Page 9 of Say My Name

In a flash, Adele ushers me out of his office, and I finally fill my lungs with oxygen as I follow her down the steps to the main floor.She leads me to the bar, where a group of very colorful girls stand.

Oh, my god. I start right now.

I glance at Adele. “Is what I’m wearing ok?”

She glances at my attire and nods. “It’ll do. You’ll only be taking a tour and getting a feel for the place.” She pauses for a moment. “Unless you want to stay and learn more?”

“Sign me up,” I trill, eager to start on this case.

“This is Ebony, Luna, and Foxxy,” she introduces.

Their pretty faces remain blank. In their defense, they probably meet many new employees who don’t cut it and are out the door before the night is through, so they learn not to get attached.

Or are they wondering why I’d take a job at a place where girls are ending up dead?

“Hi, I’m Swan.”

Foxxy, a curvy girl with red curls and bright blue eyes, sneers at me. “Cute. Where’d you pick that name? Kindergarten?”

Ah, it’s like Mean Girls, sex-club edition.

“Mr. Huxley gave it to me.”

Ebony and Luna exchange a glance and snicker under their breath.

“Pull your claws in, ladies,” Adele says. “We need girls to work or else you’ll be working every night with no days off.”

The bartender from earlier walks over, and I finally receive a welcoming greeting. “I’m Raven. If you need anything, let me know.” Her name suits her. She has short dark hair, and her eye makeup has perfectly styled eyeliner like I tried to accomplish earlier. I’m sure this girl didn’t need a YouTube tutorial.

“Thank you,” I say, returning her smile.

Adele assigns me to shadow Luna for a few hours and trots away, disappearing into the burgeoning crowd. The other girls become nicer and tolerate me, but as I learn the job from Luna, I don’t have a single opportunity to do any real investigating. I keep glancing at the red velvet rope that stops people from going up the grand staircase, waiting for Devereaux to come down and mingle.But he doesn’t.

In the next hour, on the main floor, I meet a few of the regulars, but nobody I recognize.

“This floor is for the members to get a drink or socialize before heading into the rooms,” Luna explains.She seems nice. Pretty too, with long light-brown hair and lime-green eyes a shade lighter than mine. She reminds me of Jennifer Lawrence, and I almost want to ask her where her bow is.

“Do you go into the rooms?”

She shakes her head, leaning closer like she’s about to share some major secret with me. “I make more money out here, besides I think my boyfriend might have issues with it.”

Now’s my chance to really gather some intel. “What happens in the rooms?”

“Anything you want, darling. Each room has a hostess. You get people in the room drinks and such, but if they ask you to join in, you can.” She winks. “For the right price, of course.”

“Did the girls who—” Before I can ask about the murders, Luna’s face grows stoic.

“We shouldn’t talk about them,” she says in a rush.

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean…” My words fall away because I’m not sure what I mean.

Luna’s eyes bounce around the club, looking for anyone who might have overheard. “It’s a real shame what happened to them, but I guess they kind of deserved it, ya know?”

Whoa, what?

“Deserved it, how?” From the corner of my eye, I spot Adele scowling at us.

Luna notices it too.

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