Page 40 of The Perfect Prey

But the more likely candidates, Detectives Karen Bray and Sam Goodwin were working a case of their own.And after sleeping for twelve hours straight after closing a case on Saturday night, Nettles was available and prepared, which was an attractive combination right now.

“Can I help you?”the brawny, black-suited man by the door asked politely.

“Ligament,” Susannah said, giving him the password with more confidence than Jessie could have brought to the moment.

“Excellent, ladies,” the man said, swiping a card at the sensor by the door.It unlocked, and he opened it.“Please proceed to the door marked ‘utility’ down the hall to the right.Once you’re given access, put on your masks and keep them on until you exit the utility room at the end of the event.Understood?”

They both nodded and started down the long hallway, which was completely empty.Jessie surmised that the hosts staggered guest arrivals so that no one saw another attendee without a mask on.In the distance, they could see the door that led to the back entrance of the legitimate portion of the spa.

“You ready for this?”Susannah whispered when they arrived at the utility door.

“I guess I have to be,” Jessie replied.

“Just remember that we’re badass bitches who are here because we love stranger sex in a semi-public place.Don’t be shy.If you don’t seem like you belong, they’ll notice.”

“Good advice,” Jessie said, knocking on the door, “I just have to remember to be the exact opposite of who I am for the next few hours.Should be easy.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

Valentina Russo had undersold the place.

While Jessie could see how the space might be used for conventional parties, maybe even corporate events, that’s not the vibe it gave off this afternoon.As she expected, the lighting was very dim.She doubted she’d be able to see many faces clearly, even without the masks.

There was pulsating music that could best be described as menacing, low-grade techno.A droning, propulsive beat was adorned by relentless percussion and intermittent vocal groaning.It was exactly what she would have expected.

There were strobe lights placed at strategic locations, along with several ceiling disco balls that sprayed muted, kaleidoscopic rays of color everywhere.To add to the sense of displacement, there were multiple fog machines draping the whole space in an unsettling haze.

As they passed from the utility room entrance into the main room, complete with the bar in the back, she tried to count how many people were there.It was hard to be sure with all the visual distractions, but in this room alone, there were at least two dozen folks.She had no idea if that was the majority of the partygoers or if some guests had already split off into the adjoining rooms.

Seeing all these guests with masks on was an adjustment.She was used to being able to glean details about people by studying their expressions, but that wasn’t possible here.Since she didn’t feel like making assumptions based on the styling of their masks, she was at a real disadvantage.

“Our masks don’t look noticeably different than everyone else’s,” Susannah said with relief.“I don’t think we’re going to get called out on them.”

“I hope you’re right,” Jessie said, “because I just had a thought that should have occurred to me earlier.”

“What?”

“Because of my unwanted semi-celebrity status as a profiler, some of these people might recognize me.If I have to take this mask off, it could blow our whole cover.”

“Then you’ll just have to find a way to distract them so they don’t ask you to remove it,” Susannah said as they neared the bar.“Also, I’m thinking that maybe we should split up.We might seem more approachable and less intimidating if we don’t look like we’re here as a pair.”

“Susannah, you’re an intimidating presence all by yourself, but I take your point.I’m going to do a loop of the place.”

They parted ways.Susannah continued in the direction of the bar.Jessie wandered around as casually as she could toward a room just off to the left of the main one.It was about the size of a large living room, with four high-top cocktail tables in the middle, with four plush sofas surrounding them in a square.

There were already three couples making out on the plastic-covered couches.Well, not actually making out.Because of the masks, they could better be described as pressing their “faces” against their partners’ necks, ears, and shoulders.To Jessie it seemed both deeply unsexy and more important, ineffective.But they seemed to be enjoying themselves.

On the fourth couch, another couple had moved on to more than just kissing.It took Jessie a moment to process that it wasn’t actually a couple but a threesome, all writhing around, seemingly in rhythm with the music.

She left that room and, over the next fifteen minutes, checked out the others, trying to look more curious than uncomfortable.No one approached her.She didn’t know if she should be offended or if there was just some signal that guests gave each other to indicate they were open for business.But she was glad not to have to navigate that minefield in the moment.

It allowed her to focus on the people around her.Because she couldn’t lock in on faces, she tried to commit other identifying features to memory.Hair color and length, general height and weight, clothing choices.

To her relief, she found that most of the women were dressed like her, in tight-fitting revealing outfits.She stifled a chuckle as she noted that she would actually have stood out if she’d dressed more modestly.

Some of the men—mostly the older ones—wore suits, but the younger guys were more dressy casual, if with some flair.There were a lot of slacks and dress shirts.But many of the shirts were loosely buttoned or not buttoned at all.In fact, there was only one younger guy in top shape that had a sport coat on.Above his mask, he had short brown hair.Maybe this was his first time too and he didn’t get the fashion memo.

Eventually, she found her way to the room with the beds.She did her best not to gasp.All five of them were already in use.A few folks were easing into the festivities, but on at least two beds, the participants had already left the dress code in the dust.They expressed their enthusiasm for each other in full all-natural display for everyone to see.Jessie turned away, blushing under her mask.

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