Page 114 of Arran's Obsession

I mused on the remainder. “I think we can cross the mayor off as well. He’s there in the photos.”

Dixie shook her head, her curls flying. “Not so hasty. He’s at the dinner table, but we don’t see him dancing. It doesn’t say if he left early, but let’s not jump the gun.”

“Okay, let’s check out the other meeting. This one’s for traffic and transport.”

“Ugh. Those old boys are the worst. Their meetings nearly always involve them getting drunk at the end. It takes forever to make them come after.”

At least they had a good notetaker, though. It allowed another two names to be removed.

I read out what was left. “Mayor Makepeace, and councillors Tony Hatchett, Anton Blake, and Benjamin Slaughter. One of them must have been Cherry’s client. Do all of them come here?”

Dixie nodded. “You bet your ass. Ninety percent of that category of businessmen in this city use our services in one way or another. Some have girls go to their office or homes. Some come here. They don’t stroll in the front door, or arrive via the strip club, if that’s what you’re thinking. There’s a coded entrance on the west side of the warehouse. It leads to a lift that brings them right on up. The discreet way in.” She considered the list. “Actually, I think we can take one more off of that.” Her glossy red nail tapped the second name.

“Councillor Tony Hatchett,” I read.

“He has a deal with a couple of our girls to exchange sexual favours for accountancy help. He’s a finance guy.”

“Why does that mean we can cross him off?”

“Cherry told you that if her elephant cum guy got her pregnant, he could help her financially, right? Hatchett is the worst cheapskate. One of those who wears his poverty on his sleeve, something to do with his religion. He drives a clapped-out piece-of-junk car that often breaks down in the city, and lives by himself in a mobile home. There’s no way Cherry would think he was loaded.”

I struck through his name. “Dixie, you’re amazing.”

She preened and pretended to flip her hair. “Anything for a bit of fun.”

“That leaves only three.”

Dixie took a deep breath. “And only a few minutes until one or all of them arrive, with any luck.”

“How do we, er, test them?”

She pulled a face. “As far as I can tell, there’s only one way to narrow it down. Whichever girl they pick is going to have to somehow save their deposit. Scoop up that cum. At the end, we can compare notes.”

Our game was in play.

Dixie directed me to follow her then left me in the security office, a two-way mirror giving a view of the receiving room and a guard at a CCTV station.

Through the mirror, I watched her skitter over and spread the word about what we were doing to the women she thought needed to know. It was risky. If word got back to the men involved by someone with a big mouth, the reputation of the club was at stake.

Then the councillors arrived, obvious because Dixie made a gesture for me to pay attention to the men on the end.

One was fifty-something, in a smart suit, with mid-brown hair and no sign of grey. The second was younger and had a neat wedge of pale-blond hair and round glasses.

The councillors took drinks and sex workers down the corridor. Then there was nothing for me to do but wait.

But by eleven, the women who’d serviced two of the three on my list returned.

Dixie hustled the sexual partner of each into our little sitting room. They gawked at me, two identical women who’d handled councillor Blake, and a busty brunette who’d been councillor Slaughter’s choice for the night.

Dixie regarded them with a stern glare. “Any talk of what I asked of you, and what you’ve done, will not leave this room. Alisha will fire you faster than a bullet. Now gimme the goods.”

The first of the twins reached into her bra and extracted a filled and tied-off condom.

I hid my recoil. This was their livelihood, but the sight of some slimy guy’s sperm did nasty things to my stomach.

“After he watched us, he wanted us both to blow him, but I begged him to fuck me,” the first twin said. “He had his face all up in Minnie’s business, otherwise I’m sure he would have questioned why I put this on him. Luckily, we all came away happy.”

The brunette smiled in success and pulled out another condom. “Slaughter wanted to fuck my tits, so I let him, then scooped it all up into here. Took a bit of effort. You owe me. He’s down in the voyeur rooms now and he wants me to join him.”

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