SLOW - The Story of Signy and Aden, #1 (6 page)

"Be careful, OK?" He breaks the moment and then he leans down and kisses me again, like we are lovers who are about to start a long distance relationship and can't stand the thought of separation. My whole body floods with warmth as he releases my lips and pushes me to sit upright, then stands me up and grabs a gun holster from the floor. He straps it around my thigh, his hands brushing up against my tight clothes, and then snaps the gun into it and checks to make sure it's snug. I watch him slide an extra preloaded magazine into the holster next to the gun and I pause.

"Why do I need an extra mag?"

He doesn't even lookup. "
Be prepared
isn't just for Boy Scouts, Sig." He slides a tiny ear piece into my left ear and pats me on the butt, like I'm a teammate on game day.

I giggle a little as he climbs back into the driver's seat, waits for me to follow and get settled, then pulls out of the gas station with a lot more care than he did when we started this adventure. A few minutes later he eases the truck over and tells me where we are in relation to the house. I jump out and start stalking my way up the dark and silent suburban neighborhood, feeling very much like something big is about to happen.

Chapter Five

I jog down the street and slip into the bushes as I approach the large house. It's one of those mini-mansions and has a tropical Mediterranean style to it. My client—the poor guy has been a client before—forgave the slut last time and destroyed the video, never even bothering to show it to her.

But I suppose everyone has limits. This case is nothing more than a run-of-the-mill get-the-evidence-and-get-out job that pretty much describes all my clients since my mom died a few years ago.

I stick to the side of the house and slip into the backyard, stalking along the wall to the rear French doors that lead to the master bedroom, turn the handle, and wait to see if the alarm goes off.

He was instructed to disarm it, but you never know.

The night is silent with the exception of the desert cicadas, so I enter the dark room and flick the lights on and get down to business. I am about to attach the little sticky tab onto the front of the flat screen on the wall facing the bed when Aden begins whispering in my ear. "Not there, Sig. Put it off to the left a little, on a flower petal in that vase."

"OK." It's oddly reassuring to have him with me to be honest. Typically when I do this stuff I feel like a criminal, even though I always have the proper permissions to enter. But tonight, we feel big time. Like we're doing super-secret stuff and not like we're just trying to catch a wife cheating on her rich husband.

I stick the little clear patch of adhesive to a flower petal. "Should I do the living room now?"

"Shit Sig, you should have all of them by now! Hurry!"

I turn the lights off and make my way to the living room, the next adhesive camera already between my fingertips, ready to be applied. I stick it and I'm heading to the kitchen when Aden's voice is back in my ear.

"They're home."

I freeze, my stomach twisting with the thought of getting caught. "What?" I whisper back.

"They're in the driveway. Hide."

Shit! Where? Where the fuck am I supposed to hide? I look for a pantry but that's too obvious, besides, all it takes is one midnight snack and I'm toast. "They're at the front door, Sig. You hiding?"

What do I do?

"Sig?"

"Yeah, OK. Hold on—"

Laughter, a mix of male and female voices, comes from the front of the house and I freeze. "Shit, they're here!"

"Signy, listen carefully. Do not get caught, OK? Do. Not. Get. Caught. Get under that counter, see it?"

The footsteps are getting closer, they're coming into the kitchen!

"See it?" he demands again.

I scan the dark kitchen and spy what he's talking about. It's a space under the counter for pot hangers. I scramble under, knocking several pots together in the process and I hold my breath to see if they heard.

Loud cracks of laughter come from the middle of the house and I quickly tuck my legs underneath me to hide them.

"Stay very still, Sig. The cameras are on now, so I can get you out, but you must not let them know you're there. Got it?"

I nod my head and he whispers, "Good girl," into my ear.

The laughter switches direction and I breathe a sigh of relief as they make their way to the bedroom. At least I have those cameras planted already.

I stay sill and listen, then hear a male voice say in a mummer filled with innuendo that he'll be right back. His shoes have a light and quick click to them as they walk the travertine tile that lines the floors, and then the lights in the kitchen flick on.

"Where are you?" he asks.

I almost pee my pants.

He starts pulling open drawers and it takes several seconds to realize that he's not talking about me. I listen to his shoes clack on the tiles as he makes his way around the kitchen and then he stops right in front of me. All he has to do is bend down and I'm right there!

But he doesn't bend down—he's busy with something and I can't help myself. I lean forward and peer up. I hear Aden take in a sip of breath as I do it, my eyes trained on the well-dressed man in front of me. What's that he's got?

I pull back a fraction as he laughs softly, then lean forward when his shoes begin to walk away. I lean all the way out and try to see what's he's got in his hand.

It's a knife.

A very large, very sharp,
almost twinkling with sharpness
, very long knife.

"Get out
now
, Signy."

I scuttle out from the pans, knocking a few but not caring this time, and crawl to the end of the island counter and peek out.

"Now, Signy. Go out the back door and do not look back."

I get to my feet and scramble towards the back of the house when the laughter ends and I her the panicked female voice turn into shrieks of horror. Things are breaking, screams turn into gasps for air and I know he's choking her, and then I hear it. The sickening sound of a knife being thrust into a body over and over again. Between these noises there are a few pathetic attempt at groaning.

I freeze.

"Never mind, Signy. Just get out!"

Typically I'm on board with being a coward. I mean, I'm a PI who catches cheaters for Pete's sake, not murderers. But I've got a gun and a shitload of extra bullets strapped to my thigh. And this woman is about to fucking die!

Aden is screaming in my ear as I move towards the bedroom, but I already have the gun out and I'm stalking my way down the hallway, wrinkling my nose at a smell, with my back against the wall and the gun out in front of me in ready position.

The screams have stopped and I can hear a man taking in long deep breaths, like he's trying to calm himself. I inch forward, little by little and see the pool of blood running on the floor. A few more inches and I see her bruised and beaten face.

I'm about to rush him and start shooting when I realize that smell is gasoline. The whoosh of fire erupts, glass is breaking, and suddenly the whole place is up in flames!

I back track my way to the kitchen, feeling helpless, but now I have to worry about getting out of here before I'm burned beyond recognition. The gasoline trail has been dripped all down the hallway and the flames follow me as I retreat. I make it to the kitchen and flank right towards the front of the house, and then something explodes and I'm thrown forward, my left side crashing up against the massive maple front doors.

"Signy, dammit!" Aden is pushing open the door but my body is in the way and it's stuck. "Scoot back, Sig! Now!"

I inch backwards a little bit and my ribs ache. Aden scoops me up and bolts out of the house to the idling truck in the driveway. He pulls the door open and sets me down in the seat, then races around the front of the truck and jumps in beside me. "You OK?"

"What the fuck just happened, Aden! I just witnessed a murder and arson! Oh, my
God
! What the fuck just
happened
?"

He slams on the gas and we book it down the driveway and out into the street. We make our way out of the suburbs and back to the city lights before I can even think straight again. Holy shit.
Holyshitholyhsitholyshit
. "We have to call the police!" I pull my phone out of my pocket and start dialing 911 when he snatches it away.

"No, no cops. We gotta handle this ourselves."

"What? You're crazy! I just witnessed a murder!"

"Right," he says with no emotion at all. "You witnessed a murder. Of a very important woman, in her own home, who was cheating on her husband. You really think you're just a PI in this case, Signy? That client is setting you up! He said they'd be gone all night, until ten?"

"Yeah, but—"

"But nothing, we should've had at least another two hours! That was no coincidence!"

"That doesn't even make sense, Aden! He's not in on it! Why go through this ruse if he's the one—"

"Because he wanted you to see some other guy kill his wife, Signy. Get it? He hired someone to kill her, and he wanted you to see that guy in the house."

"I don't know."

"It doesn't matter if you don't know. I
do know
. I've seen this shit plenty of times to recognize the set-up. Your client put a hit out on his wife and you're his alibi."

We drive in silence back to my place and I'm just about ready to think that being nabbed for sexually harassing Aden this afternoon is sounding a lot better than this crack partnership he's sucked me into.

And then I notice the sirens and flashing lights.

Aden picks up speed just as he should be slowing down to turn into my hotel parking lot and I'm about to scream at him when I see the flames. "My place is on
fire
!"

We rage past at full speed and I desperately try to get a glimpse of my room door and my bike in the rear-view mirror when we turn on the next block, but all I see is the glow that lights up the night sky.

I fall back in my seat. "What the fuck just happened?"

"He just sent you a message, Sig. That's what happened. You're his alibi, Peaches. And that fire back there was a way to let you know he expects your full cooperation."

Oh, my fucking god
.

I was set up!

Chapter Six

Las Vegas passes by in a blur once again as I think about what just happened.

What did just happen?

My whole freaking life is gone, that's what just happened! Everything I owned was in that little hotel room. Granted, it wasn't much—I'm a minimalist. But there were memories in there—photos and small trinkets and sentimental jewelry that was passed down from my mother. My mother! The thought makes my breath hitch as I tuck down a sob and I turn my head as far as I can into the window so Aden can't see me.

But he hears me.

"You OK, Sig?"

This makes me angry. "Stop calling me Sig like you know me or something, OK? You don't know me!"

"Sorry," he mumbles. "I don't know you, you're right. But I like you. I don't want you to be hurt or sad, that's all. And I love your name. It's so beautiful and that nickname just rolls off my tongue. I
feel
like know you."

Well, that's not what I expected.

His hand grabs mine and pulls me towards him. "Look at me, please."

I swallow and turn my head slightly, just enough to see his eyes but not give him a full shot of what a wreck I am.

"I'll take care of this, I promise."

"How, Aden? If what you said was true, then I'm a target. I'm gonna have to leave Vegas! And this is the only place I've ever known. I need my phone, I need to call Jaxsen and tell him what happened."

"Your accountant?" He almost snorts, I swear. "You're not calling that guy, he's as dirty as they come."

"Like you'd know!"

"I do know, Signy. Look in the back of my truck, Peaches. Do I look like I need a job at your—no offense—crappy little PI agency? I'm decked out with more than two million dollars in equipment back there. You really think I'm a freelancer?"

My head turns slowly to his face. "You lied to me?"

He lets out an uncomfortable laugh. "You're surprised?"

I look back out the window and realize we're far out of the city now. The whole night is blackness—no stars or nothing. "Where the hell are you taking me?"

"Just relax, we're almost there."

"Almost where?" My heart starts pounding and I reach over and try and grab my phone from the seat. He swears the truck and knocks me back.

"Stop dammit!"

I pull the gun from my thigh holster, pull back the safety, and point it at his head. "Pull this motherfucking truck over, right now!"