated a shit-ton of money in his years working for the CIA. Taken a lot of bribes. Sold a lot of information. Clearly did a lot of unethical and illegal things and hasn’t been caught.

“As a result, he’s arrogant. Thinks his crimes will never catch up to him. And I bet he takes delight in knowing his fellow agents have no idea what he’s up to. Doing it in plain sight.”

Mel nodded slowly. “Rings true,” she said. She sat up straight in the car. “Here’s Kingsley. He’s coming into this parking garage.”

They moved as one to slide into the footwells of the car. Kingsley’s silver sedan rolled past them up the ramp. Dev buried his face in his knees, trying to keep Kingsley from seeing the flash of white in his eyes. He noticed Mel did the same.

When the car had turned the corner and gone up the next ramp, Dev slid back into his seat. No sooner was he upright than he spotted the old white Oldsmobile turning into the garage.

“Down,” he said. “Now.”

The Olds rolled past him and followed the ramp to the next level. After it had disappeared, Dev rolled his window down, and Mel did the same. After a moment, Dev murmured, “Stay here.”

“Woof,” she said, equally quietly.

He spun around and stared at her. “Smart ass,” he said as he slid out of the car.

He walked across to the ramp, getting close to the next level. He heard two car doors opening, then closing. Quietly, as if their owners were being careful.

He heard the hum of voices but couldn’t distinguish the words. Couldn’t see either. So he grabbed the support beams and swung his way up to the concrete of the next level. He edged his way toward the murmur of voices, stepping on the very edge of the concrete ramp. He was fifteen feet off the ground, but that was child’s play compared to some of the things he’d done.

He stilled and heard the sound of the men’s voices. “…Rock Creek Park,” one guy said. “Meet me there. Go past the kid’s playground and pull into the next parking area, then walk down to the creek. Lots of trees and bushes. Good cover. We can talk without anyone seeing us.”

“Got it,” the other guy said. Had to be Larrimore. “I need coffee first, though. I’m gonna go through the drive-through at a Starbucks.”

“Sounds good. I’ll get a coffee, too.”

Dev swung down, hand over hand, to where he could jump onto the ground floor, then ran over to the car and slid into the seat. “Get down again,” he said, sliding to the floor.

Moments later he heard two cars above him turn on their engines, and he watched in the side mirror as Kingsley’s silver sedan and Larrimore’s white Oldsmobile cruised past him.

As soon as the cars turned out of the parking garage, he started the car. “They’re going to Rock Creek Park,” he told Mel. “To the parking area right after the kids playground. They’re stopping at Starbuck’s first, so we’ll beat them there. It’ll give us time to get in place to watch them and listen to what they say.”

“Okay,” Mel said, sliding back onto the seat. “We’ll both take videos with our cameras, and hope we get one good take.” She grabbed her phone, typed in Rock Creek Park Play area, then brought it up on her mapping app. When the directions appeared, she plugged her phone into the dashboard screen.

After they exited the garage, the directions flashed onto the screen.

Chapter 15

As Dev sped toward Rock Creek Park, Mel watched for Starbucks, hoping to spot the Toyota and the Olds. Finally, she saw them in the take-out line at a Starbucks that was about fifteen minutes from Rock Creek Park.

“There!” She nodded toward the familiar-looking building. “Pretty long line. Might take them ten minutes or so to get through it.”

“Doesn’t give us a lot of time to park and get into place,” Dev said.

Mel used her fingers to enlarge the map, then studied it for a moment. “Here’s the play area,” she said, pointing at what looked like a playground. “I’m guessing they’re headed toward this parking area that’s maybe a quarter of a mile past it.”

“Anything between the playground and the parking area?” Dev asked.

---