Page 22 of Taming Achilles

“A what?” Detective Tanner’s brows came together, as he smiled, kindly at her.

“Oh, sorry. Britishism. We are so divided by a common language.” Her hand jokingly slapped his forearm as she giggled flirtatiously. “I mean a Ladies room. A bathroom?”

“I can take you …” Tanner, the John Wayne-wannabe, stood up, buttoning his blazer.

“No. Just directions will be fine.” Pippa’s smile could have lit up all of LA. She picked up her phone and purse as she stood, and placed a delicate hand on Tanner’s shoulder and pushed him back into his seat. He gave some obscure directions, and she almost curtsied as she thanked him. She was over acting, in my opinion.

She walked out, her hips swaying. Not as much as when she’s on the runway, but definitely enough to turn several heads of either gender.

I looked at my phone and activated the app that allowed me to read what messages she was sending and receiving. There was one text, outgoing.

Pippa: Hey! I’ve got some openings. Got time to discuss some bookings for me?

Unknown Number: Sure thing. Got a minute? We can chat right now.

The response was fast in arriving.

I looked out the open conference room door. She had turned to the distant women’s lavatory and I waited, glancing at my screen. She should be on a call right now. That’s what she left to do, under the guise of taking a piss, right?

But no call came. I waited. Maybe she really was using the facilities, but …

When a call did happen, it was as the bathroom door opened and she re-emerged. She walked out of the loo with the phone tucked between her ear and shoulder, as she fiddled with her purse on her arm.

She was pulling out a gloss and applying it, adding a glossy sheen to those gorgeous, pink lips.

“Okay! Thanks, I appreciate this.” She giggled as she hung up her phone.

I quickly noted the number to cross reference later.

That fucking tool, Tanner got up and pulled her seat out again, and she lowered herself into it with the elegance of Princess Grace.

“Sorry about that.” She was speaking to Tanner again, her cheeks blushing. “Nature calls.” She let out a fake little high laugh that put hearts in Tanner’s eyes. “Where were we?”

“We were saying that robbery wasn’t a motive.” Delgado pierced into whatever bollocks was going on between Tanner and Pippa. She was a good woman, that one. “He didn’t even take a momento. So we can only assume he wanted to harm you in some way, and when he couldn’t find you, since he didn’t search for you in your closet, he left a message.” Delgado put a pencil between her purple stained lips. “But why warn you? If he assumed you weren’t there, he could have just left, and we’d be none the wiser.”

“What about DNA?” I leaned forward in my seat, happy to see Tanner and Pippa break eye contact as Delgado commanded the room.

“No matches,” she ping-ponged back.

“Any fingerprints?” I served.

“We’re assuming he wore gloves.” She volleyed back. “The only ones we found were Miss Fox’s.”

My God, a competent woman was a real turn on. Delgado might not be as pretty as Pippa, but she had a gravitas that made men’s heads turn. Unlike the little model-influencer to my left, Delgado didn’t use her looks to her advantage. She didn’t need to. She existed as a force of her own.

I could feel Pippa get irritated beside me. Maybe she didn’t like being called Miss Fox. People with titles get quite attached to them. Or maybe it was because she wasn’t the centre of attention.

“And he didn’t pop on the cameras,” I said, before Pippa could interject anything. “So we’re looking at a pro.” I tapped my thumb on the desk, pondering. “Crazy fan?”

“Can’t rule it out,” Delgado said as Pippa opened her mouth to speak. “We’ve already requested all fan mail from your PR manager. We’ll go through it and see if we can find anything, but I’m not optimistic.”

“They can be very passionate.” Pippa finally elbowed her way into the conversation. “But I haven’t received anything that would indicate …”

Because I’m a bastard, I placed a hand on her forearm and shushed her.

“Best let the professionals handle it, lass.” The look she gave me could have melted steel. I wanted to laugh out loud. I barely repressed a smile. That just made her angrier.

Tanner gave her a little shrug and a smile, as if communicating that she shouldn’t worry about a thing. That fucking hero would be her knight in shining armor. Fat fucking chance.

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