“Go get yourself clean. Order some food and get some sleep. We’re meeting with the lead agent at 0900. We’ll leave here at 0815.” Jared pulled her in for a quick hug and kissed her forehead. “Night, brat.”
She chuckled at the endearment. “Night, J.”
Chapter Three
Jazz’s phone vibrated on the bathroom’s marble vanity. She finished applying her mascara before she glanced at the text from an unknown number.
Good Morning. How is my favorite patient?
Joy bubbled up at the message. She smiled and leaned against the counter as she responded.
Be truthful… I’m your only patient, aren’t I?
She laughed and added an emoji with its tongue hanging out.
Yes, but u r still my favorite. R u free tonight?
Jazz pulled her bottom lip into her mouth and worried it with her teeth.
Won’t know til l8r, but I want 2 b.
She wasn’t going to play games with the good doctor. She wanted him to know she was interested. Hopefully, he wasn’t averse to her being forward. No, that shouldn’t be a problem. The man knew what she did for a living. Jasmine sent the message, entered his name into her contacts and slid into her Dior skirt. The phone vibrated again just after she finished buttoning up her shirt. She dabbed on a touch of perfume and picked up the phone.
Maliki:Have dinner with me.
If I can, yes.
Maliki: Text me when you know.
I will. :>)
She’d enjoy spending time getting to know the man. His quiet strength had calmed her shattered nerves last night—unlike the client she needed to deal with today. Oh, the singer was sexy as hell, but the man’s legendary womanizing preceded him by miles. She’d had her fill of cheating men who could charm snakes out of trees. Her ex-fiancé had taught her that lesson. The hard way.
She finished dressing and grabbed her shoes. A knock at her door echoed through the hotel suite. Jasmine slipped on her heels, hopping on one foot as she hurried across the carpeted expanse to answer the door.
“Well, there is the sister I know and love.” Jared’s taunt earned him a soft punch in his not-so-soft abs. “What? Besides yesterday, when was the last time I saw you without makeup or not in designer clothes?”
Jasmine cocked her head to the side and had to think about the answer to that question. “That’s a two-part question. Designer clothes since I got my first paycheck and could afford them, and makeup… ummm, the day before my thirteenth birthday.”
“Right, because when you turned thirteen, Mom let you and Jade wear makeup.” Jasmine laughed at the thought. Jade had been wearing makeup at school for at least a year before her mom officially gave them permission to wear it. Of course Jade was the adventurous one of the two. Twins, but they rarely if ever acted the same way. They were opposites and happy to live that way. Jasmine loved her sister fiercely, but the woman drove her bat-shit crazy. Gonzo. Like, not wanting to stay in the same room more than an hour with the woman type of crazy.
“If Mom only knew.” Jared opened the door and made a grand gesture of allowing her to go first.
“Oh, believe me, she knows. She just picks her battles with that one.”
“Don’t we all?”
“We do. But I’d give anything to be as free-spirited as she is. She’s a wisp of laughter dancing on a sunbeam.”
Jared and Jasmine shared a smile. That was how their dad had described Jade. The bittersweet memory halted conversation for a while. Finally, Jared chuckled and quipped, “That little wisp can kick some serious ass.”
“We all can.”
“Granted, but she enjoys it. Speaking of which, how is your arm?” The elevator door opened for them.
Jasmine shrugged. “I’ll live.” She’d worn a pale green, long sleeve silk blouse to conceal the bandage on her forearm. The dark charcoal gray pencil skirt and her favorite three-inch black stiletto Louboutins with the beautifully detailed cutaway at the arch of her foot completed her business attire. She knew how to dress, had the money to do it, and loved all things girly. Once again, the opposite of Jade.
“I still want the doctor traveling with us to take a look at it before we part company. Infection is deadly.” Jared escorted her through the lobby and out to the waiting SUV.
Jasmine smiled at the thought of seeing Malaki again. Hopefully at dinner, but she’d take an extra meeting at the direction of her brother. At that thought she turned, snapped her fingers and pointed at Jared. “Oh, right! Speaking of which, thanks for nothing.” Jasmine slipped on her Chanel sunglasses and waited for him to get settled into the vehicle.
“Excuse me? What did I do?” Jared pulled away from the hotel and merged into Atlanta’s morning traffic.
“The doctor.”
“Yeah, I assumed that when you said ‘speaking of which,’ but what the hell did I do this time?” Jared hit start on the vehicle’s GPS and changed lanes.
“You were you. He almost didn’t ask for my number. How am I ever going to have a relationship if everyone who works for Guardian is intimidated by my brothers?”
“I doubt I intimidate Malaki Blue. Why do you need to date someone from Guardian?”
Jasmine did a double take at her brother just to make sure he was serious. “Because nobody on the outside is going to put up with the insane schedule we work.”
“Wrong.” Jared dismissed her comment out of hand.
“Excuse me?”
“Tori, Ember, Faith, Christian and Keelee.” Jared held up his hand and lifted a finger at each name he called out.
“Not fair. Tori was in the business. Still is, part time,” Jasmine reminded him.
“That still leaves Ember, Faith, Christian, and Keelee who are not in the business, married to extremely busy men and able to live happily with people who work for Guardian.”
Jasmine waved a dismissive hand in the air. “Good for y’all. It’s not like I’m looking to do anything other than date right now anyway.”
“You haven’t dated in eons.”
Her jaw dropped at that comment. “I’m not that old, Jared.”
“When was the last time you went out with someone?” He turned his head and gave her a sideways glance.
Nope, she wasn’t going there. After her Fiancé Fiasco, as she’d labeled some of the most depressing days of her life, she refused to discuss her personal life with her family. They were too far up in her business with what they already knew. Time to redirect the conversation.
“Stop the inquisition. Pull over at the next Starbucks, please.” She wanted a coffee. Jazz hit several buttons on the GPS looking for the store.
“Will you leave that alone? I’ll get you your non-fat soy thingy. There’s a place in the lobby of the office building where we’re meeting Cole.” Jared punched three buttons, and the GPS resumed its original function.
“You know this guy well?” Jasmine switched on the radio and started looking for something decent.
“Cole? Yeah, he was my liaison agent with the FBI when we took down the Morales cartel. He’s one of the good guys. He’ll go places. What happened with the doctor?”
“You switched subjects. Why?”
“I’m interested in what Malaki said to you.”
“Not much, because my brothers are uber-macho and run the company where he works.”
Jasmine turned suddenly and pointed at Jared. “You couldn’t recruit Cole Davis, could you?” Jasmine knew Guardian could lure the best away from the lower paying governmental jobs.
Jared clicked his tongue and then flashed a self-deprecating smile at her. “Nope. He’s an original G-man. FBI through and through. But he’s one I would trust, so having him give us the rundown on their involvement made it worth my while to stay down here for an extra day or two.” Jared turned down the radio that Jasmine had just turned up.
“Hey, I love Adele!” Jasmine turned the music back up. Not much, but enough to say she had.
“You’d better start liking
country music. At least until you put this case to bed.”
“Not going to happen. Not my taste, and I’m too set in my ways to change. I mean, who needs the whining, crying and dying of country music?” Jasmine looked out the window, recalling last night’s concert. There had been a couple of ballads, but the majority of the music the man had sung had been upbeat party songs. A few had a good beat to them, too, but no… because if she liked some of the music, she’d have to admit she liked the man. Wow… where did that come from? Talk about some faulty logic. Whatever, she didn’t need to be anywhere near that ‘Wouldn’t you like to give up control?’ country bumpkin. As if.
They pulled up outside a tall office building made of white concrete and mirrored glass that could have fit nicely into any city. “J, I thought we were stopping for coffee?” Yes, she whined—unapologetically and with emphasis.
“Like I said, in the lobby, Miss Crabby Pants.”
Jared laughed when she stuck out her tongue at him. She loved that she could play with him. Once they were in proximity of anyone else they were both all business, but in the sheltered minutes that they were alone, they always reverted to the kids who had grown up in a quaint, small town in Mississippi.
Ten minutes later, armed with a venti, triple shot, sugar-free, non-fat cup of heaven-on-earth, they walked into the regional offices of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. When Jared grabbed Cole Davis’s hand and shook it, her mental snapshot of who she thought he was reversed in a hurry. For some reason, she expected an older, potbellied, political type. Instead, Cole Davis was tall, good looking and charming. They settled in a small conference room, and Davis shut the door.
“Cole, this is my sister Jasmine. She’ll be working personal security and/or guard detail for Nelson, depending on how this plays out.”
Jasmine offered her hand, which was immediately engulfed in a firm shake.
“Good to meet you.” He turned to Jared. “I didn’t know you had any sisters.”
“Three, all in the business, and all three of us are damn good at our jobs,” Jasmine interjected.
Davis smiled and gestured toward the conference room table. “I would expect nothing less from any King. Let’s sit down.” They sat as Cole spoke. “Alright, Jared, I’ll get right to it. I’ve been promoted, so I’m pulling up stakes here in Atlanta and heading to D.C. That being said, I’m going to pull in a favor. I want Guardian to take this case. I’ll give you everything we have, but the new guy coming in will have more than enough on his plate. He doesn’t need this. Hell, any way you slice it, this case is a hemorrhoid on the ass of this agency. If we screw up and arrest the guy and he’s not guilty, we’ve got egg on our face. If we find out he’s involved and arrest him, we are charging one of the most beloved country singers in history with murder and we are the bad guys—even though we aren’t. If we don’t find out who is doing this and fail to stop another murder, we’re painted as negligent. The press has been sniffing around these murders, and it won’t take long before this media shit storm hits the fan. Take this ugly bitch for me and not only will you clear any tabs you have with me, but I’ll owe you one hell of a big one.”
Jasmine couldn’t help the small smile that tugged at her lips. The man didn’t pull a single punch. She respected the hell out of that.
Jared shifted in his seat and played with a pen that someone had left on the table. He finally spoke, “You never were one to mince words, Davis. I can’t help but get the feeling there’s something else here. What aren’t you telling us?” Jared leaned forward onto his forearms, giving Davis his complete attention.
Cole turned slightly in the chair and thumbed the folder in front of him. He pulled his gaze from Jared and looked directly at Jasmine. “We are assuming Nelson has a… well, hell, for lack of a better word, we think he has a kink. Are you sure you wouldn’t rather put someone else on the case?”
Jasmine was immediately intrigued. “A kink? I’ve read his jacket. He’s phenomenally successful, plays hard and parties hard. He has no lasting relationships, but he’s reputed to have been with multitudes of women. The man is a branding mecca with the Midas touch. Everything he touches bypasses gold and platinum and turns to rhodium. He employs some of the best talent in the country, and they keep him on top of the charts and out of the news, except when he wants to be seen. What are we missing?”
Davis glanced between her and Jared. The guy started to speak and then stopped. He flipped open the file and pushed a single piece of paper toward her. It was a membership application to… well… maybe Mr. Country Music wasn’t all talk after all.
“I take it that club is exclusive?” Jasmine had to admit the thought of Chad Nelson wearing leather and wielding a whip spiked her temperature, but that wasn’t her scene. A good looking man in leather, though? Yeah, she could have a field day with that visual.
“Yes. His lawyer gave it to us, and along with traffic camera footage we obtained that put him at the club, this is his alibi when victim number one was murdered.”
“So you have no idea what goes on inside this club?”
“No, we can’t say for sure, but we have a pretty damn good idea.”
“What did Nelson say when you interviewed him?” Jared started jotting down notes.
“That’s just it. We reached out to his manager for an interview and a lawyer responded. We’ve never talked to the man. We don’t have enough to arrest him. To bring him in and question him would put the FBI and Nelson in every tabloid on the planet, and since the man lawyered up, we’ve been biding our time. It wouldn’t assist us to tip our hand. We took this information and continued the investigation. He is a person of interest, but we don’t have enough to punch the ticket and bring him in.”
Jared nodded and glanced at Jasmine. She lifted an eyebrow in question. He shook his head and gave Agent Davis his attention again. “We’re not making any changes to personnel. Jasmine will be the Guardian officer handling Nelson’s security. I’ll lead the investigation, and we’ll have our people running down any information we need to grouse out. I know what Jasmine can do, and I have no doubt that Nelson will be safe or, if we find out he’s behind these murders, she will cuff and stuff him faster than either of us could. She’s that damn good.”
Jasmine felt a warm blush hit her cheeks. Rarely did she receive compliments from Jared, but when she did, they meant the world to her. Yeah, she knew she was good at her job, but getting that validation from someone who mattered? It was heady. Davis started pulling papers out of the folder and turned them to face Jared and Jasmine.
“Okay then, here’s the scoop. We have two prominent people who have sued Nelson. Both are now dead. Murdered. Victim number one is Natalie Plate. She was a studio executive who filed a forty-million-dollar lawsuit against Nelson, alleging he failed to fulfill the recording contract she had with him over four years ago. The lawsuit is stalled but still relevant. Ms. Plate’s assistant found Natalie in her office, bound to a chair, dead. Single tap through the center of her forehead. She was dressed in the same clothes she’d worn the day before, and according to the coroner’s report, the time of death was sometime between nine and midnight the previous night. There are no surveillance tapes that are useful. Too many exits and way too much foot traffic in the building to be able to identify anyone who would be there late.”
“How is there too much foot traffic that late at night?” Jasmine picked up the police report but waited for Agent Davis’s response.
“The offices are on the same block that house three theaters, multiple restaurants, a gym and a nightclub. The city is revitalizing the area, and the mix of zoning is pulling in people, but the studio offices did not have camera surveillance.”
Jared pulled pictures of the crime scene toward him and searched the different angles.
“This wasn’t an emotional crime,” he mused.
“No. We noted that too. The investigation found out she had other lawsuits filed against a few of the entertainment stars she used t
o manage. So others may have had a motive, but as Nelson stood to lose the most we looked into it. We can’t find any personal contact between Nelson and Plate in the last four years. He severed all ties with that recording company. It was a vicious split. Like I said, we contacted his people to set up an initial interview and got thrown to the lawyer. But we were able to verify his whereabouts.” Davis tapped the application on the table.
“How did you verify he was actually in the club? I’m assuming this type of establishment doesn’t have a sign-in roster or available surveillance.” Jasmine pulled another report toward her, consuming the information while listening to the conversation.
“We have excellent video coverage of the exterior of the facility via traffic cameras and one private security system in the building next door that we were able to… acquire. We know he arrived at eight and didn’t leave until after two in the morning. All exits are covered, and the video feed is authentic. It wasn’t doctored.”
“Victim number two?” Jared asked as he scribbled something down on a small notepad he’d pulled out of his pocket.
“A studio musician who is, or rather, was, suing Nelson for ten million dollars. Jarvis Colston claimed Nelson stole a song he pitched to Nelson several years ago. Nelson was on stage in front of fifty thousand witnesses during that murder.”
“But…” Jasmine egged the agent on.
“But, this is the second case where the victim’s death has directly benefited Mr. Nelson.”
“So you’re assuming a contracted or hired assassin got rid of his legal issues?” Jared leaned back in the chair and rubbed his jaw.
“It’s not out of the realm of possibility.”
Jasmine (Kings of Guardian Book 6) Page 4
