Page 13 of Praying Mantis

Lou: Matthew is a tad excited, so we got here HOURS before we needed to here.

Me: You didn’t hurt him did you?

Lou: Lol no. I threatened to castrate him, but the old lady sitting near us gave me a dirty look. I told her he would be so lucky for me to be touching his cock, but she rolled her eyes in disgust.

Me: haha, was she clutching her pearls?

Lou: How did you know?

I bark out a laugh catching Tony’s attention.

“What are you laughing about?” He strains his neck like a flamingo trying to see my phone on the table.

“Nothing.” I snatch the phone quickly so Tony can’t get to it. He’s practically laying on the table.

“Fuck! So close. Is it a text message from a certain hot gym girl?” I shrug with a smirk on my face.

When we are not out in the field working on the case, we’re at the office. We’re in an open area with desks we share and we sit opposite of each other. There’s no privacy and the office gossip is the worst.

“Let’s focus more on this case and less on ‘hot gym girl’.” Sometimes I wonder how the hell Tony made it this far up the precinct ladder. Yes, the man is good at his job, but sometimes I wonder if I am working with a frat boy.

“So you’re admitting it is the hottie from the gym?” I don’t know why the thought of Tony calling her hot has me seeing red. “Hey what’s with the face? Wait.”

“Just drop it, Tony! Let’s focus on something more crucial, like the murder victims whose killer has now vanished.”

“I keep asking myself how these victims connect. The only common link is each one of them has had tarnished records that were concealed from the public.”

“Tony, it goes back to my original speculation, murder for hire. Do you still have FBI contact with cybercrimes?”

“Let me reach out to her and I will keep you posted. Great thinking, Sean.” With that last remark, Tony is up and out of the conference room we are using as our office until we solve the Praying Mantis case, leaving me at the table to ponder why someone would want to hire an executioner, to put it mildly. What the hell are we missing? This is unsettling to me and, at the same time, infuriating. This killer, which the news has named the Praying Mantis, has left Tony, and myself completely stumped. Picking up the case files I pulled from the evidence room earlier, and I assess the information on the last three victims. I study the information received from family, friends, and acquaintances. Then it hits me. These three have had some smudges in their personal life. Victim number six was a habitual cheater and all-around womanizer, who was accused on three different occasions of sexual assault or misconduct. Nothing was ever said about this until statements were being made. Victim number seven was another victimizer. Several statements from the office staff about several late-night rendezvous, and his inability to keep personal assistants for more than a month. Then the last victim was an all-around waste of society, but vigilante justice is never a good thing. There were several reports of abuse and nobody did anything about it.

Looking over it all, I believe we are right. These are all hired hits and now we need to discover where Praying Mantis can be obtained.

Louisa

The resort is better than the pictures. Matthew is loving everything and can’t wait to do his bucket list for this vacation. I have plans tonight for the kill and Matthew found a bar he wants to go to. I’m going to fake a migraine to get out of going. I sigh as I look around my suite. The balcony suite has an amazing view of the resort and the weather is perfect. The first day here, all we did was hang out by the pool and drink. Today we’re doing spa treatments in the afternoon and then I’m off to be my alter ego.

There’s a knock at my door, and I pull my robe tighter before walking to it. I know it’s Matthew because he’s the only one who knows my room number. I swing open the door and Matthew saunters in.

“Are you ready for breakfast?” He’s trying a new Texas accent, or at least it’s what he thinks he’s doing.

“I just came out of the bedroom fifteen minutes ago. I haven’t even gotten in the shower. So we could never live together. You’re too much of a morning person.” I groan at him.

“Lies. You love the mornings as much as I do. Hurry! You don’t need to shower to do breakfast. I always eat, then shower.”

“My OCD doesn’t like that though. I have my set routine. You know this about me.” I whine at him. I like to get up, brush my teeth, grab a cup of coffee, shower, dress, breakfast, and then brush my teeth again before putting my makeup on for the day. I run my hands down the front of the robe because I didn’t brush my teeth yet, but I had a cup of coffee.

“What’s the matter? Your eyes are doing the wide as saucers look to them. What did you miss?” Matthew knows me so well and understands me.

“I didn’t brush my teeth before coffee,” I whisper.

“Okay. Go brush your teeth and I’ll make you a fresh cup of coffee. How about that?” He places his hands on my shoulders to help center me. Normally I don’t like people in my bubble, especially more so when I’m freaking out internally, but Matthew is different.

“Okay.” He spins me around and swats my ass to get a move on it. While I’m in the bathroom brushing my teeth, I hear noises from the kitchenette area. Coming out of the bedroom area, Matthew hands me the cup of coffee.

“Thank you. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. I like your quirks. Now, after your coffee, go shower and dress so we can get breakfast.” I nod. “We’re having a spa day today.” I smile at him. His excitement for everything is contagious.

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