Page 65 of Brewbies
“I say plenty of words,” he muttered, searching for spiders on the carpet so he didn’t have to make eye contact with exactly a thousand dicks.
“Darling boy, if you can’t bring yourself to talk about it, how do you ever expect to have good sex?”
“I don’t have any issues in that area, thank you for mentioning,” he grumbled, casting a level look at the woman. “Now when was the last time you remember seeing the—um—? Or let me ask you this. Do you have a description of the missing—er…”
Dammit, he couldsosay the words! He was a goddamned adult. And had fantastic sex.
Sometimes even with pink-haired sexpots who didn’t like him.
It was just… Vee looked like every adorable grandmother since the beginning of time, and he couldn’t bring himself to say anything sexual in her proximity.
He’d rather just hand over the 25k.
“I’m the most worried about the Lillith LUXE clitoral stimulator.” She bustled over to the nearest wall and took something from a display that looked like a feather quill pen made out of soft blue silicone. “Even though only the handle is plated in gold, the tip looks something like this.” She brandished the silicone feather at him like a sword. “It’s worth almost ten thousand on its own.”
“Why?” He scowled, angry that he’d allowed the question to escape.
“Because this!” She clicked on a button with her thumb.
Nothing happened.
“Oh, ballocks.” She held it up to her ear, shook it a little, turned it on and off several times to no effect. “Well.” She shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. What you do is put it on the clitoris like this.” Gently, she ran it across his jawbone. “And when it’s on she can feel it go,Blitdlelelelelelele,” she trilled as she manually vibrated it against his face with little wiggles of her liver-spotted hand.
Dear God!He flinched away and ducked around the glass display table.
And here he was without “be a human clitoris” on his bingo card for this rando Thursday.
“Then there’s the bejeweled LUXE g-spot smooth glide,” she said, pausing for him to make note. “It’s the most popular one, though I can’t figure out why… All those cut gems would needlessly upbraid the meat curtains, if you catch my meaning.” Just in case, she circled her hand around the region of her hips and…
Never.Ethan never in his entire life wanted to understand Vivian Prescott’s reference to—bwark—her—barf—meat curtains.
“So.” Ethan’s strangled word precluded a round of throat clearing to cover up the actual gagging. “H-how many people knew the…inventory was on site? How many knew the price?” He did his level best to direct the conversation back to the actual crime while mentally flipping through which detective pissed him off lately enough to assign this to.
McGarvey’s handsome face floated into his mind’s view.
That motherfucker had too many nights off.
“No one but Myrtle and my one employee, Dax,” she said, her eyes wide beneath enormous false lashes.
“Dax who?” he asked, not recognizing the name.
“Used to be Maria Quinto’s boy Daniel, but they are now Dax and work here part time.”
“You trust Dax?”
“With my life,” she said, pushing her jaw forward in defiance. “They didn’t do this.”
He’d come back to that later. “Any unusual people hanging about?”
Vee eyed him as if he’d lost his mind. “The only ubiquitous thing about Townsend Harbor is the unusual people. You know that as well as anyone.”
“Sure I just meant—”
“You know who probably saw them leaving?” Her eyes lit as if she had a great idea. Ethan realized immediately that Vee was many things, but among them was a terrible actress. “Um. Captain Butterfield on the oldRed Head. You should go question him about it! I think he’s a smuggler. Could fence those pieces for a pretty penny on the black market.”
Ethan cocked his head. “You think Eugene Butterfield—the whale-watching guide—is going to fence a few golden dongs for 25k?” he asked. Okay. Now something was really off. “You realize his first tour leaves before seven a.m. and no one is stirring on Water Street by then.”
“Yes, but I think I saw him peeking in here—er—last night.” Her eyes kept floating to the clock above the door as if it had some importance. “That’s right. It certainly could have been him.”
