The Flesh Trade by Maggie Brown

Author:Maggie Brown [Brown, Maggie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bella Books
Published: 2016-05-05T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Seventeen

When Ruth rang at five p.m. to say she was coming in to see her, Rachel knew something was wrong. Her voice had a clipped, tight quality, completely foreign to her usual even tone. She guessed it had something to do with Addison. She seemed to be the only person to put the placid federal agent off balance. She assumed it was serious, or she would have discussed the matter over the phone.

Ruth appeared looking more distraught than harassed.

“Have a seat.” Rachel lowered her voice into a calming tone. “What’s the problem? And why aren’t you guarding Addison?”

“I’ll explain in a minute. The whole business is out of control,” Ruth said bitterly. “The foolish woman is going into enemy territory tonight and I can’t do a blessed thing to stop it. Not only that, she thinks I’m the scum of the earth.”

Rachel stared at her, startled. “You better start at the most pressing matter first. What’s she up to tonight?”

Ruth threw two tapes across the table. “These are from her phone. You’d better listen.”

Rachel pushed them into a recorder and sat back to listen. Calls from tradespeople she ignored. She remained stoic through the conversations with Crystal and Belinda, but she leaned forward with interest during the ones with Mac. When it finished, she put her elbows on the desk, her fingers formed in a steeple as she looked at Ruth. “So, let’s start from the beginning. I think we can dismiss Belinda, who’s a friend on the committee. Then there’s Crystal. She’s obviously the one who’s been supplying her with the inside information. She’s got the wind up and disappeared. It wouldn’t be difficult finding out her last name, but we certainly don’t want to bring the wrath of the organization down on her head by snooping around. I think we should let sleeping dogs lie there unless we have to. Do you agree?”

Ruth nodded. “There would be no point endangering the woman’s life. We can look for her later. She’s done a wonderful thing by giving Addison the information.”

“Besides,” said Rachel with a small smile, “Mac will be chasing up that lead.”

“She’s working for you?”

She laughed. “I wish. She only works alone—I’ve tried before to lure her in, but she has an aversion to working with the police. She thinks we’re ponderous, with too many guidelines to contend with. She’s a bit of a rebel.”

Ruth echoed her laugh. “I’ve seen her in action. She’s a remarkable woman. So how did you discover she’s working on this?”

“The other night I pumped her for information when she was…um…shall we say, not in a position to refuse me anything. I didn’t get much, but she did let out the tidbit that she spoke to Addison, so she’s investigating the case.” She caught Ruth’s dark eyes in a long stare. “So Addison has seen through your cover?”

“It would seem so,” said Ruth, her face settled into a scowl. “She didn’t have the decency to discuss it with me, but instead got Mac to investigate me.

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