Crash Into Me - L.A. Fiore Page 0,67

and was jealous of my cat. “He’s made himself at home.”

“Good,” Kade said, putting his mug down and turning for the plate of eggs and bacon. He set it on the counter next to him. “Eat.”

“You’re spoiling me.”

His eyes found mine. “I haven’t even begun to spoil you.”

I took the fork, pressed up against his side. He reached for his mug. “I’ll talk to Cap,” I said, around a mouthful of egg. “How long were you thinking for the trip home?

“A week.”

“Okay.” I finished my breakfast; he read his paper. As we were leaving for the car, I teased, “You’re very accommodating.”

“I’m softening you up,” he countered, and hit the button for the elevator.

“You want something?”

He nodded.

“What?”

He leaned into me, his mouth almost touching mine. “Your ass.”

This man was going to be the end of me, and I was so okay with that. I couldn’t keep the lust from my voice. “You don’t have to soften me up for that.”

I swear he almost pulled me to the bedroom right then and there. Possession moved through him, his kiss was a brand, his words like gravel. “Noted.”

“Milton is in the wind,” Zac said, standing and tossing his pen on his desk.

“What?” I said, looking up from the notes on Enzi that Vin had dropped off.

“After our last meeting, as soon as he got home, he packed up and left.”

“He’s gone?” I said, pushing back from my desk. I had the craziest thought. I stood, and paced, thinking through what we knew before I looked over at Zac. “No one met him when he worked for Katrina, not the producers, not her friends. Not one of them could pick him out of a lineup.”

Zac knew where I was going. “You’re thinking…”

I started pacing again. “Milton is brought on board as Katrina’s representative, but no one recalls working with him. They all only worked with Jason, but her actual publicist, no one knows.”

“He was there, but he wasn’t there, because he never existed,” Zac finished.

“Exactly. Milton Teller was Jason’s backout plan.”

Zac was pacing now. “He didn’t disappear, he just assumed the identity he created.” Zac looked at me. “I don’t know. It’s thin.”

“But it works,” I said. “We need to dig deeper into Milton’s past, see if he actually has one.”

“Yeah. We got the composite from Mitch. The computer geeks are aging it. We’ll run facial recognition software on it, compare it to Milton. Send pics of Milton to LAPD for Mitch to view.”

“He’s likely changed his appearance,” I warned.

“Yeah, and since we don’t have DNA on Jason, it’s not like we can compare, but Milton taking off, doesn’t look good for him.”

“I thought Chadds Ford PD was watching him?” I said.

“Yeah, I did, too. Got a call into Jamison to find out what the fuck happened.” Zac looked at his watch. “The Dents are due any minute.”

“Damn, you’ve been busy.”

“Yeah, well, having a new direction to look, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.”

“How did you get the Dents to come?” I asked.

“We didn’t give them an option. LAPD reopened Katrina’s case, tagged it as a homicide, and they’re material witnesses, as well as people of interest in our case. Their lawyer tried to get them out of it. He wasn’t successful.”

“Good. They need to start talking. They didn’t do right by their daughter when she was alive, but they can in her death.”

“Agreed.”

Zac reached across his desk for his coffee. “That shirt looks a little big on you.”

“Costs more than we make in a month, too,” I said, then grinned. “I think we should talk to Gregory Enzi, the old man.”

“I’m trying, but his lawyers are closing rank,” Zac shared.

“Okay, so Enzi wants in on the Hollywood scene. The Dents are into him for fifty grand, they offer up their kid, who has that magical combination of beauty and personality. He gets one of his own to be her keeper, creates a star and keeps her there. Jason gets caught up in the lifestyle, Katrina finds someone to share the loneliness with. She gets pregnant, they don’t want anyone learning about it, so they hide her away until after the pregnancy. She’s scared into staying with Jason, but she starts to withdraw, not fulfilling her end of the deal. Enzi has Jason kill her and then Jason takes off, assumes the identity of Milton Teller. Jump ahead thirty years, some unknown journalist is digging into Katrina’s death.” I tapped my finger to my lip. “Was it possible that Frank knew about Milton.