The Deceived Read Online Free PDF Page A

even told you what it is.” “Still not interested.”
    “Please just listen for a second. It’s not that big of a deal. I only want you to find out who sent me the package.”
    “You mean body,” Quinn said.
    “Yes,” Albina said, his voice controlled. “The body. I don’t like living with unknowns, okay? But this situation, you know, it’s tricky. I don’t want to bring a lot of people in on it. You know about the body already. Finding out who put it in that container would probably be a snap for you. You’re a cleaner, so I’m asking you to clean up a few loose ends for me.”
    “I don’t do that kind of cleaning.”
    “Why don’t you think about it?”
    “No.”
    “Come on, Quinn. I’ve heard you’ve been branching out. Taking on a little more. Do this for me and I’ll—”
    Quinn hung up.
    Quinn’s house was in the Hollywood Hills, overlooking the Los Angeles basin. There was a downward slope to his property, but his home wasn’t one of those that cantilevered out from the edge perched on stilts. Instead, his had been built along the slope, using the hill to create two separate levels, with a third storage level at the very bottom. All the bedrooms were downstairs, a floor below street level. Upstairs was a semi-open space that served as living room, dining room, and kitchen.
    After a shower, Quinn made his way up to the kitchen, stopping first to grab his laptop off the coffee table. While he contemplated breakfast, he set the computer on the counter and turned it on. Food was soon forgotten as he connected to the Internet and began searching for information about Jenny.
    It didn’t take long. According to several sources, she was still working for the same Texas congressman that Markoff had told Quinn about—a guy named James Guerrero. He was a friend of Markoff ’s. They had both been Marines, though not at the same time. When Guerrero was on the Intelligence Committee, Markoff had once briefed him on a particular situation. The congressman had been impressed, and, as Markoff told Quinn later, he had been surprised and impressed by Guerrero as well.
    The way he explained it to Quinn, he and the congressman had started meeting up for a drink or even dinner whenever Markoff was in town. In a town where politics was everything, they were very useful to each other. That was the way things worked in the District—it was all relationships and deals. But according to Markoff, they were more than just professional connections for each other.
    “You’ve got to be kidding,” Quinn had said after Markoff had told him about his friendship with the congressman.
    “I know, I know. He’s a politician,” Markoff said. “But he’s different.”
    “They all say they’re different,” Quinn countered.
    Markoff smiled. “You’re right about that. Don’t get me wrong. I’d never trust him one hundred percent. But he’s not afraid to speak his mind. Even gets in trouble with his own party sometimes. That makes him okay by me. Till he proves me wrong, anyway.”
    So when Markoff ’s new girlfriend was looking for a job on Capitol Hill, it was Guerrero who Markoff called.
    Only Representative Guerrero was no longer just the Texas congressman Markoff had briefed years earlier. He was now the Majority Whip, one of the most powerful people in the House of Representatives. And, according to his website, he was the first politician to announce his intention to run for President, doing so a year and a half earlier. And now, as of the month before, Guerrero had made it official, and joined a growing field of candidates for his party’s nomination. And though Quinn knew that none of their chances were very good—they were running against a popular incumbent who was heavily favored to win reelection—the national exposure for the future would be extremely valuable.
    “Lucky girl,” Quinn said to himself as he continued to scan the congressman’s website. Jenny had really picked a winner when she