To Kill a Ghost

“Excuse me,” Kirkland said to Sarah. Sugar wouldn’t have melted in his mouth as he spoke to that woman. He gave her cups of tea and food from his secret stash. The man was doting on a woman he didn’t even know.

“Who the hell is this lady?” Linox scowled. “How do you know we can trust her?”

“We can’t,” Kirkland growled. “I need Dedra here. Where is she?”

“How should I know? You kicked me out of that conversation!” Linox crossed his arms over his chest and glared at the woman sipping tea with her pinking finger so far in the air that he was honestly surprised the damn thing was still attached.

“I am not joking around…”

“You think I am?” Linox rolled his eyes and walked into his computer room. “I saw her running down Main about an hour ago, but that was it. You wanna take a look?”

Linox couldn’t bring himself to tell Kirkland that he watched Dedra walk through the door of one of her targets with no backup. He saw the man she was supposed to be looking for. The guy didn’t look as suave as he did the night before. “She’s off my radar.”

“I can’t afford her coming back until I deal with this woman.” Kirkland said through gritted teeth.

“It’s not your man. I ran him through facial recognition last night. Sam Jennings isn’t some big deal like the guy in the photo. They look similar when Sam is on his game, but it’s not the same guy.”

“I want hard proof.”

“Can I call D, then…Boss?” Linox rolled his eyes.

“Do it, and keep her away.” Kirkland went out into the lobby. “Step into my office, Ms. Wilson. We’ll chat privately. My associate has given me a worrisome detail to your mystery file.”

“Like what.”

“You’re not looking for Sam Jennings.”

Sarah put her cup down on Kirkland’s dark wooden desk as Kirkland closed his office door. His lips moved silently as he stared at Linox across the hall. “Find her!”

Linox pulled out his phone and dialed. Four rings and finally Dedra picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“Don’t hello me, I know you have caller ID.” Linox hissed into the phone. “I covered for you, but I did tell Kirk about Sam. That’s not our guy.”

“I’m bringing you an old war photo. Eli Jones is our guy. He looks just like the file and he’s got gun knowledge with intelligence capabilities.” She sounded breathless. He imagined her running down the street with her chestnut ponytail floundering behind her.

“Don’t come here!” Linox hissed. “Kirkland is on the war path, and you won’t believe who he brought home with him.”

“Awe, Newbie, don’t tease.” She laughed.

“What?” Linox scoffed and scratched his stubble. “Do you think you’re flirting with me?”

“It worked on Sam,” she pouted. He rolled his eyes.

“I’m not an idiot, Dedra.”

“Kirkland is all bark and no bite. Now, tell me, who did he bring home with him?” Her breathing slowed as she spoke this time. Linox could almost see her stamping the toe of her shoe against the edge of the concrete as cars flew passed her. She was annoyed that the light wouldn’t change faster.

“The client. Her name is Sarah Wilson. She has this raven black hair and these hypnotic eyes that look a lot like yours.” His words sped out of his mouth. The strange woman made him nervous.

“No one has eyes like mine?” She accused.

“They are a little darker almost like a sky blue rather than your weird silver color.” He fingered the keys of his computer watching the door of the man who wasn’t the target.

“That’s not possible.”

“She looks like she walked out of the 50s, and that’s not as pretty as you might think.” His brow furrowed with confusion. “What do you mean it’s not possible?”

“The woman you’re describing. It’s not possible that she’s there.” Her breathing came in gasps now, but she didn’t sound like she was running anymore. “It sounds like… That’s my mother.”

“Why doesn’t Kirkland want you hear if she’s your mother then?” He rubbed his forehead trying to relax a headache and his sore eyes from their sleep deprivation.

“My mother is dead.” She stated. “I watched her die on the kitchen floor when a man shot her.”

“You did what?” Linox’s heart dropped to his stomach. Nausea crept up his throat.

“My mother is dead,” she repeated.

“Then who the hell is Sarah Wilson?” He pressed his phone between his cheek and his shoulder as he began a search.

“You won’t find anything on her,” Dedra hissed into the phone. His search came up empty in almost the same instance.

“What’s going on?” Linox thought aloud.

“I think Kirkland is hiding something from us. For starters, I think Sam is related to him; and second what does he want from a woman that looks like my mother?” Dedra confessed.

“She looks kind of like that old photo on his desk to. The woman he says came with the frame.” Linox informed her.

“That’s his wife, Tanya. She died when… She died. It doesn’t matter when or how. What’s the woman doing?” She thought aloud as she tried to figure it out.

“She’s a cop, D. I can feel it.”

Dedra thought long and hard. A suspicious woman who would seem familiar to Kirkland comes into his office. She asks him to do a job he can’t refuse. A beautiful woman who reminds him of the love of his life and his adopted daughter’s mother. “She isn’t a cop, New guy.”

“What is she then? Enlighten me.” He seemed ore sarcastic than usual.

“You need a serious nap.” Dedra snapped. “She’s a spy. The question is who is she working for?”

“Who would send a spy to Kirkland?” Linox idly tapped the space bar.

Silence overwhelmed the phone line. He waited, but no sounds entered his ear except the ticking of his space bar. “Hello?”

“I know who sent her, but why would he do that?” She whispered.

“D?” Linox questioned. The phone line went dead.”

He walked out of his computer room to try to reason with Kirkland. If something was wrong with Dedra then she came first, not some stupid, double agent spy. Peering through the window of Kirk’s office, Linox knew exactly who came first in this business though. The flirtatious gleam in his boss’s eye and the soft smile lifting his lips Linox all the information he needed to know.

Kirkland isn’t thinking straight. He’s going to get us killed.