Their Seductress [The Hot Millionaires #1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) (8 page)

Paige flinched. “Someone just walked up behind her, hit her over the head, and she did nothing to protect herself?”

“Hence the assumption that she knew and trusted her assailant. Whoever it was is most likely left-handed, by the way. Not definitely, but the medical examiner thinks it more likely than not.”

“Couldn’t someone have come to the building, asking for another company, and then deviated to the sixth floor?” Paige asked.

“Unlikely,” Isaac responded. “They’d have to get past reception on the sixth. There are no cameras there, but the desk’s always manned.”

“We are looking at that possibility, but it doesn’t rate high on the list because, again, we’re convinced Ms. Carter knew her killer.”

“You have suspects?” Isaac asked, sitting forward in his seat. “People with no alibi and reasons to wish Ellie ill?”

“We have three possibles but, frankly, that’s all they are. I can’t crack their alibis, and I’m stumped.”

“Who are they?” Nick asked.

“Mike Lowell.”

“Ellie’s stepson-in-law,” Isaac and Paige said together.

“He was in the directors’ meeting with the rest of us,” Isaac continued alone. “He and Ellie used to get along well, but recently they’d drifted apart.”

“I gather he was opposed to Ms. Carter’s management style and had his eye on her job.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.” Isaac absently rubbed his chin as he thought it through. “In fact, at this latest meeting, his vote was pivotal in swinging the decision Ellie’s way.” Isaac frowned. “Anyway, I thought Mike had been cleared. His wife Lana called into the office, and they went to lunch together. Presumably you checked on that?”

“Yes, but he got back to the office within minutes of the estimated time of death. That calculation only has to be out by a very small margin, and he goes to the top of my list.”

“Ellie and Lana get along really well,” Paige said. “Ellie might have had business differences with Mike, but I can’t see him killing her over them. Frankly, he doesn’t strike me as having the balls for murder.”

“If all murderers looked like murderers,” Nick said.

“Quite.” The lieutenant accepted another bottle of beer from Nick and cleared his throat. “Our second suspect is Melanie Crowther.”

“You think a woman could have done this?” Paige’s tone expressed surprise.

“Sure.” The lieutenant shrugged. “Ms. Carter was tiny,
and
she was seated at the time of an attack she wasn’t expecting.”

“I see.”

“Melanie Crowther is communications director,” Isaac said.

“And had a relationship with Ellie,” Nick added. “She came back here a few times.”

The lieutenant didn’t ask what that proved. Presumably he knew about the recording devices dotted about the house but hadn’t asked to look at the tapes yet. If he did and they were taken downtown, they’d never stay private for long. It would be in the mayor’s best interests not to let that happen.

“Miss Crowther is seen on CCTV dashing from the building immediately after the directors’ meeting. She says she has an alibi but won’t say where she went.”

“Perhaps another woman,” Paige suggested. “A married one.”

The lieutenant shrugged. “Possibly.”

“Did you get her on camera coming back to the office?” Isaac asked.

“No. She says she came back through the garage. She didn’t go out in her car but said she came back that way because it’s quicker.”

“It is,” Isaac said. “A lot of us with garage passes do it. You can get straight on the elevator and go directly to the floor you want. The cameras down there are not well situated and easy to avoid, especially if you know where they are and don’t want to be seen.”

“Why would she not want to be caught on camera if she’s innocent?” Paige asked.

The lieutenant shook his head. “You’ve got me there.”

“Can you press her to say where she went?” Nick asked.

“She lawyered up. Swore on the Bible that she liked Ms. Carter, supported her plans for the future of the company, and had no reason to kill her.”

“Who’s the third suspect?” Isaac asked.

“Peter Talbot.”

“Ah,” said Paige and Isaac together.

“The advertising director was another of Ms. Carter’s greatest detractors,” Isaac explained in response to Nick’s quizzical look.

“I gather he felt his creative talent was being stifled or some such crap,” the lieutenant said.

“I’ve only met him twice, but to be frank, he makes my skin crawl,” Paige said. “The way he looked at me. He thinks he’s the real deal.”

“He says he had lunch in the restaurant at the top of the building alone, but no one can remember seeing him there, or anywhere else, until after the body was found.” He shrugged. “Strange .”

“Did you question the waiting staff?”

“They can’t be sure. As you know, that restaurant is used by all the companies in the building. Carter employees simply swipe a card through a machine at checkout, and the cost of their food goes on the company’s account. Unfortunately the machine just registers the company name, not the name of the person using the card.”

“Presumably he wasn’t caught on tape leaving the building,” Isaac remarked.

“Nope.”

“He’s my prime suspect,” Paige said. “Ellie threatened not to renew his contract a while back.”

“Really?” The lieutenant leaned toward Paige. “No one else has mentioned that. How did you come to know?”

“Ellie mentioned something about it in passing.”

“Do you know why?”

“No, sorry, she didn’t say, but they most definitely didn’t get along.”

“Presumably there’ll be something on his file,” Nick said.

“Doubt it,” Isaac said. “Ellie didn’t operate that way.”

“Well, thanks for sharing, Lieutenant,” Paige said. “What do you want us to do?”

“Oh nothing and, naturally, this is all between us,” he said a little too casually.

“Lieutenant.” Paige’s voice stopped Weir and Nick as they reached the door. “Are any of your three suspects left-handed?”

He flashed a half smile. “Unfortunately not.”

Paige and Isaac shared a prolonged look as Nick showed the lieutenant out. They didn’t speak until Nick rejoined them.

“What was that all about?” Paige asked.

“I think,” Isaac said, squeezing her hand, “that we’ve just been invited to indulge in a spot of amateur sleuthing.”

“What can we do?” Paige asked.

“What indeed.” Isaac glanced at his watch. Paige would have given a lot to know what thoughts were churning away behind those intelligent eyes, but he clearly wasn’t ready to share. “It’s three o’clock. You’re invited to dine with Nick and me at six.” Paige’s sharp intake of breath caused both men to laugh. “You’ll be the first course, honey, so I think you need to get a couple of hours rest.”

“No, I’m fine. I want to know what you meant about sleuthing.”

“We’ll talk about it at dinner.” Nick propelled her toward the door. “Isaac’s right. Get a couple of hours’ shut-eye.” He winked at her. “You’re still jeg-lagged but sure as hell won’t get much rest once we get our hands on you tonight.”

“Well all right, but I won’t sleep a wink until I know what’s going on with Ellie’s investigation.”

She must have gone out like a light the moment her head hit the pillow. The next thing she knew Nick was looming over her, looking disheveled and sexy as hell.

“Afternoon, sleepyhead,” he said. “Sorry to see you couldn’t sleep.”

“What time is it?” she asked, stretching her arms about her head and yawning.

“After five.”

“Hell, what happened?”

“Your body clock’s still readjusting.”

“Hmm, guess I
did
need that.” She sniffed the air. “Something smells good.”

“Isaac and I are making your dinner.”

“Isaac?” She grinned up at him. “I know you’re Florida’s answer to modern man and can turn your hand to absolutely anything—”

He waggled his brows at her. “Better believe it, baby!”

“Including cooking. But Isaac venturing into the kitchen is a bit of a surprise. Is it safe to leave him unsupervised?”

“Surprised me, too. I reckon he wants to make it up to you for being so shitty.”

“That’ll work.”

The sheet had slipped down, and Nick lazily traced a finger round one of Paige’s dark aureoles. Her nipple immediately hardened. What was it with her? When did her body get to be so sensitive? Perhaps it was caused by thoughts of the night to come when two of the best-looking men in Florida would be fucking her senseless. Noticing her reaction, Nick laughed and removed his finger.

“Later,” he said, wagging that same finger beneath her nose. “Don’t be so greedy. First of all, we need to get you dressed for dinner.”

“Does it matter what I wear? Unless I miss my guess, you and Isaac won’t let me keep it on for long.”

“You need to get us in the mood, darlin’.”

Paige harrumphed. “That’ll be the day when either of you need any help.”

“Come on, up you get.” Nick pulled back the coverlet, revealed her naked body, and let out a low whistle of appreciation. “You are one hot chick, do you know that?”

“Thank you, I think.” She stood up and looked at him. “Okay, boss man, where do we go from here?

Nick eyed the rumpled bed and smirked. “If only!”

“What’s stopping us?” She glanced down at the bulge in his shorts. “Looks like it’s game on already.”

“Isaac would kill me if we started without him.” He tapped Paige’s thigh. “Nice landing strip,” he said, nodding toward her French wax.

“Why are you kowtowing to Isaac? I thought you were your own man.”

“Every organization has a pecking order and, in case you hadn’t noticed, Isaac is definitely
numero uno.
”

Paige tossed her head. “We’ll see about that. I’m still mad as hell at him.”

Nick chuckled. “I noticed how mad you still are from your performance downstairs earlier. You put on quite a show.”

“You watched us?”

Nick shrugged. “Sure. You really needed to be fucked, didn’t you?”

She shrugged. “I got in the mood. It’s been a while.”

“I love hearing you beg for it,” he said, smirking. “And you’re gonna beg like you never begged before in a very short time, on that you have my guarantee.”

“Am I?”

“Count on it.”

“I begin to understand why Ellie trusted you so implicitly,” Paige said, feeling the loss of her friend acutely at that moment. “You’re discreet when you need to be, trustworthy, proficient, and don’t have hang-ups about status. Not many men in your situation would voluntarily cede position to another guy.”

“Just so long as I get my share of your tight little snatch, and I will, then I don’t much care who calls the shots…er, so to speak.”

“If you think you’re going to get away with anything other than letting me have all you’ve got, then you don’t know me very well.”

“Glad we got that one sorted.” Nick grinned. “Right, a pair of bikini panties.”

Without asking questions, Paige produced a cream-colored pair from a drawer and pulled them on. “Now what?”

“That short denim skirt you wore the other day. Put that on.”

Paige found it a huge turn-on, being told what to wear. “This is kind of like you taking my clothes off, only in reverse,” she said, stepping into the skirt.

“Ever heard of a karada?” he asked.

“Sounds like a curry dish.”

“Not quite. It’s a device used in breast bondage.” Nick produced a colorful rope contraption that she hadn’t noticed draped over a chair by the door. “Wanna have a go?”

She shrugged. “Sure.”

Nick pulled the karada over her head, lifting her breasts into place and tightening the ropes. “Jesus!” His breath came out in a slow, appreciative hiss. “Wait until Isaac gets a load of you in that.”

“Am I going to dinner like this, bound up with my tits hanging out?” Just thinking about parading in front of the two of them thus attired caused the inevitable moisture to gather between Paige’s legs.

Nick’s eyes gleamed. “Is there any other way to dine?”

Paige laughed. “In this house, probably not.”

“Is it comfortable? Tell me if it’s too tight. Don’t wanna cut off your circulation.” He flashed a sexy grin. “We need you conscious for what we have in mind.”

“No, actually it feels quite liberating.”

“That’s kind of the idea. You can attach another rope that goes round the crotch and more still to hold your elbows back.” He offered her a knowing look. “You’d like that, wouldn’t you, Paige? Sitting down with a rope sliding between the lips of your pussy, your breasts bound yet exposed. It would be a real turn-on.”

“Can we add that rope now?”

He laughed. “Stop being so greedy.”