Page 85 of Bad Enough

He scrubbed his face with his hands and moved to sit at the dining room table.

After opening his laptop, he clicked on the video chat link. When Waters appeared on the screen, he groused, “Have you forgotten how to tell time, asswipe? It’s barely been twenty-four hours yet, let alone seventy-two.”

“Another girl has gone missing. Someone named Fleur.”

“Shit.” He ran his fingers through his hair from forehead to nape, gripping the back of his neck. “That’s the girl who realized Tilly was missing. Are we sure she was taken from the club? She hasn’t just taken off somewhere?”

“Her shoes were found in the parking lot near her car, and her escort was found unconscious there as well. Got hit in the back of the head with a tire iron. A guy named Tripoli.”

“He was with Fleur when she reported Tilly missing.”

“What’s his connection to the club?”

“He works as a dungeon master and mans the door to the upstairs sometimes. Former Marine. Actually, he might have been Navy. Don’t they get their medics from your alumni?”

“Yup. Any idea where he served?”

“No, not a clue.”

“Okay, I’ll get Midas to give a look-see into him, just for elimination purposes.”

“He’s a good guy. Pretty sure he comes from money, and I think he’s a silent investor in the club. Might even have been an actual doctor, now that I think of it. He’s got a tattoo of that medical symbol.” TB frowned. “Fleur is blonde.”

“Wondered if you’d catch that.”

“He’s changed his pattern. Something’s really wrong.” TB looked out into space, not seeing the room around him. “We wanted him to screw up and make a mistake, but I don’t think this was one. This actually feels calculated. He left behind a witness of sorts. Is Tripoli awake yet?”

“Demon went in there and did his impression of a doctor, which is how I’ve got the information I’m giving you.”

With a sigh, TB brushed his hands back up his head from neck to crown and tousled his hair. “What are your spidey senses telling you?”

“Same as you. Not a mistake.”

TB heard paper rustling in the background.

“We also have other news.”

TB felt his heart rate spike. “Another threat against Flame?”

“Yup. And here’s the twist. It didn’t come through the mail, email, or chat. It was left under Fleur’s windshield wipers.”

“Fuck. It is the same guy.”

“Confirmed.”

“Was Midas able to get the security footage from the club?”

“Yes. We caught a huge break on this one. Tripoli followed her out the door after about sixty seconds. Said he was supposed to walk her out, but there was a distraction inside, and he got hung up. She must have felt she was safe because, get this, turns out she’s an undercover cop. She was hiding out investigating the missing girls.”

“Wow. I wouldn’t have guessed that by looking at her. Come to think of it, she’s always avoided me like the plague, except regarding Tilly. Must have known instinctively I’d expose her hiding as a sub.” He expelled a deep breath. “Well, at least the cops hadn’t actually given up. What did the video show?”

“It’s difficult to see because it was dark. Assnozzle took out the light by her car. Plus, he’s all in black, and he apparently knew exactly where the cameras were because his face was almost completely turned away. Not only that, but he’s covered head to toe, likely wearing a ski mask as far as we can tell, and also had gloves on, so not a speck of flesh is visible to even hope for any identifying marks. Midas is trying to clean up the footage, plus he’s testing out his fancy measuring program inside Cyclopes, so between the height of things in the lot and the height and weight of Fleur and Tripoli, we should be able to get some sort of dimensions on our guy.”

“But that’s not particularly helpful. There will be a million men out there that fit the same dimensions,” TB groused.

“And not only that,” Waters acknowledged, “who knows if that build is even going to be accurate. There are a lot of ways he could make himself taller and bulkier than he actually is, so those millions probably quadrupled in number because we also have to consider smaller variations.” There was more rustling of paper. “Nemo made an interesting observation, though. He wondered if maybe we have the wrong gender.”

“What? Why?”

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