“I have something to tell y’all,” I suck in a breath. “And it’s not going to be pleasant for you to hear, but I need to share this with you. It’s something I’ve been hiding for thirty years.”
“Your dark secret?” Celia’s eyebrows go up.
“What do you know about this?” Luke shoots eye daggers at our sister.
She rolls her eyes. “Relax, Lucio. She mentioned something the other day, but she hasn’t told me either.”
“Maybe we should let her tell it?” Wysdom offers with a smile to me. Not asleep then.
I take a deep breath. “When I was in college, my ex-boyfriend, Dash Malum, drugged and raped me at a party.”
Shocked gasps sound around the room. All except Tatiana. She already knew the dirty little secret.
“There’s more,” I continue. “He was my first sexual encounter. He robbed me of my virginity. And it looks like any guy who came along after that; whenever we’d get close to having The Sex, they’d disappear and meet an untimely end. Accidents. That sort of thing. Dr. Wendell Baumann, the guy I went on a date with in D.C., disappeared right after that.”
A thought occurs to me, and I slap my forehead. “Oh, shit. I was supposed to meet with the detective, in that case, this morning! Tatiana, is there a way you can hook up a video conference with Detective Janecek?”
Tatiana gets clicking.
“How does this relate to Kestrel?” Luke folds his arms across his chest.
“Well, we… uh…” I blush.
“Holy Oprah Empire! She did the dirty deeds with Lab Coat,” Wysdom hops out of her chair and offers me her palm. “High five, sista!”
I blush harder and slap her hand. “Not the time, but thanks?”
“You had sex with KESTREL?” Luke’s voice booms.
I poke him in the chest. “Not. The. Time. Or, you know, any of your damn business!”
Wysdom holds up her hand for another high-five, but I wave her off.
“Anyway,” I move around the table, away from my meddling brother. “Rand and I were seen at the reunion together. He told people we were engaged. If someone were watching me, looking for my next possible sexual partner, Rand would have a big ass target on his back.”
Celia shakes her head. “This is crazy. How long has this been going on?”
I blush. “I mean, a couple of days? We haven’t had much of a chance to talk about it. And certainly not to label it.”
Flint chokes. “I think she was asking how long this targeting thing was going on.”
Well, motherfucking shitballs.
My face turns redder, and I shrug. “Since high school. I didn’t know all these guys were dead. I thought they ghosted me.”
“Shit,” Flint pounds on the table. “And we think someone went after Rand?”
I nod.
“I have Detective Galvin Janecek ready for a video conference,” Tatiana types a bit then the detective’s face fills the screen.
“Hi, Detective Janecek,” I wave. “Thanks for taking the video call. I’m sorry I’m not in Washington right now, but we have a bit of a crisis on our hands and another missing man.”
I make the introductions. The detective nods, but his mood is grim.
“What is it?” I pause.
“Our missing guy is no longer missing,” Detective Janecek says. “Dr. Wendell Baumann was found dead overnight. Coroner estimates the time of death late Friday night. I’m guessing you had an alibi for Friday night?”
