“May I join you?” he asked. “I asked the barista what your favorite drink is, and she gave me this. I hope you don’t mind.”
I blinked, glanced up from my work, and stared at him before staring at the coffee, which was marked with my regular drink. I expected extras, but I wouldn’t have any idea what unless I got a text from the CDC’s monitoring system when the device embedded in my arm detected something. While I hesitated, I reached over and accepted the drink. “That’s very kind of you. Thank you.” To adhere to my role, I closed my laptop and put it away, and I checked the time on my phone before setting it back on the table, screen down and close at hand in case Sebastian called and wanted to make my life difficult. “I have some time, and I’ve finished my work for the moment, so, sure. Please, have a seat.”
Loureni sat, and he smiled at me. “I’m Stefan. I couldn’t help but notice you’ve been here all week working quite diligently. Are you new to town?”
“Vanessa. I’m in town for business. My boss has a lot of business here this week, so I’m making sure his schedule is set and I’m available if he needs me. Today is a half day for me. He has a full meeting schedule, after which he’s socializing with some of his friends in the area. I checked my screen. “I’ll be off work in twenty minutes.”
“What wonderful timing, then. I have some time before I have to leave. Are you liking Chicago so far?”
“So far, it’s nice. Busy, and the streets are something else.”
“Underground city get you?”
“Surprisingly not. My boss was driving, and he knows his way around Chicago. I think he used to live around here before he moved to New York.” I took a sip of my gifted coffee. If it contained anything nefarious, from pixie dust to the more potent and dangerous influencer, I’d know within thirty seconds. It tasted fine, which eliminated several other drugs I’d been warned about during my briefing on what someone like Stefan Loureni might do to lure me away from the coffee shop. “I hope you tipped that barista. She remembered my drink.”
Loureni chuckled. “I did tip her for remembering. I’m glad she remembered it right. How long are you going to be in town?”
The trick to baiting the man involved being in town long enough to give him an opening—and not having any obligations to my boss tomorrow, so he would act on opportunity.
My phone beeped at me, and I sighed. “It’s probably my boss. Please give me a moment?”
“Of course. I wouldn’t want to get you in trouble.”
I picked my phone up off the desk and checked my text, which informed me Stefan Loureni was a very naughty boy and gave me one of the higher grades of pixie dust, which would make me inclined to do whatever he wanted rather cheerfully, although the grade was low enough I could, if presented with something serious enough, maintain limited coherent thought.
As the grade fell within my treatments’ ability to handle, I forwarded the text to Sebastian while pretending I answered before deleting the evidence. Then, forcing myself to smile, I put my phone into my purse and packed my closed laptop into its bag. “It was my boss, and I’m being cut loose a little early today. Tomorrow, I have the day off, as he has personal business in town.” As pixie dust tended to make people talkative and happy, I drank more of my coffee. “This is really good.”
“Our favorite things are usually good, but it’s made better when it’s a gift, right?”
“You’re absolutely correct.”
“As it turns out, I have off the rest of the day, too. How would you feel about seeing the sights with me? I’ll make sure you’re back in plenty of time, so you won’t have any problems with your boss.”
I considered him, drinking more of my spiked coffee. The grade he’d given me took some time to kick in, although I’d be more pliant immediately after exposure. I picked up my purse, rummaged through it, and checked my medication bottles. “Oh, good. I did bring them all. Seeing the sights sounds good. It’s rare I get any time at all. It’s usually work, work, work. I mean, I enjoy my job, except where I have to go hide out at a coffee shop because I might scare off clients and contacts, but I’m good at what I do, so my boss keeps me around anyway.” I hesitated. “Not to sound ungrateful. I am.”
“Oh, I understand. May I ask what your medications do?”
His curiosity led me to believe he planned on what he needed to do if I ran out of the three bottles. As my job involved acting like the pixie dust had its way with me, I held up the smallest bottle, which contained the blood pressure medication. “This is for my blood pressure. It’s higher than my doctor likes, and she doesn’t want it to cause strain on my heart, so I get two of these a day, once in the morning, and once in the evening.” I set that bottle back into my purse and held up the next one. “My job can be really stressful, and I developed anxiety as a result. This is a biggie, because if I have an anxiety episode, I also start suffering from depression, So, I get this one two times a day, too.” I dumped it into my purse and wrinkled my nose over the third bottle. “This is an iron supplement, and it’s the most annoying thing, but I get pretty sick without it.”
“It never fails to amaze me how the most achieving and hard-working people I know suffer from anxiety and depression. Can you go without those medications? I’ve never met someone so open about them before.”
Sure he hadn’t. I grabbed the blood pressure medication bottle, checked the label, and peeked inside, counting pills. According to the CDC’s label, I had two refills, and I had a twenty day supply left. “I’ll need to go in for a refill in a couple of weeks. My doctor tries to keep all my prescriptions synced so I don’t have to go in as often. I just got them recently, but I tend to forget, so I am always checking the label. I can remember all of my boss’s work just fine, but when it comes to my medications?” I huffed. “I forget. Constantly. Yesterday, my boss even asked me if I had taken them, because he found out the hard way why I take them. He sprung up at me at home on a Saturday without warning, and I had a panic attack. He now makes sure he calls before he shows up unexpectedly with work things.”
“But he won’t mind you going off right now? I’d hate to get you in trouble with your boss.”
What a considerate serial killer. “As long as I answer his texts if he needs me for something, it won’t be a problem. I don’t expect him to text me until tomorrow.”
“That’s good. He sounds like a good employer.”
I bobbed my head, as it was expected of me, and I picked up my old coffee to check to make certain it was empty, downed the dregs, and took a sip of the spiked coffee. “He is. Sometimes overbearing, but he works hard.”
“Would you like me to throw that out for you?”
“Oh. Please. That’s very kind of you.”
Loureni took the empty cup, got rid of it, and rejoined me, and I took that as my cue to get up and start the dangerous, exciting, and reckless portion of my week. While I’d done a lot of jobs, I’d never been kidnapped before. All I needed to finish the job was some more intel and an excuse to start with the killing. I’d even be good for once in my life and apologize for worrying Sebastian, despite it being part of the job.