Chapter 1
Angel Faughn walked into the restricted area with his partner, Kate Lockley, and looked around. It was a swanky apartment decorated with rich colors and expensive looking items. The bedroom of the place was done in muted colors and the bedding was an ivory color now stained with dark crimson. The woman's body lay sprawled on the bed, half naked and brutally murdered.
A younger officer walked up to Angel and Kate. "She died around 3 AM this morning. From what the coroner on sight can see, she was stabbed thirty or more times."
"Age?" Kate asked.
"About 25, maybe 28."
"Who found her?"
"Her boyfriend. Said he came over this morning to check on her when she didn't call him at their usually appointed time." The young officer pointed to a man in his early thirties talking to another officer.
Angel glanced at the man. "He have an alibi?"
"Don't know, sir. Helen's been talking to him."
"Thanks." Angel took one more look at the dead woman and then headed over to talk to the boyfriend. He stuck out his hand and shook the other man's hand. "Sir, I'm Angel, this is Kate. We're with the FBI. Mind if we ask you some questions."
The man looked up, slightly dazed and nodded. "Uh, sure."
"Why don't we step into the hallway, Mr…..?"
"Adams. Todd Adams."
Angel escorted Todd into the hallways with Kate following close behind. "What time did you make it over here this morning?"
"I got here about…. I don't know, an hour or so ago. She calls me every morning at six to wake me up."
"How long did that go on?" Kate asked.
"About a month after we first met."
"When was that?"
"About three years ago."
"How did you get in?"
"I have a key. We have keys to each others' apartments."
"Did you see her at all last night?" Angel asked.
"No. She called me at eight last night and said that she was working late, so pizza night was cancelled."
"Did she work late a lot, Todd?" Kate asked.
Todd looked a little taken aback by the question. "What?"
"Did she work late nights a lot?"
"Sometimes." Todd paused. "She was Senator Finn's personal assistant. It was more frequent the last six months because the Senator is up for reelection next year." Kate and Angel glanced at each other knowingly. Todd caught the look and knew what it meant. "No! Kelly would never do that. She wanted to get married on a beach. We were talking about getting married."
"It's ok." Angel patted the man's shoulder.
"How long did she work for Senator Finn?" Kate asked.
Todd was really on the verge of crying now. "About six months before we met."
"Was there any indication of a non-platonic relationship between the Senator and Miss Taylor?"
"No!"
Angel blocked Kate and interrupted her before she could spit out any more questions. "That's enough questions for now." Todd nodded and leaned against a wall. "We're very sorry for your loss."
"Why are you here?" Todd asked.
"Excuse me?" Kate shot back, getting ready to get fired up.
"I meant…. You're FBI. Shouldn't this be the LAPD's jurisdiction?"
Once again, Angel blocked Kate. "The Senator lives in Washington and LA." Angel took Kate and led her away.
"What are you doing?" Kate demanded.
"He didn't do it."
"How do you know? He could've been playing us."
"Kate, he didn't do it."
"You and your hunches!"
"When have they ever steered me wrong?"
Kate sighed. "Let's just get this finished."
Buffy Summers was the hottest new interior designer on the market and she had just landed a huge account. A big time movie producer had just hired her to decorate his entire house he had just bought in Beverly Hills. If she did a good job on this, she would get even more big time customers which meant more money and more acclaim and she would finally be Buffy Summers, Interior Designer instead of Buffy Summers, Riley Finn's fiancée.
She was engaged to Senator Henry Finn's son, Riley. She'd been chosen to design a room for a charity benefit and then asked if she would like to come to the event for doing such a spectacular job. Even though she didn't know anybody there except the lady who had asked her to design the party, she had decided to get dressed up and go anyway. While she stood near the punch fountain and sipped on expensive champagne by herself, she had caught the eye of one Riley Finn.
At the time, she hadn't known who he was, but she knew who his father was. He had been so sweet, inviting her to walk around with him and be his unofficial date. When he had noticed that she seemed incredibly bored, he had gently led her out of the building and down the street to a Denny's where they had stayed out until four in the morning talking over coffee. That had been almost two years ago. Since then, Riley had hyped her up to a few of his friends' parents and they'd spread the word about her and now she was one of the busiest designers out there.
Willow, Buffy's best friend and assistant, stood by and watched Buffy gather up everything that she needed for the day at Mr. Bruckhiemer's house. Willow had already covered everything for her best friend, but when Buffy got in a rush, she more or less turned into a panicking nutcase.
"Will, I need those drawings! Stop being calm." Buffy said, her panic level slowly creeping up the scale.
"Buffy, you're fine. Everything is in your case."
"Are you sure? I don't remember putting those drawings in there."
"I put them in there."
"You're positive?"
"More than positive."
Buffy eyed her warily for a moment then nodded as if she could read Willow's memories. "Ok, then let's get gone."
"Already left."
Angel sat at his desk the next day and went over the morgue papers that had been placed on his desk along with the Taylor Murder case file. Kelly Taylor had been an all around great person. High grades all through school, popular, a top rate college, graduated with honors in political law, struggled for a little while before she finally got into Senator Finn's camp and quickly climbed the ranks to become his PA.
Todd had agreed to come in for more questioning and had admitted that he had thought for a while that Kelly was having an affair with the Senator. In Todd's statement, he said that he and Kelly hadn't had sex in two months. The morgue reports confirmed that Kelly had been having an affair. She had been five weeks pregnant at the time of her death. Now the question that remained was: Who was Kelly sleeping with? And Angel had a pretty good idea as to who it was. He grabbed up his coat and walked out the door.
Kate walked over to him holding two cups of coffee. "What's up?"
"I want to question Senator Finn."
"Why?"
Angel handed her the morgue reports and took the cup of coffee she offered him. "Todd Adams said she had started working late nights about five months ago and they steadily increased. About two months ago, they stopped having sex."
"So?"
"Do you not read the reports?"
"I let you tell them to me. You build suspense so well."
Angel sighed and rolled his eyes. "She was five weeks pregnant. So, whoever's kid that is, it's not Todd's."
"Unless he's lying."
"Trust me, Kate, men don't lie about how long it's been since they've had sex with their girlfriends."
"Yes they do!"
"Ok, men don't lie about how long it's been since they've had sex with their girlfriends if they're a suspect for said girlfriend's murder."
"And we're questioning the Senator because…..?"
"I think he's the one she was having the affair with. And being that the Senator's up for reelection next year and Kelly was pregnant, probably with his kid, gives him a motive for killing her."
"Agent Angel to the rescue. I really should get you some tights and a cape."
"I'm not the dark crusader. And I don't wear tights."
Senator Henry Finn lived in a huge sprawling mansion in the mountains outside LA. He had worked hard to get to the position he was at today and he had worked even harder to secure his future in his son. Riley Finn would one day be President of the United States. Henry was too old. He didn't want to be remembered for dying of old age in office, so he groomed his handsome son to be a headstrong politician. His son had even put those skills to use making a lovely young interior designer fall head over heels for him.
The Finns could get anything they wanted.
Unfortunately, both the Finn men had wanted Kelly Taylor and now they were wrapped up in an FBI investigation into her death. At the moment, Senator Finn was in his parlor talking to two FBI agents about Kelly and his relationship with her.
"Poor girl." Henry said. "She had a lot of promise."
"Did you see her at all the night she was killed?" Agent Lockley asked.
"Just before I left at nine. She was working her ass off trying to make a bill I wanted to propose in the Senate look better. And then she didn't show up for work the next morning."
"Did you try calling her?" Agent Faughn asked.
"No."
"Why not?"
"I figured she'd worked so late that she was taking the day off to rest. I didn't blame her. She could really exhaust herself sometimes."
"Did she usually take days off without permission?" Agent Lockley asked.
"No! Of course not. You don't understand. She worked hard everyday. Sometimes she wouldn't get out of the office until well into the morning hours and then be back in to work bright and early that same morning. I was so happy that I thought she'd taken a day off, I wasn't even mad that she didn't call in."
"And you didn't call her?" Agent Faughn asked.
"I told you I didn't want to bother her if she was resting."
"What about this morning when she didn't show up?"
"Her phone was disconnected and her cell phone was turned off. I began to get worried."
"But not worried enough to go check out her apartment?" Agent Lockley asked.
Just at that moment, the door opened and Riley and his girlfriend Buffy Summers walked in. "Hi dad…. Oh, we didn't know you had company."
"It's fine, Riley. Hello Buffy."
"Hi Mr. Finn." Buffy eyed Angel and the badge that was attached to his belt.
"This is Agent Angel Faughn and Agent Kate Lockley with the FBI. Agents, this is my son, Riley Finn, and his fiancée, Buffy Summers."
"The FBI?" Riley asked.
"You two might want to have a seat. I have some very disturbing news."
Riley grasped Buffy's hand and led her over to the small couch next to the Senator's chair. "What's going on?"
"Son, Kelly's been murdered."
"Oh my God!" Buffy blurted, yanking her hand away from Riley. "How? When? Who did it?"
"Shh," Riley soothed, patting her on the back.
"Buffy and Kelly were friends." Henry explained to the agents.
"Were you close?" Agent Lockley asked.
"Very." Buffy took the tissue Agent Faughn offered her. "Thanks. Other than Willow, Kelly was the only other real girlfriend I had."
"Who's Willow?"
"Her assistant at work." Riley said.
"Was she friends with Kelly?"
"Yes."
"Did either of you see her two nights ago?"
"No. I've been extremely busy for a while now." Buffy sniffled.
"Did either of you talk to her?"
"No."
Angel could tell Buffy was getting upset over all the rapid-fire questions towards her, so he turned the questions on Riley. "How about you, Mr. Finn? Did you see or talk to Kelly two nights ago?"
"I saw her, yes, but it was only in passing."
"At what time?" Kate asked, locking onto Riley now.
"About 9:30. I went by my father's office building to see if he was still working and Kelly was still there."
"Did you talk to her?"
"I asked her how she was and advised her to go home and rest since it was getting late."
"That's all?"
"Yes, Agent Lockley, that's all. If you're insinuating that I had more of a passing relationship with Miss Taylor, then you're searching for the Holy Grail." Riley picked up Buffy's hand and clasped it lovingly in his. "I'm very much devoted to my fiancée and I would do nothing to ruin the beautiful relationship I have with her."
Angel noticed the tight smile on Buffy's face and that she didn't fully return Riley's loving smile. He made a mental note to question her without the Senator and his son around and without Kate's probing questions. Standing up, Angel looked around and said, "Well, I think we've disturbed you enough for one day. I'm very sorry for your loss and we'll be touch if you think of anything."
"Thank you. We will." Senator Finn said. "Buffy, would you be so kind and show our guests to the door?"
"She doesn't have to." Angel said. "We can find our own way."
"No, it's fine." Buffy said. "I need to get to work anyway." She opened the door for Kate and Angel and allowed them to go first. With a small wave at Riley, she followed the agents out and led them to the door. Angel held the door open for her. "Thanks."
He followed her to her car and opened the door for her. "Listen, I'd like to talk to you more about Kelly later. Can I give you my card?"
"I'll never get around to calling you." Buffy said, sitting down in the driver's seat. "I'm always busy. Especially with this new account." She looked up at him and then leaned back, reaching into the glove compartment. She jotted down something and then handed Angel a business card. "That's my design company, but I gave you my cell phone number and address on the back. Just call me whenever you need to talk to me."
"Thanks."
Buffy sighed and shook her head. "I can't believe I have to work after I find out a friend of mine was murdered."
"I promise that whoever did this will come to justice."
She looked up and started to say something, but shook her head. "I'll talk to you later." Angel waited until she had gotten completely in the car and shut the door for her. He headed over to Kate's car where Kate was waiting. "You done flirting with a suspect?"
"She's not a suspect."
"She's a link to a murdered woman. That makes her a suspect." Angel sighed and got in the passenger's seat as Buffy drove by them. "What were you talking to her about anyway?"
"I was just apologizing for you coming on so strong in there after she found out her friend was murdered and the killer is still at large."
"Whatever gets a confession." Kate turned on the car and put it in drive.