“Yes. The thought that we are dealing with someone who is part devil or demon has crossed our minds, but they could also be working with a succubus or incubus. We doubt that, however. The murder of an infant is abhorrent to sex demons. A week shouldn’t matter at this stage, as all evidence points that the women were at least eight months, usually right around nine months, pregnant before they were murdered.”
“So a week at the spa won’t endanger them?”
“We don’t believe so. We don’t even have any real leads, just a general location and a time period. Mostly, I knew you had a set period of time off and wanted to accommodate that. I should have more investigation details by the end of the week.”
His consideration of my customer service job made me smile. “We have some potential leads.”
“What do you mean?”
“Women missing from the right time period, following his pattern. And that’s a pattern. We need to review all of the cases and put together a timeline.”
Someone knocked on the door, and Sebastian went to answer it. “After dinner. We are at the pleasure part of our evening, and the work portion happens after the pleasure portion.”
“Are we ever going to work?”
“Maybe tomorrow.”
As the first box had contained an unexpected peril in the form of a watch too expensive for me to even look at, let alone own, I freed the rest of the items from the basket, wondering what other horrors waited. While my older brothers had done well for themselves, had they done ‘stupidly expensive watch for their sister’ well? Had my family entered some form of illegal trade, opting to spoil me with their illicit gains?
What was even going on in my life?
Sebastian returned to the bathroom with two silver-covered dishes, which he set near the tub. Eight more dishes later, he returned to the door, and when he came back, he carried a bottle of red wine and two glasses in one hand and a basket covered with a cloth in the other. “I’m not sure I ordered enough, but this is my attempt to make up for not taking you out to a steakhouse as I promised, although I did get to take you to two buffets I really enjoy.”
I sniffed, and the enticing scent of steak teased my nose. “If this isn’t enough, we have cheese.”
“And if we hit the cheese because we’re still hungry, we’ll either be stoned or frisky, and then we won’t care we’re still hungry.” Sebastian laughed and set the basket beside the platters. “Do you want to open those boxes now?”
I returned the boxes to the basket. “They’re probably expensive, and I’ll freak out. I’d rather eat steak and explore the glories of this tub.”
Sebastian picked up the basket and carried it back to the sitting room before returning, effectively stripping out of his clothes and tossing his poor suit across the polished floors. “You’ll get the strip tease sometime after I’m not starving to death. There’s food for me to eat, so I will eat it. Immediately.”
“I get strip teases? Nobody told me I got strip teases.”
“Being my mate earns you a lot of sinfully good things, and strip teases are only one of them.” He took care stepping around me and got into the tub before starting the water. “Do you want to go through your gift bag? Otherwise, I’m going to start digging through it for the things I’ll be adding to the water.”
I giggled at his desire for efficiency, and I snagged the bag of goodies he’d gotten from the spa, tossed the tissues onto the floor to deal with later, and discovered a ridiculous number of bottles, jars, and bath goodies inside. “You have no restraint, do you?”
“When it comes to you, apparently not. And I was told the tub can handle anything we do to it, as they make sure they’re in good order when they come and clean the room.”
“You’ve been busy.”
“Guilty as charged. I’m done working for the day. Get naked and get that little ass over here. It’s play time, and I’ve scheduled you in for some serious purring.”
I grabbed random bottles and handed them over. “Figure this out. I have better things to do right now.”
Sebastian laughed and took the bottles. “Presents are great until it’s time to get naked, I see.”
“What can I say? I’m a cat, and I’m proud of it.”
Thanks to a big meal and some tender, loving care from Sebastian, I missed the planning portion of the evening, and I woke up five hours before we were scheduled to go to the spa. With nothing else to do, I checked on my bounties, reviewing the cases for one I could handle while the lion got in his beauty sleep. Considering purring in his ear hadn’t woken him, nor had poking him in the ribs, I expected I’d be able to sneak out without any issues.
The most dangerous of my bounties involved an asshole who liked spreading the virus by spiking drinks at a bar or a coffee shop, and he’d been spotted at a pixie dust vendor down the street from the resort. The CDC’s notes on him suggested he wanted others to join him in being miserable and infected against their will.
To confirm the bounty, I needed to catch Mr. Donald Haverly in the act. I got dressed, applied enough makeup to make my face disappear, spritzed myself with the remainder of my perfume, and headed for the coffee shop, planning on enjoying some quiet time unless my target showed up and made an idiot out of himself.
I would need some luck of the good variety.
I ordered a hot chocolate, got extra whipped cream, and resisted the urge to get any pixie dust. While the idea of working under the influence appealed, I needed to do a good job to get my pay.
While I waited, I made use of my new phone to review my general notes, amused the tiny device worked better than my old laptop. Best of all, I could observe the coffee shop from my table in the corner while I sipped at my drink. Most went about their early morning as I expected, stifling yawns and getting a morning cup of coffee to jumpstart their day. With a shield of makeup protecting me from the flinches of people who couldn’t handle scars, I enjoyed being able to watch the crowd without the crowd watching me in an equal blend of horror, confusion, and uncertainty.
I waited for two hours, refreshing my drink several times and going to the bathroom once, before my patience bore fruit. Haverly strolled in, and if I hadn’t seen his picture in the CDC’s bounty file on him, I would’ve believed him to be just another man on the way to work.
I made use of my new phone’s camera, pretended I read something on my phone, and recorded my target. My phone began doing its job, and I wondered how sensitive the microphone on it was. Had I been living in the dark ages out of stubborn pride? What could my new toy do?
It would take me some time to figure out a good way to thank my uncle for my new toy.
Haverly chatted up the women in the line with him, and I blessed my sensitive ears, which informed me the bastard flirted, complimenting the women while digging for their relationship status. The first woman wisely refused to give him the time of day. The second showed off her left ring finger, which had a wedding ring and an engagement band on it.
The third, young enough she likely had a teen tacked onto her age, fidgeted when she drew the asshole’s attention. “Your boyfriend must be a lucky man,” he said.
I wondered if it was a crime of any sort to flirt with an underage girl. From the day my daddy realized his little girl was growing into a woman, he’d given me one piece of advice: needing bail beat letting some asshole take advantage.