A Dark Love Read Online Free PDF Page A

purchased his luxury condo in Dupont Circle. She had earned Porter’s trust and he had rewarded her with a bonus each Christmas, including one big enough to purchase an airline ticket for her husband, whom Porter suspected was here illegally.
    He gave Akua a raise after Caroline moved in with her dog, and nearly doubled her salary again when they moved to the townhouse in Georgetown, even contracting with a car service to bring her home on nights when she stayed late to clean his office. Lately, though, something had changed. Akua chatted about the weather, stilllaughed at Porter’s occasional jokes. But the warmth was gone from her eyes, her face was closed against him. And then she quit, saying she needed to go to Tanzania for her sister’s funeral. There had been no funeral in Tanzania, Porter now realized.
    The investigator tapped his pen on his notepad. “Any chance somebody besides your wife got at that safe?”
    They both knew the answer to that.
    Porter shook his head.
    The PI let out a long breath. “Based on these estimates, I’d say if your wife hocked the stuff she got somewhere around forty-five hundred dollars. Give or take a few hundred.”
    Less than a quarter of the jewelry’s value.
    More than enough to reward Akua for the office access code.
    Despair turned to rage, heating the bile in Porter’s stomach. “Excuse me,” he muttered, stumbling off to the tiny half bath he’d installed for his patients’ use.
    The investigator was finishing a call when Porter returned, hollowed out and empty.
    “We’re on this,” he said. “I’ll walk you through the preliminary game plan now. I’ll have something faxed over for your signature later today.”
    Porter nodded wordlessly.
    “We’ll start by monitoring your accounts for unusual activity.”
    Porter nodded again.
    “We’ll post men at Union Station, Ronald Reagan Airport, and the Greyhound terminal. We’ve got plenty of photos on file. I can assign a guy to stay outside and keep watch here in case she tries to gain access.”
    Porter remembered Caroline walking at his side alongthe River Thames, approaching the entrance to the Tate. “Someday, let’s rent a flat and spend a whole month,” she’d said. Happy. Hopeful for the future. And it had come to this, piecing together bits of information with a man who sifted through other people’s trash for a living. Porter shook his head in disbelief. “We need to scan the international flights,” he said dully.
    “No can do.” The investigator shook his head. “Not since 9/11.”
    Porter paused, considering whether there was a way around this, a way to get what he wanted. Sometimes getting what he wanted was as simple as letting silence take over and fill a room, as now.
    After several beats, the PI flipped his notebook shut. “Unless you know somebody at the TSA…” He shrugged, leaned back in his chair. His body language announced he was prepared to walk away and lose Porter’s fee.
    The surveillance business in Washington must be booming, Porter thought. Moistening his lips, he struggled to get his mind to focus on his options. In fact, he did know somebody with access to the nation’s database of commercial airline flights. Whether the man could be persuaded to do Porter’s bidding was another matter, one that did not involve the PI in any event. “Okay,” Porter said, settling on what he considered to be his best course of action for the moment. “Go ahead and post men at the locations you’ve suggested.”
    “It’ll cost you. Sixty per hour, per man.”
    Porter didn’t flinch. Beltway’s staff consisted of ex-CIA types and students studying forensics at local colleges. “Do it.”
    “Okay.” The man stood to leave. “Make sure I’m your first call if she comes back.”
    The guy still didn’t get it. Caroline was gone. Frustration tightened Porter’s lips into a thin line. Nodding, he extended his hand.
    The investigator shook Porter’s hand and released it too