CHAPTER SIX
Monday, September 21st
That night for the first time in months, Kate had the dream.
The dream differed sometimes in details, but the major points were always the same.Kate was sleeping in bed, sometimes in her apartment, sometimes at her mother’s home, sometimes in her childhood home.She would hear footsteps approaching the door, sometimes the front door, sometimes the bedroom door.She never saw the individual approaching the door, and when the stranger spoke, he did so in a voice too low for her to identify him.
But she knew who it was.It was the same person it had been since she first had the dream.Elijah Cox whispered to her, quoting scripture, asking—no, demanding—that she let him in, that she fulfills her purpose.
She never opened the door, but tonight, she approached it.She laid her hand on the handle, screaming silently at herself to stop, don’t, go back to sleep, don’t let him in!
She turned the handle.The door opened.
“Kate!”
Kate shot out of bed, screaming and flailing.Her hands fell against a muscular chest, and Marcus caught her hands.“Oh, God, Kate, I’m sorry.I tried calling, but I think you left your phone on vibrate, and you didn’t answer when I knocked.”
Kate blinked, staring wildly at Marcus.She looked at her phone and saw two missed calls.She also saw that it was five-twenty in the morning.
She hadn’t meant to sleep.She wanted to work through the night on the cipher, but her eyelids were drooping badly, and at one o’clock, she’d given up and headed to the bedroom for a quick nap.
She took a deep breath, pulled her hands free, and glared at him.“I’m fine.What is it?Do you have something?”She frowned.“Have you been working all night?”
He grinned.“A suspect.And yes, I’ve been working all night, and with good results.Getting verifiable information on a lot of those names is gonna be a crapshoot because of how well lawyered-up people are.We have the records, but they can just claim the Carltons are lying and deny ever being there, so—”
“Marcus…”
“Right.Sorry.We have a name.A good one.”
“I sure would love to hear it,” Kate said, fighting for patience.
“Graham Sterling.”
He beamed at Kate, who took another deep breath and asked, “Who?”
“Divorce lawyer.Very prominent one.In demand.He filed a lawsuit against the Carltons three months ago claiming that they ruined his own marriage.”
Kate frowned.“You can sue people for that?”
“Not successfully.The judge threw the case out before he even heard it.But he tried.”
He grinned at her again, apparently waiting for some reaction from her that he wasn't getting yet.Kate rubbed her eyes."Okay, Marcus, I was just woken violently from a nightmare.My head's spinning.Give me the bullet points and try to do it in a straightforward fashion."
“Right.Get dressed.I’ll tell you on the drive to Sterling’s office.”
“His office?This early?”
"According to Carlton's file, his wife mentioned that he liked to start work no later than five in the morning."
“Got it.Okay, I’ll throw something on.”
Ten minutes later, she was dressed and in the passenger seat of the FBI sedan Marcus had borrowed to drive from the Miami field office to the hotel.Marcus was in the middle of a tale of intrigue that would have made for excellent dramatic television.
“So, Graham’s wife, or rather ex-wife Ginger—yes, that’s her real name.”
“Riveting,” Kate interjected.
“She attended one of the Carlton parties last year.Not a swinger party.Apparently not all parties involve orgies.This one was just a ‘networking’ party.”
