Retribution

“That would be my guess. The feds do love their black Escalades. Nice digs.” The two detectives looked up a short hill that ended in a Tudor façade that spread a good distance between one lot line and the next. It was the address for Curtis Talmadge in the records research had surfaced. Hardesty was thinking, though, that it was more the residence of Mrs. Talmadge—Maria—than it was for Curtis. He chose to believe Jan’s description that the P Street townhouse in Georgetown that looked lived in by a man of academic pursuits—and kinky gay male sex interests—was where Curtis spent more of his time. And without a Mrs. Talmadge around.

Hardesty’s perception that a man didn’t spend much time in this house was heightened when a battle ax of a maid let them in, showed them into a frilly living room, and disappeared. The blowsy blonde who then appeared—Maria Talmadge—was a bit of a surprise. First, she was foreign looking and had an accent. Hardesty thought Russian, which he then thought was a fascinating fact. Second, she was voluptuous, well into her forties—Hardesty had expected older, considering that her husband was retired from the government—and she had an unapologetic eye. She also was discerning. Although both of the detectives were hunks in their own, separate ways, Maria Talmadge latched immediately on Glen Whitehall, the heterosexual of the two. And she didn’t let go.

At the first opportunity, Hardesty leaned into Glen and whispered, “Yours.”

“Ahead of you there, good buddy,” Whitehall answered. He was sitting with an open-legged stance, as if it would be too painful on his dick and balls to bring his legs together—and maybe it was—and he’d unbuttoned enough of his shirt to show her blond curls at his neckline. She didn’t miss a beat. In a blink of an eye—faster than the eye could discern—she was showing more deep cleavage herself. Later Hardesty decided she’d even seen Glen readjust himself and, rightfully, had taken it as signaling. She certainly steamed straight ahead into declaring that she wanted him inside her.