Godsend 8: The Value of a Woman (Godsend Short stories Series) by K. Elliott Page A

say that the police were on the case for six months. Anyway, I was contacted by Chrysler less than a year and a half ago; I ended up selling them my patent for a computer algorithm. My twenty-eight million after taxes and lawyer fees arrived maybe eight months after Milana was murdered.”
    Brian said, “She picked one hell of a service to work for. The Echelon is for clients with big money. Even the FBI don’t know much about the Echelon, so she must  have known somebody who knew somebody slightly connected to the escort service.”
    “I was homeless, so I sent my daughter to live with my sister. My daughter worked for the service just to help me get back on my feet. I would have stopped her if I had known she was in that line of work.”
    Brian said, “Okay. Just a couple more questions, and we’re off to work.”

Chapter 2
     
    CAMBRIA, CALIFORNIA, a 250-mile drive north of Los Angeles, was a beautiful place to live. The city itself rested above the Pacific Ocean on hills that were nurturing a multitude of pine trees. Aside from the downtown antique shops, cafes, and art galleries, there were also late-Victorian homes, restaurants, and bed and breakfast inns.  And up in the hills there was no shortage of elegant homes made of redwood and glass.
    Marco Warner’s home had an all-glass front; Echo and Kiandra could see him as he appeared in the front room.
    Kiandra looked back again, appreciating a scant view of the ocean through some pine trees.
    At 3:27 p.m., Marco opened the glass door wearing long shorts, house slippers, and a small tank top. He was a 29-year-old white man with a muscular build and a face best suited for magazine covers. “How can I help you?”
    Echo stepped closer to him and said, “We're private investigators.”  He held up his credentials. “I’m Louis Raymond; she’s Trenea Hill. We’d like to have a word with your girlfriend, Charelle Yates.”
     “Let me make sure I understand you. You guys come to my place looking for my girlfriend when she doesn’t even live here?  Obviously you’ve done enough investigating to know that we’re  dating; shouldn’t you know that she doesn’t live in Cambria?”
    Not only did Echo and Kiandra know that, they also knew that Charelle hadn’t been home in at least two full days now. “Is she here or not?  If so, can we just ask her a couple of questions?  We won’t take up more than five minutes of her time.”
    Marco said, “No, she’s not here. Now get off my property and don’t ever -”
    Echo punched him right between the eyes with a right and swiftly followed up with a left elbow, which only grazed the top of Marco’s head.
    Kiandra saw Marco as he was falling to the floor, so she pulled out her handgun and rushed in behind Echo.
    When Marco hit the floor, Echo was on top of him; he began striking the man in the face repeatedly. The blows were so forceful and violent, the fourth one actually knocked Marco out.
    Kiandra pushed Echo off the unresponsive man and said, “Stop. We might need him to talk if she ain’t here.”
    Echo did not respond, and in the moment of pause they both heard something that sounded like shower running upstairs. He got up from the floor, tried to shake the sting out of his right hand, and said, “Watch this muthafucka. He looks like he can fight; I just didn’t give him a chance.”
    Kiandra sat on a white leather sofa as Echo eased off toward the spiral staircase. She looked at Marco’s bruised, bloody face and smiled. The plush gray carpet would probably need replacing. She turned her attention to an oil painting on a wall and wondered how much Marco had paid for the ugly thing.
    Echo calmly opened the bathroom door from the master bedroom on the second floor. Through the frosted shower doors he could hear someone humming. He barely made out the image of a white woman.
    Charelle said, “Honey, come get in the shower with me.”
    Echo remained silent as he closed the door. He began taking off all