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25
Archer
The tension betweenSloane and I lingered all day yesterday, but as the evening came, we began to slide back into a more comfortable mode with each other. This morning, though, had brought some of it back with our argument of her work situation. I wanted Gage to drive her in, but as always with her stubbornness she refused, and I had to resort to a covert operation with him shadowing her, without her knowing. Even though I knew eventually she would catch on. But if she thought for one second that I was going to leave her out there on her own and unprotected, she was crazy. Pulling up to the offices of the Kinkade Law firm, I got out and allowed the parking attendant to take my vehicle as I made my way inside to the front desk. Seeing a pretty petite blonde woman behind the counter look up and smile at me, she asked. "Hi, how can I help you today, sir?"
"My name is Archer Jennings and I'm here to see William Kinkade."
"Do you have an appointment, Mr. Jennings?"
"No, I don't. But I would really appreciate it if you could ask him if he will see me. You would be doing me a huge favor."
"Sure, Mr. Jennings. Let me see what I can do for you. You're welcome to wait in our lounge area," she said, pointing to a lobby behind me.
"I'd be happy to, thank you."
While I sat there waiting to see Will, I thought about the last time we were at the club together with a sub, who required more than one Dom to fulfill her insatiable appetite to be dominated. Interrupting my thoughts, I heard Will call out my name. "Archer, it's good to see you. How have you been?" He greeted with his hand outstretched to shake mine.
Getting up, I shook his hand. "Good. And yourself?"
"Good, good. Just saving asses like always. So, what can I do for you? You're not in any legal trouble, are you?"
“No, not me, I'm good. Is there anywhere we can speak in private, though?"
"Sure, let's go up to my office." As we approached his office, I found another cute blonde behind a desk and started to think about his past subs, realizing they too were all blondes. "Allison, please hold all my calls." He told her as she looked up at us with a big smile.
"Yes sir, Mr. Kinkade."
Entering the office, I headed to one of the chairs that sat in front of his desk as he shut the door and joined me behind his desk. "So, what's going on, Archer?"
"I'm here about Gretchen Johnson."
His eyes widened for a fraction of a second, before he quickly regained control over himself. "Did you know her?" Will asked.
"No. But Detective Hamilton is helping me on a case I'm working on myself to try and solve, and he called me last night about her death. We both think it's related to the one I'm dealing with."
"Wait. I thought you owned a security company with Dalton Cross, and Slade Malone? Did you leave that venture?"
"No. The case I'm working on is a favor for a childhood friend of mine whose sister, that was also a friend of mine, was killed in the same manner as Gretchen. She too was new to the BDSM world."
Rubbing his hands over his face, he seemed to scrub away the mask he was wearing in the process, and I could see the cracks in his armor more clearly. "It's my fucking fault she's dead, Archer."
Stunned by his confession, I asked. "Are you saying that you killed her?"
He shook his head. "No, no, but I'm the one who introduced her to that world. I was the reason she was even there in the first place. But I didn't know that she had gone back without me until I got the message late Saturday night on my voicemail. By the time I called her back all I got was her voicemail and no answer. Then Sunday morning I awoke to Detective Hamilton's message that he was coming this afternoon to question me. If you're working with him on this, why didn't you two come together?"
"Because of our membership to the club. He doesn't know we are members, and as far as I'm concerned, I would like to keep that little tidbit about myself private as I am sure you do, too. So that's why I figured I would talk to you alone."
Letting out a breath, he leaned back in his chair. "Well, I'm sure it's all going to get out about me now after this."
Leaning forward on his desk, I told him. "Look, Detective Hamilton is a good cop, he won't divulge anything that will affect your business dealings, as long as you're innocent that is."
Sitting forward quickly, he questioned. "Wait, does he think I killed Gretchen?"
"No. Not that I'm aware of, but you obviously had some sort of relationship with her and as we all know those closest to the victim are always the first ones to be looked at and cleared. As long as you have an honest alibi for where you were Saturday night at the time of her death, you'll be fine." Watching him for a moment, he doesn't answer. "You do have an alibi, right?"
"Yes, I'm not worried about that. But I am worried about the person that can vouch for me, she's not going to like our little arrangement being brought to light."
Knowing that this was probably going to create a sticky situation for him I advised him. "If I were you, I would give her a heads-up as soon as I leave this office and before the Detective visits you."
