Page 113 of Arran's Obsession

In the past, I’d never thought it polite to stare at another woman’s body, particularly her nipples, but the opposite appeared to be required now. I took a good look at Dixie’s rack, perfectly round and high on her chest. She stuck them out and jiggled, proud and gleeful.

“If I was a dude, I’d be all over those.”

“Right?” She cackled. “These tits have fucked as many dicks as my vagina in the past couple of months. Makes a nice change and gives the old girl a break. Now let’s talk business. You need my help with hunting down your friend’s killer.”

My amusement dialled back. “I really appreciate it.”

“I’ve asked around, super subtly, of course. Our recruiter found out Cherry was a real lone wolf. She had a studio flat the other side of the main road from the churchyard where she worked.”

“So close to me.”

“Yeah? Well, she’d been there a couple of years, no family, only a pet cat. She paid her bills, minded her own business. Nothing more to tell.”

“What happened to her cat?”

“Aren’t you sweet? Her neighbour’s been feeding it since she heard Cherry died, but said she’ll catch it and take it to a rehoming centre.”

At least my friend had had someone to love. Dixie’s background information had given me nothing else, though. “The night before Cherry was killed, we were chatting, and she made a comment about her last client coming like an elephant. Quantity, she meant. She said he’d be coming back with a friend she didn’t like, so in my mind, they’re both suspects.”

Dixie considered that. “There are a lot of guys who overproduce like that. Got anything else to narrow it down?”

“Shit, yes. He’s a city councillor. She said that if he got her pregnant, he was well-off enough to foot the bill.”

Dixie nodded. “Suggesting she let him ditch the condoms, probably charging more for the right. Most street girls would never do that with a casual fuck, and if he was on her two days in a row, he was a regular. We have men who come here like clockwork, every day, the same girl. Got a phone?”

I held mine up.

“If he’s a councillor, that gives us a really good hit list. Bring up the council meeting schedule. See who was where that night.”

“We can do that?”

Dixie rubbed her hands together. With her help, I navigated to Deadwater city council’s website and into their meeting list.

“The city councillors are often in evening meetings or engagements,” she explained. “We can check the agenda to see who was meant to be there, then read the minutes to see if they stayed until the end. It’s all accounted for because it’s public spending. For example, there’s a full council meeting this evening which finishes at nine-thirty. Right about now. In half an hour, two or three of the members will be here, looking for their favourite girl.”

My pulse skipped. That gave us about ten minutes to prepare.

Dixie pulled up the meeting list from the night Cherry was killed. Two had gone on late.

I grabbed a pen and paper from the desk. “First, I need to write out a list of all the council members.”

She rattled off the names of nine men and two women.

I goggled at her. “How do you know that?”

She shrugged a slender, bare shoulder. “I hear things. Sometimes they stick. Oh, don’t forget Mayor Makepeace. Cherry might have used the term ‘councillor’ for him as well.”

That gave a list of ten.

Cherry had been murdered between nine and ten PM, according to the brief news article I’d read. Next, we went through the two council engagements.

“Look, this environment one was a dinner with a live band. It went on until eleven.” Dixie leaned over my phone and pressed a link which loaded a page of photos. “Ooh, party time. I remember this now, because a couple of them turned up here in tuxes. It says here that the band performed at ten, so all these people dancing, we can cross off the list.”

I nodded, following her train of thought. “There’s no way they could have killed someone then got to a dinner dance in time to be photographed.”

She pointed at me. “Bingo.”

A sort through the photos of a sparkling evening removed four names from the list, including the two female councillors who were there with their husbands.

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