Total pages in book: 113
Estimated words: 107608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107608 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 538(@200wpm)___ 430(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
He leans away from the door frame. “Also, I want you to do a deep dive on Rosalie and all of her boarders. I want to know everything about each one of those men, and I want to know everything about her.”
I remove my backpack and place it next to me. “No.”
One of his dark eyebrows lifts. “Excuse me?”
“No. I might consider, for a very good price, the other jobs you’ve offered me, but I will not spy on Rosalie for you, or any of the people she cares about.”
He looks at me for several long moments, and I imagine most people would quake.
So I explain better. “I don’t have many lines in life, but that’s one of them.”
“What if I threaten you?” he asks mildly.
“Go ahead,” I answer immediately. “You can do whatever you want to me. I will not betray Rosalie.”
Something passes through his expression, and it might be admiration. Or a good plan to kill me. I’m not sure.
“Very well,” he says. “Get to work on Howard Fissure first. I need to know everything about him, and I don’t expect that task to take you long.” With that, he turns and leaves me alone with this spectacular setup.
I grin and start typing. I might as well get to work. Alexei Sokolov has just made a colossal mistake, and he doesn’t even know it. I can do two jobs at once, maybe three, and one of them will be taking him down.
TWENTY-SEVEN
Rosalie
After lunch, I finish drafting two contracts for one of my local clients that works exclusively in brokering the sale of new pharmaceuticals. The business is extremely lucrative, and I’m grateful to have it on my roster. I’m enjoying my mix of transactional law and litigation. Still, it’s a surprise the firm assigned me Alexei’s case since I practice civil litigation and not criminal. But I do have a good track record, so perhaps it makes some sense. Finally, after a dinner of a granola bar I filch from the kitchen, I sit back in my chair and roll my neck.
I invited both Alana and Ella to have drinks tonight, but Alana is apparently out of town with Thorn on a tropical few days together, and Ella hasn’t returned my voice message. When she’s involved in a project, she often goes quiet for a short while, but not this long.
I call her again, and she doesn’t answer.
An inkling of worry filters through me, but I reach under my desk and pull out the box of discs from Alexei’s case. I’ve only gone through about half of them, and they’re all from the Amethyst Pony and different nights where he and his buddy Garik goofed off and played their music.
I wonder idly if Alexei still plays. He seems to have lost that part of himself, and it’s too bad because it’s quite charming. The enjoyment when he’s playing and singing is obvious, and I hope that sense of fun is not gone forever.
I wipe my hand over my eyes. I can’t believe the things he said in the shower earlier. I believe him, and I don’t know that that’s the future I want. But I can’t deny that I’m definitely falling, and falling fast.
Merlin’s offer of getting me out of town also surprised the heck out of me. Fleeing is never the answer, as far as I’m concerned.
I stick in another disc and watch as Alexei and Garik perform at the former Amethyst Pony. I make notes of who I can see in the video and compare them to the people in the other videos. There are several women who are often around them, and I wonder if any of them would kill to protect Alexei. I’ve watched enough of the CDs that I’ve been able to write down names of several of his groupies.
Maybe Ella can conduct background checks for me. Now that Alexei can pay, I’ll make sure that she is rewarded for that, if I can find her. I glance again at my silent phone. It’s so odd that she hasn’t at least called me back once.
I finish the current disc, pull out another one to insert, and hit play. A darkened bedroom comes into view. I sit back. This is new. Then I watch as Blythe Fairfax saunters into the room wearing a bright-red teddy that barely covers anything. My gut cramps. I really don’t want to watch this.
Alexei walks in from what appears to be an expansive bathroom. He’s wearing black silk boxers, and I lean forward. Silk? He just doesn’t seem like a silk guy. He’s younger, definitely by seven years, and he lacks several tattoos and scars. It’s odd to see his neck bare without the prowling panther.
His smile is wicked. I reach for my notepad and my pencil just in case they say something of value. That’s why I’m going to watch this. At least, that’s what I tell myself. Then Alexei moves toward her like the prowling panther that isn’t on his skin yet.