After a long moment, Francesca broke the kiss and raised a meaningful brow at him, her deep blue eyes twinkling.
He grinned and scooped her up. “I do like a woman who gets right down to it!” With a devilish laugh, Philip carried her up the stairs.
~* * * *~
Malibu Police Station
Payne stepped into the station and winced as he gazed around. Fancy. He grimaced. Just what a police station needs...lots of art with a water fountain out front like a fucking museum or something! He shook his head with revolted humor and sauntered over to the desk.
The clerk raised his uninterested gaze and gasped. “Lieutenant Victor Payne?” An awestruck expression passed across his young face.
“Yeah?” Victor took a step back.
The kid stuck his hand out. “Can I just shake your hand, Payne?” he asked with a nervous flutter of excitement in his voice.
He peered down at the kid’s hand and raised a dubious brow.
The rookie grabbed his hand and pumped it with force. “The real live Payne.” He chuckled with glee. “The Hurt Locker King himself!” He shook his head with amazement. “Fifty busts this year already and thirty hospital stays for various low-lifes!”
“Uh...yeah.” Victor removed his hand from the kid’s eager grasp.
“The Chief has been waiting.” The young clerk leaned closer while speaking in a hushed tone. “All morning, he expected you like...three hours ago?” He motioned his head to the long glass wall.
Victor stepped up to knock on the glass door. It swung open and he found himself gazing into the bluest eyes he’d ever seen. He blinked and took a deliberate step back to take a long, slow gander over the rest of Miss Blue Eyes.
Her soft dark hair was neatly tucked back with clips. Her mouth consisted of a full pouty pair of lips, touched with a slight rosy tinge.
He dropped his interested gaze further down to see she wore a white blouse, which encased full breasts, the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. A shapely, tapered waist accented her neat dark slacks, which he surely envied as they hugged some appealingly curvy hips.
“Are you done?” Her soft voice vibrated at him with cold sarcasm.
“Nope, I'm still taking you in.” An amused smile spread across his lips.
Her cheeks flamed with color. “You’re gonna be taking in a fist if you—”
“Valentine!” A gruff voice from inside the office cut her threat short. “Just leave it and come back in about five, okay?”
“Yes, sir.” She glared at Victor and primly stepped back to let him pass.
Victor winked at her while moving past her. “Maybe I can look at you some more, later on?”
She slammed the door in his face.
Victor chuckled and motioned his head towards the door. “Secretary?”
The chief shook his head. “No, Lieutenant. Come in and have a sit.”
He sat in the chair in front of the desk.
“Mmm, you’re late.” The Chief studied him.
“I’m graveyard shift, you know? When all the ghouls are out cruising for blood in their full glory.”
The older man snickered. “Yeah, I guess you would know, being the Hurt Legend and all.”
“I do enjoy my job.”
The man tilted his head back and laughed. “Yeah, I’ll just bet.”
“So, what do you have here in this wonderful wholesome beach community?”
The chief's laughter halted. “We got one of the worst ghouls I’ve ever heard of.”
Victor sat forward with avid interest. “My favorite kind.”
“Yep, I figured as much.” He took a file out, plopping it in front of him. “Have at it. We’ve gotten nowhere.”
He pulled the file close and studied the first page. Detective M.R. Valentine. His puzzled gaze rose.
“The secretary.” The chief grinned as he nodded his head.
“A woman partner?” Victor gaped at him.
“Yes, Payne, they do have them on the force now.” The chief let out a stray chuckle.
He shook his head. “No way!”
“Yes way.” A voice fell over his shoulders.
He looked over to the door.
Miss Blue eyes glared at him. “It’s the twenty first century, but I guess an old dinosaur like you wouldn’t—”
“Valentine!” The chief shouted and motioned his head for her to sit.
She glared at Victor and sat.
“Now, this has been kept from the public, as the Mayor doesn’t want the bad publicity and this case has become top priority.” The chief announced.
They both sat silent in front of him.
“We’ve brought you here, Payne, because we need a fresh take on it.”
Victor heard Valentine make a scoffing noise under her breath.
He turned to look at her. “You got something to say, sweet lips?”
Valentine stood from the chair. “Oh, I’m gonna whip your archaic ass!” Her sapphire eyes glittered while she balled her hands into fists.
He stood and towered over her. “I don't fight babes...even the delicious kind.”
She released a heavy breath and leaned close. “Well, you’re about to learn how.”
“Stop,” the Chief shouted. “The both of you...sit!”
The quarrelsome pair turned their gazes to his and they both slowly sat back down.
“You two better try to get along, because you have a time limit to solve this.”
“A time limit?” Valentine sat forward.
He nodded his grey head. “The Malibu press knows about it and they are antsy to print.”
Victor chuckled.
Valentine swung her depreciative gaze over to him.
“I’ll have the suspect in two days or less.” He shrugged.
Again, Valentine released an insolent huff of disgust.
The chief eyed her with an amused twinkle in his eyes. “That’s about all we have, maybe three days, and then it goes to the FBI.”
They both gasped as though they’d been punched in their arrogant egos.
“No fucking way, am I gonna let the feds take this over,” Payne vowed.
Valentine snickered.
He swung his steely glare over to her.
“You’re so full of yourself,” she retorted.
At the scathing remark, Victor drew a brow up while he looked over her curves. I’m very full, and would love to share and just fill you all the way up. He grinned at her. “My record is public knowledge.”
The Chief cleared his throat. “You both need to try and work as a team and get this killer.”
Payne stood from the chair, the file in his hand. “Okay.” He stepped to the door.
The Chief raised his brows at the seemingly reluctant Valentine.
She released an irritated breath and followed him to the door.
“Oh, and you’d better get to the latest, it just came in. Ask Julian at the desk,” the chief added as they stood in the doorway.
Victor went through the door, turned and bowed at her with aplomb.
His new and unwilling partner squared her shoulders and swept past him.
Victor’s smile dropped as she marched away.
“Hey, Payne?” The old cop called to him. “Valentine was top of her class, holds a fantastic record of perps caught, is a perfect shot and she’s belted in three arts.” He gave him a wink. “Way overqualified for a secretary.”
“All right, I’ll try, okay?”
“Just remember not everyone is how they appear to be.”
Victor stilled and stared back at the wise captain. “Yeah, that’s so true.” He turned away, shutting the door.
~* * * *~
The new unenthusiastic partners rode in the car in an absolute strained silence.
Victor drove at high speeds, wildly switching lanes in and out of traffic, the magnetic red and blue light flashing glaringly from the roof of his Mustang.
Valentine’s scornful gaze remained forward and she re
fused to grip the dash or show any apprehension of his haphazard driving.
“Do you like fast cars?” He peeked sideways at her.
“About as much as fast guys,” she grunted and folded her arms over her dark jacket.
“Yeah, I bet you go for the square box type,” Payne jeered. “In guys and cars.”
She bit her lip to keep from replying.
Victor smiled and maneuvered the muscle car up the asphalt drive. At the end of the overly long driveway, a colossal mansion sat in ostentatious splendor, neatly obscured by enormous trees. “The shitty rich and vaguely bored.” He grimaced. “Asphalt and pretentious wealth in front with a private beach party at the back.”
Valentine refused to banter with him. If I ignore him, I may avoid being charged with murder. His swaggering walk and self-righteous smile just made her want to reach into her shoulder holster, take out her forty-five and blow a shiny new hole into his fat head. She smiled at the gratifying image while she got out of the car.
They went around the caution tape and came into the vast foyer.
Victor halted to stare around.
Valentine bumped into him. His body felt like a steel drum as she bounced back in her tracks. “What the...?”
He stood stock-still.
She came around him and peered up at him.
He shook his head, stepped around her and went up the stairs.
“Where the hell are you going?” she called to his back.
“To the murder scene.” He kept moving along the stairs. “Duh!”
Valentine glowered at his tall form moving up the wide stairs and she muttered several choice expletives under her breath as she followed him. Halting just inside of the bedroom door, she drew in a gasping breath at the sight of all the crimson splattered everywhere. She’d already been to three of these, but it still sickened her.
Victor stood to the side of the bed. “Some nasty lovemaking, all right.” He dropped his explorative gaze to the floor.
Valentine followed his gaze to the spot he studied.
A broken champagne glass peeked out from beneath the bed. “Mmm, maybe we’ll get some blood from the killer,” Victor mused aloud.
“No, not once has she left—”
“She?” He glanced over at her.
“It's nearly certain, with the bedroom scene, flowers, candles and the champagne?”
“Nothing is nearly certain, Valentine. Things either are or they’re not. And they could be gay?” He smirked. “It’s been known to happen in the civilized world.”
“Nope, all of the victims were definitely heterosexual and that’s for certain.” She placed her hands on her hips.
He strolled around the room with a wandering style and stood over the body.
A young uniformed officer stepped up next to him. “Philip Gardner, software mogul and all around ladies man.” He clicked his tongue with a depreciating tick.
“Apparently, his lovemaking lacked abhorrently this time.” Victor snickered.
Valentine drew in a horrified breath. “What a hideous thing to say!”
He ignored her and went back over to the bed. “Any blood here?” he queried the young cop.
“A couple of spots, maybe?” The uniformed rookie shrugged his navy blue shoulders.
Payne nodded. “Mmm.” He stepped back over to the victim.
Classically good-looking, with wavy dark hair, the dead man wore a new unnatural orifice on his body as he sported a neatly ripped esophagus, which indiscriminately spewed blood everywhere. “There’s other blood here.” His focused gaze swiveled to hers. “The killer's blood.”
“How do you know?”
“She.” He raised a brow at her. “Cut herself on the glass.”
Valentine was truly puzzled by this bizarre conclusion. “How do you know that?”
Victor ignored her yet again and meandered into the bathroom, took a napkin from his pocket and opened the medicine cabinet.
Grudgingly curious, she followed behind him.
“Yep, a whole candy shop of a pharmacy!” He shut it, moving to the shower.
She tilted her head and watched him. He’s so odd, but he looked at absolutely everything.
“There will be more traces in here,” he called back to the young uniformed officer, “Hey kid, have them do a wash test.”
Valentine gaped at him. “How do you know all that?”
He shook his head and went past her. “She carefully showered the blood off.”
Valentine turned to the shower and peeked in.
“Are you coming?”
She sighed with irritation at his bellowing tone and turned to leave as a glittering from next to the toilet caught her attention. She took a napkin from her pocket and grabbed the item up. An earring? She gulped. A star- shaped sapphire earring? Her head jerked high and she casually dropped the sparkling trinket into her pocket.
“Coming?” he asked from the bathroom doorway.
Valentine jumped at his call and turned to see his swiftly receding back moving away again. She hurried to the grisly bedroom and stared around.
The uniformed officer looked busy taking pictures.
“Where did he go?” she asked.
“He left.” He aimed his camera down and snapped another image.
“God Dammit!” She released an aggravated breath.
Payne sat in the car, his eyes narrowing when he saw her come out of the door.
Valentine opened the heavy door and got in. “That's all, Sherlock? No other sleuthing?” Her question held a sarcastic note.
“I got all I needed, Miss Watson.” His eyes met hers. “And you?”
“I suppose.”
“I’ve been waiting here for a while,” he smirked. “So...you what? Were doing your makeup in that posh bathroom?”
Valentine tilted her chin. “Take a good look at my face.”
“I have been.”
“Not a drop of any paint.” She faced forward.
He chuckled and started the engine. “Yeah, some chicks do have that type of beauty.” He drove down the long driveway.
Stunned by the near compliment an exuberant smile emerged on her lips. Chicks? Her smile immediately evaporated. The man is a definite pig. “So, where are we going?”
Victor swung the car over, switching lanes. “To a club.”
“A club?”
“The one where Philip, the stud, met the sexy slasher.” He showed her a cold grin.
“How did you—?”
“Valentine, you need to pay attention, you know?”
“Is that a swipe?”
“Just an observation.”
She released an annoyed breath as he made a swerving turn and raced down a side street. He hastily slid the car into a tight parking spot. “There was a matchbook on the bedside table.”
“Yeah?” She peered over to see the marquee-like sign on the building. The Door.
“Coming?” He opened the car door.
“Uh—yeah.”
“You’re not paying attention again, Sweet Valentine,” he taunted while getting out and shutting the car door.
Valentine stood from the vehicle, scowling at him over the cars roof. “Sweet Valentine?”
Victor released a small chuckle. “Well, I don't know your other two names.” He headed toward the club entrance.
Exasperated, she shut the door with a solid furious slam.
He flipped around. “Hey!”
Her head swung up.
“This is a fine muscle car and she doesn’t like rough treatment.” He frowned at her. “You don’t treat a Boss that way!”
“She?” Valentine puzzled aloud. “A Boss?”
“Yes, a Boss Mustang.” He shook his head at her. “Just be more considerate, okay?”
“Oh, the man who insults everybody is gonna teach me some manners?” she challenged to his receding back.
Victor went in through the club entrance.
The Door, God Dammit, why here? Valentine re
alized she'd racked up more problems than just an annoying new partner. She hesitated for a few tense seconds, and then followed him in.
It looked dark inside and being the afternoon, it appeared to be empty. Now, where did the big jerk go? She looked around and heard a girl-like giggle.
The big jerk gazed indulgently up at a pole with avid interest.
A nearly naked blonde girl hung onto the brass pole, her long shapely leg raised high.
Valentine stepped closer.
“So, you’re practicing your art, eh?” A twinkle danced in his dark eyes while he took in the dancers form.
Valentine rolled her eyes.
The pole girl glanced over to Valentine and she visibly paled.
Victor turned to gaze at Valentine, and then looked back up to the dancer. “This is Tiffany Blaze.” He wore a smug smile.
Valentine took a step back.
Tiffany swallowed heavily and swung her eyes away.
He lifted a brow. “So, Tiffany, did you know Mr. Gardner?”
She slid lower along the brass pole and leaned down to get her robe.
Victor followed her movements closely and smiled while he studied her taut little derriere.
“I don't know. Maybe?” The dancer tugged her robe on. “They don't always give names here, you know?” Her gaze locked with Valentine’s.
Payne's brow wrinkled at the pointed gaze. “Here’s a picture.” He handed it up to her.
Tiffany grabbed it and studied it. “Nope.” She handed the picture back while her hand shook, avoiding Valentine’s intense stare completely. “I gotta run.” She backed away, gracefully stepping off the small stage.
He glanced over at Valentine.
She watched the edgy blonde disappear through a side door.
“Have you ever been here before?” he asked.
“No, I haven’t.”
“Yeah, this place wouldn’t be caught dead in your cute, little black book, I suppose. We’ll have to come back when it's in full swing.” He gave her a wicked smile. “I would just hate to miss her act, you know? I can really get into this fine arts and entertainment bit.” He strolled toward the back of the club, going out through the back exit.
Valentine curled her lip in repugnance at his crude sense of humor and stood staring at the empty stage. She released a tense breath and rushed over to the exit to catch up with him. The back door led to an alley and she spotted him at the far end.
Voracious Vixens, 13 Novels of Sexy Horror and Hot Paranormal Romance Page 194
