Wouldn’t it be great if that was how things could work?
“So how was the scene?” he asked once we were dressed and putting plates together from the food he made.
I snorted. “Sloppy. The crime scene was half-assed, and clearly the cops disagreed if it was anything to look into.” I nodded when he raised an eyebrow. “I just walked in.” I told him the rest when he sighed.
“Lovely. Always lovely to see when—you want to feel bad for cops getting burnt out, but people need them to be there when they should. Everything is just too fucked up.”
I let that go because we all had those kinds of days.
I didn’t think he should be so cranky after all the hot sex we’d just had, but even how amazing I was in bed couldn’t fix everything. Close—but not everything.
“So the nosy neighbor was helpful?” he pushed when I didn’t continue and simply ate.
I nodded, thinking back over what she said. “She had a lot to say about strippers while saying she didn’t have a problem with them. Her jealousy was through the roof and her desires to be pretty enough to basically get paid well to stand around naked when she was younger—I’ve seen the type a lot. Women who think they support women but judge harshly.”
“Always fun,” he agreed. “So she was in love with the deceased?”
“No, strictly like auntie vibe,” I corrected. “He actually helped her out and she would drop off food. Might have been theonly redeeming thing about Steven Scalf I found. Though it was clear he got more out of the deal than she did.” I shrugged when he raised an eyebrow at that. “How hard is it to mow two lawns once you got the mower out?
“She bought it. Some nice little riding one for both their houses and she was always making him lunch in thanks all year. Picking up his groceries. Sure, he’d give her money, but—it was transactional, not kindness. He wasn’t just helping a senior citizen.” I waved off what he was going to say next, sensing his worry. “No, he wasn’t abusing her.
“It was like sixty/forty from what she was saying or the vibe I got. But that’s shitty. The guy wasn’t like super evil but like just seemed not great. I don’t know. I just got it from her and the impression of his house. According to her, he was a great boy and she was confused why he bothered with those sluts instead of a real woman. Especially that greedy whore in the end.”
“Oh?” Mason chuckled. “So you got a lead then.”
I nodded. “And she happened to know what club he liked. Didn’t know the name of saidwhorebut had a lot to say about how she…” I snorted, shaking my head and taking too big of a bite.
“This should be good. Your aura is all over.”
I nodded and swallowed my food. “It’s actually kinda cute if it wasn’t turned around. I could see it—I honestly see it as something like you or Aidan would like.” I almost added Dylan for sure, but I wasn’t even going to mention him when we were done and I wanted to move forward, glad I hadn’t even seen him in days.
Fine “days” wasn’t a whole lot of time, but… It was a start.
“Big tippers—or I guess really she—the guys paid to get their—”
“Okay, you’re being cute about this,” he chuckled. “Do you want to do it?”
I gave him the look he deserved. “No, I don’t want to do what the murderer does to lure in victims.” I sat with that a moment and then shrugged. “She gets their initials on her nails.”
He slowly blinked at me. “I’m sorry?”
I nodded. “She gets their initials on her nails. Works them into the designs of her nails. I don’t know what type—this lady didn’t know, but Steven had told his neighbor that he had to go to the salon because he’d finally secured his turn to get his initials on her. He was all excited and said he thought this was it and it would be the last initials she ever had on her.
“She said the ‘bitch was greedy and made him pay for the nails.’” I smiled when Mason snorted. “Yeah, I made a point to say that even in a normal relationship, I was pretty sure if a woman did that for her man, he better be paying for the manicure because that—nail art isn’tcheap. And I’m all for fun and some possessiveness, but that needs to be appreciated.”
“Absolutely,” Mason agreed… With heat in his eyes.
Yeah, I definitely had called that one correctly.
He wanted his initials on me.
Even if the last name he was currently using wasn’t his real one.
Oh boy.
5
It took a few days to get things in place. In theluckiestturn of events that meant bullshit would land on me later, one of the dancers at the strip club Steven frequented had applied at Heavenly Entertainment. We had denied her because she didn’t have the talent needed and wasn’t involved in one of the takeovers.
