At my silence, Anna continued, “You’ll get paid extra. I’ll make sure Albus knows to put it on your paycheck. Most of the time it’s claimed before I even get here, but no one wanted it today, so Albus gave it to me. Save extra time at the end of your shift. The place is flipping huge.”
“Thanks for the tip,” I said, my brain whirring as a revelation came over me.
The vampires were staying down the strip at the Diamond Casino. They wouldn’t leave until they were done socializing and finalizing business. I really could take my time. Would I find something in the penthouse that might help with the heist? Or proof of my parents’ murder? Blood skittered through my veins at the thought. It was unlikely, after all, they’d been dead for years. But I still had to try. I must have looked deep in thought, because Anna was staring at me strangely.
I cleared my throat and tried to look less like someone who’d had an amazing idea. “Don’t you have somewhere to be?”
“Oh, yeah! I better get going!” She turned but stopped midway, her big, blue eyes gravitating to the top of my head. “FYI your bobby pins are sticking straight up again. You should really consider a different style. This one isn’t working for you.” She shook her head like she always did when she commented on my laid-back style.
Whatever. She could deal. I hated keeping my hair down when I cleaned and wearing a ponytail for hours was asking for a headache. The half-up, half-down style I’d settled on was functional, even if the pins moved about from time to time.
“Thanks.” I fixed the pins.
“No problem. Since you won’t take my beauty tips, the least I can do is make sure your locks don’t look atotalmess.”
She threw a delicate wave and sashayed down the hall. The annoyance I’d normally feel at her jabs rolled through me faster than ever. There was no time to worry about Anna. I had work to blast through, and a penthouse suite to search.
Hours later, I finally finished my daily tasks and hightailed it upstairs. Completing my work had been excruciating when all I wanted to do was go to the penthouse and look for evidence about my parents’ murders. But had I left rooms uncleaned, someone would have come looking for me. I didn’t want a single interruption while I searched Sherwood’s apartment. Waiting sucked, but it gave me more security.
I retrieved the old-fashion key, my hand trembling from pent up adrenaline rushing through me. The key clicked in the lock, and the door to Sherwood’s suite swung open without the slightest sound. I sucked in a shallow breath, stepped inside, and listened for sounds of the apartment’s inhabitants. Although I’d heard the vampires were on a retreat, I had to be sure that they weren’t there. After a few seconds of listening and sniffing the air, two fox senses that were stronger than my vision, I concluded that I was, in fact, alone.
Two days wasn’t enough time to get over the fact that I’d been working for my parents’ killer for years. However, it was enough time to rein in my emotions, and force myself to think strategically.
I wanted to find concrete proof that Sherwood had been implicit in my parents’ murder. That way, after our heist, which I couldn’t risk messing up, I could call in a tip that would put him away for good.
Ready to do some sleuthing, my gaze swept the penthouse suite, taking in the whites, golds, blacks, and occasional pops of red that dotted the main living spaces. The aesthetic was severe, full of hard-looking furniture with stark lines, red blown glass, floor-to-ceiling windows, and harsh, angular paintings.
So vampiric. Even humans would know they were real if they walked in here.
I moved to the far right of the massive space, toward a few doors decorated in an art deco print. I opened the first one and found myself in the master bedroom the size of five of my rooms. Furniture dotted the open space loosely. It seemed the vampires didn’t want or need much in their room—just a California King-sized bed, a sleek dresser, a mirror, and a chaise lounge in front of the window. There weren’t many personal effects either, but then that made sense. Sherwood and Jehanne were used to people coming into their home and looking at things. Would they leave important items out in the open?
Probably not. And Sherwood definitely wouldn’t leave incriminating evidence lying around. He was far too cunning for that sort of reckless behavior.
An idea sparked in my mind, and I went to my cart and my eyes ran over the list of tasks assigned to the maid who took care of the penthouse.
Dust the mantle.
Fluff the pillows.
Water the flowers.
Scrub toilets, bathroom floor, tub, and vanity.
Clean the windows.
I paused and rolled my eyes. The entire far wall was oneenormouswindow. Heaven forbid the vampires see one speck of dust as they gazed upon the Vegas skyline.
When I got to the end of the list, I smirked. There wasn’t a single mention of closets, or any reason for a maid to go in one. The laundry workers downstairs washed, folded, or hung the vampires’ clothes on racks that were brought upstairs, but the form stated that the vampires preferred to put them away themselves. I thought I knew why.
As a child, I’d always hidden things I didn’t want others to see deep inside my tiny closet. So that was where I’d start. I moved deeper into the bedroom and opened the first door to see what lay behind it.
My eyes bulged and before my maid’s mind could get going too much, I shut the door with a groan. I shook my head, already dreading the tasks that lay before me—after I found evidence. I mean honestly, did someone really need a bathroom that rivaled the size of those in international airports?
“Vampires didn’t even need to use the toilet, for crying out loud!” I muttered to myself as I walked to the next door over and opened it. Immediately, my gaze fell onto a wall of designer suits.
Bingo. This has to be Sherwood’s closet.
I pushed the fancy clothes to the side, searching and trying to ignore that the nice jeans were mostly the same brand Robin wore. The brand that hugged his ass and displayed his hip V’s so perfectly that the mere memory was enough to make me hot with desire.
