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“Come and look at this.”
    I went over to Judge Taylor’s body to see what she was talking about. By the time I got there, everyone had come over to see. Kelly lifted the judge’s right leg. There was a huge bruise in the back of her knee.
    â€œWhat do you think, Phoenix?” Kelly asked.
    â€œShe was hit pretty damn hard. I wonder if that’s the only bruise on her body. I wonder if the husband also has bruises. They could have been tortured for information. Only way to find out is to treat this like either one of them could have been the target.”
    â€œI agree,” Kelly said.
    I checked the caller ID, which showed 112 calls. The calls went back as far as December. Using her cell, Kelly called the bureau to get one of the techs to pull up the Taylors’ home and office telephone records.
    â€œKelly, we better check their cell phone logs, too,” I said.

CHAPTER 7
    I MADE IT HOME just in time to walk Savannah, my six-year-old daughter, to Matthew Henson Academy. The school was the main reason we had moved into the Arlington area. Henson was one of a few private schools that required students not only to attend year-round but to commit to being there on Saturdays also. Consequently, most of the students were two or three grades above the norm. Savannah never missed a day of school.
    I was supposed to meet Director St. Clair at the White House by eleven o’clock. Director St. Clair had wanted me to be there when he briefed President Davidson at his regular 8:00 meeting, but I insisted on coming home first. There wasn’t anything significant to report on the Taylor homicides yet. On a case like this, there was no telling how many hours I would have to work. I was already spending a lot of hours on the Rapist case. While it was an honor to meet with the President under any circumstances, I wanted to walk my daughter to school as often as possible.
    Savannah leaped into my arms the moment I opened the door.
    â€œHi, Mommy!”
    â€œHi, precious.” I kissed her on the cheek.
    â€œLook, Mommy. See how Daddy dressed me?” She was wearing one of three uniforms that the Matthew Henson Academy required. The school’s colors were green and gold. Savannah looked so adorable in her uniform. Keyth had even put a green-and-gold ribbon in her hair.
    â€œDid you eat breakfast, honey?”
    â€œYeah.” She smiled. “Me and Daddy made it together.”
    â€œDid you eat it all?”
    â€œUh-huh.”
    â€œOkay, honey. I need to talk to your daddy for a second. Then I’ll walk you to school, okay?”
    Keyth, who looked like Midwest model Marcus Cordland, had just gotten out of the shower when I walked into the bedroom. He was drying himself off, unaware that I was staring lustfully at his muscular back. My eyes dropped to his delicious ass. It was the shape of a round doughnut. I wanted to take a bite. Even after eight years of marriage, he still turned me on.
    â€œYou in a hurry to get to the office?” I asked him.
    He turned around, and I got a full frontal view of his sculptured physique.
    â€œHow long have you been here?” he asked.
    â€œLong enough to know I need taking care of before you go to work.”
    He smiled. I kissed him, grabbing as much of his ass as I could get into my small hands. At 6 feet 3 inches, Keyth was seven inches taller than me. We started kissing, and his lips tasted good. I could smell fresh cinnamon on his breath.
    He pulled away. “You better get on outta here and take Savannah to school, girl.”
    â€œOkay. Kiss me again before I go.”
    â€œMommy, come on,” Savannah called out from the hallway. “You gon’ make me late for school.”

CHAPTER 8
    I PRACTICALLY DRAGGED Savannah to school and hurried home. There was a river between my legs. Keyth pulled me in and closed the door. First he pulled off my uniform jacket, then the tee shirt I wore underneath. He flicked his