Page 67 of Derek

“Damn it, Derek, it’s not your problem,” Sonja said.

“Tell what?” The growl in Connor’s voice told Derek that Suzie had kept the other Dom in the dark as well.

Derek didn’t turn around when he addressed Connor. “I’m not sure, but it looks like our submissives have been withholding information from us.”

Connor stepped up beside him, and Sonja tried not to shrink away. The big, blond sadist intimidated her on a good day, and even Suzie seemed nervous at the combined force of their displeasure, although she tried for an assertive stance with her hands on her hips.

“Tell us,” Connor ordered.

Suzie threw her hands in the air. “Recently, we’ve had some nasty online reviews of the café.”

“Nasty?” Connor asked.

Suzie made an annoyed sound. “Yeah, you know.”

“Rùnag, I don’t know.” Connor’s voice was dangerously low. “Ye haven’t told me about your troubles. What exactly is going on here?”

His question was met with stunned silence by the women.

Derek intervened in his best Daddy voice. “It’s time to ‘fess up, ladies. Who wants to go first?”

Sonja spoke up. “Like Suzie said, we’ve had negative reviews online. Some were just typical bad reviews where people complain about the service or whatever. But there were at least a dozen that were mean, nasty, and untrue. A bunch of them showed up right at the same time. They accused us of causing food poisoning and said the place was dirty to the point of having rats and cockroaches.”

Connor sputtered. “Th-that’s nonsense.”

“We know,” Suzie said. “We could tell there was something odd, so I called Laura.”

“Why Laura?” Derek was puzzled at this apparent non-sequitur.

“Because the reviews were online. For computer stuff, I always go to Laura,” Suzie answered. “Anyway, it took her a little while to track the reviews back to their origins, but what it came down to is that the first six reviews, all supposedly by different people, were all posted on the same day, within an hour’s time, from a computer at the public library. The rest of the reviews were spread out, but they all came from library computers. Laura said there was no way to find out more.”

“When did this start?” Derek asked.

“The first reviews were posted a week after Thanksgiving. The rest went up over the next week or so,” Sonja answered. “Yvonne brought them to our attention the week before Christmas. There haven’t been any new ones since then.”

“What do you suspect, Derek?” Connor asked. “You seem to have some ideas about this.”

“I don’t know anything for sure. This is just guesswork on my part. You’ve heard that my ex-girlfriend has been in town?”

Connor and Suzie nodded.

Sonja’s face fell.

“She stalked me in St. Louis, then she turned up here before Thanksgiving, first at the munch and then at work. She wassupposed to go back to St. Louis after her psych hold at the Center for Behavioral Medicine. We got her put there because of the show she put on at work. I suspect she’s still here.”

He turned to Sonja. “I’m pretty sure we were followed to your place after Thanksgiving dinner. I think Angie staked out my sister’s house and broke my taillight so she could follow us in the dark. She must have seen us go into your apartment building and managed to identify you. Then she followed you here. I’m sorry my past is causing all of your problems. What did the police say?” he asked Connor.

“Not much. They took photos and left. Told us we can pick up a copy of the report for our insurance later,” Connor said. “They had one helpful suggestion.”

“Oh?” Derek and Sonja responded in unison.

“They said we should consider getting security cameras.”

“That makes sense,” Derek said.

“Aye, I’m going to get them when I go for the paint. Once I’m finished, we’ll have views of the entire property.”

“Derek, don’t feel bad. It’s not your fault that your ex is a stalker. It could happen to anyone,” Suzie added.

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