A Real Page Turner (4 page)

“Threadway,” he supplied.

“Right, Threadway. She’d been coming into the shop for about a year now, and after a few visits we’d talk, about books, movies, and things like that. We didn’t see each other socially, if that’s what you’re asking. We didn’t go out to dinner, or movies, or shopping.”

“But you mentioned a club,” Rogers reminded her.

April could have kicked herself in the butt for that. Of course, while they were investigating Virginia’s life, they would learn about her lifestyle.

“I saw her at Charlie’s about two weeks ago.”

“The BDSM club?” Threadway asked. His tone indicated he was shocked. “Do you know what she was doing there?”

“Meeting a man, detective.”

“For?” Threadway prompted.

“Why do people usually meet people at Charlie’s? You can’t have sex there, according to the rules, but you can get to know people, and…”

“Transfer your activities to another site,” Rogers finished for her.

“Exactly.”

“Who did she meet?” Rogers asked.

April wanted them to slow things down, give her a chance to process the fact that Virginia was dead.

“Ms. Johnstone?” Rogers said. “Who did she meet?”

“I don’t know. All I could see was the back of his head. I talked to Virginia…” her voice broke, and tears stung her eyes. She swallowed hard to gain her composure. “I talked to Virginia before I went to meet my friend. When I came back out she was sitting with a man, but I didn’t go back over.”

“Young, old, dark hair, blond hair?”

April glared at Rogers. “Did you miss the part where I said all I saw was the back of his head?”

“What color was his hair?” He continued to push her.

“Blond, like dark blond.”

“Would you say he was muscular, skinny, fat, tall, short?”

April wanted to scream. Instead, she inhaled deeply. “I would say he was in his thirties, if I were to guess. He wore a denim shirt; I remember that. She came into the store last week, to trade books. She seemed happy with him, said she thought they were going to get along.”

“When was that?” Rogers asked.

“Friday, or maybe Saturday.” She was sure it was Friday, but she felt so rattled right now that she thought she might be wrong. “Let me check her file.”

“You keep records?”

“Of course, detective. People here have accounts, and they can build up credits. I start off on paper cards, but eventually I transfer it to the computer so there is a permanent record.”

“Can you print hers out for us?”

April tapped a few keys. “Sure, just give me a minute.”

Finally, there was a pause while the printer hummed to life. “How did she die?”

“We’re still waiting on the autopsy results,” Threadway said, his tone gentle.

“Bull.” She laughed sarcastically. “You just don’t want to tell me. Afraid I’ll faint?”

“She was stabbed,” Rogers said.

A horrific image of Virginia bleeding took center space in April’s mind. She bit back a sob. “I called her twice. Once earlier to tell her about her books. Then today since she hadn’t returned my call.”

“Earlier?” Threadway sounded confused. “What day was that?”

April reached for the calendar on her desk. She flipped through a few pages, just to give herself a little breathing space. “Yesterday.” Before her first time with Titan. It seemed so long ago.

“Was Virginia a sub, or a Dominatrix?” Threadway asked.

“Sub,” April answered.

“And you have no clue who she met?”
This from Rogers. April thought they were pretty good at trading questions.

“No, she never mentioned a name to me. But she did seem to light up when she talked about him while she was in the shop.” The memory of Virginia’s shy smile made April fight back a sob.

“Are you going to be all right when we’re gone?” Rogers gently squeezed her shoulder. “Is there someone we could call to be with you?”

“Misty,” April said. “She’s my best friend. I’ll call her.”

“Why don’t you do that while we’re here,” Rogers suggested.

The two detectives put their heads together to look at the list. April dialed Misty’s number. Like a true friend, she could tell something was wrong the minute April said hello.

“I’m just leaving work,” Misty said. “I’ll be right there. In the meantime, don’t say anything.”

“What are you, a lawyer?” April laughed. “I have nothing to hide.”

“Isn’t that what they always say on TV? Don’t say anything unless you’ve talked to your lawyer?”

“If you’re a suspect,” April said. “I’m not.”

“Right now,” Misty continued. “But they always try to pin it on someone who didn’t do it, at least at first.”

“You’ve read too many mystery books,” April told her. “Just get here.”

“On my way.”

April clicked off the phone. The two detectives were talking quietly. Rogers turned to her. “Do you still have the books she brought in the last time she was here?”

“Some of them,” April said. “She brought a lot. I sold some of the newer ones already. I keep track of numbers, and what genre of books my customers like, but not the titles they buy. I have no clue who bought those books.”

“Regency romances,”
Threadway said.

“And some mysteries,” April said. “But most of them are still in the back.”

“Can we see them?” Rogers asked.

April said they could. It was close to closing time, and she didn’t think anyone else would be in today. She locked the door and led them toward the storeroom. When they were in the back, she indicated the boxes. She stood in the doorway as they bent to examine them.

About ten minutes later there was a knock at the door. April hurried to the front. Misty stood there, pulling on the locked door. April let her in, and her friend hugged her tightly.

“Where are the cops?”

“In the storeroom, looking at the books Virginia brought in.” April started to cry. “I just can’t believe she’s dead. She was so sweet.”

Misty wrapped her into a hug. April’s shoulders shook as she cried. The sound of a man clearing his throat brought April back to the reality. Now was not the time to fall apart. She could do that later, after everyone was gone. She kept her gaze averted as she wiped her eyes. She turned to find the two officers standing in the doorway.

“Nothing there but books,” Rogers said.

“Well, this is a bookstore,” April said, hoping she sounded normal.

“Misty,” Threadway said. “Nice to see you again.”

“You, too, Officer.”

“Detective,” he corrected.

“Sorry,” she countered.

“We’ll be going, but we might be back if we have more questions,” Rogers said. “If you remember anything about the man you saw her with at Charlie’s, please let us know.”

April nodded her assent,
then let the men out. When they were gone, she turned toward Misty. “Have you slept with him?”

“Yup. He’s a good Dom.”

April shook her head. “I don’t believe you. You’ve slept with everyone.”

“Not his partner. I’ve never met him.”

April couldn’t help but laugh.

“Do you think they’re having the same conversation? Do you think Rogers is asking Sir James if he’d slept with me, and then saying he’s a ho-dog?”

“I didn’t say you were a ho-dog.” April plopped herself down in one of the cushiony wingback chairs near the door of the shop. Misty sat in the other. April’s hands still shook, and she felt as if she might lose whatever food she’d eaten that day.

“How is it that the cops came to see you about her?” Misty asked. “I didn’t think the two of you were that good of friends.”

April hadn’t thought of that. “Well, I called her this afternoon. Maybe they were monitoring her phone. She’d brought some books in to the store for trade. That’s what they were doing in the storeroom, going through Virginia’s boxes.”

An image of the smile on Virginia’s face the last time she’d been in the shop took hold in April’s mind. How was it possible that she was gone? That someone had come into her home and… She sobbed and put her head in her hands.

“I’m so sorry.” Misty knelt in front of her and took April’s hands between hers. She squeezed them hard.

April sniffled. “This just seems like a bad dream.”

Misty hugged her, which made April feel as if things might be fine. “Want to go get something to eat?”

“Yes.” April straightened and wiped away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks. “A big, fat, greasy hamburger with tater tots on the side, and a chocolate shake.”

“Extra pickles on mine, please,” Misty said as she pushed herself up from the floor.

Even though she felt as if she might burst into tears at any second, April knew the best thing she could do was not sit around and dwell on things. Getting something to eat would take her mind off the visit from the detectives. It wouldn’t make her forget, but it might help her to refocus for a f
ew moments while she came to terms with the fact that her young friend would never again enter the shop.

“I’m going to wash my face, and then I’ll be right out.” April made her way to the back of the store. Once in the bathroom she shut the door, mostly out of habit. She splashed cold water on her face, getting quite a bit of it on her shirtfront. Not that it mattered. She had extras in the office, kept because, as Misty always said, April was the messiest eater on the face of the planet. If she ate anything with ketchup, it somehow ended up on the front of her shirt.

“April.” Misty’s voice sounded strange.

April blotted her face with a paper towel before she opened the door. “What?” she shouted back.

“Out here,” a deep voice said. It was one she’d heard not that long ago. She stopped in the doorway of the bathroom, wondering what the hell he was doing there.

It didn’t take her long to reach the front. Misty was near the front door, Titan at her side. April studied him, confusion taking center space in her mind.

“What—”

He interrupted her. “I hear we’re going to get something to eat. Let’s go. I’m buying.”

They found a diner in LoDo that wasn’t too crowded, in fact, much to April’s surprise, they were seated within five minutes of their arrival. To April, it was nothing less than amazing. But as soon as they were seated, she and Titan on one side of the booth, Misty on the other, the reason for the visit from the cops, for her calling Misty, pushed away all the other feelings she had, and she felt like she might tear up again.

“So, what did you tell the cops?” Titan asked after the waitress had delivered iced teas and taken their orders.

“Excuse me?” April had picked up her water glass, and for a moment she thought it would slip from her fingers and shatter on the table.

“About Virginia.”

April set the cup down. “How did you… what?”

“Everybody knows about it,” he said as he took a sip from his own glass. He was so calm, as if he were discussing the weather. “I figured that’s why they were at your store, unless you had a break-in or something.”

“And why would you think that?” Too many thoughts were passing through her mind at one time. How was it that he happened to be at the store the minute the cops were gone? Why did he think the police were there about the murder?

“How do you know about Virginia?”

“Everybody knows,” he said again. They fell silent as the waitress returned with condiments in preparation for their meal. She set the bottles on the table, and April could tell from the look on her face that she was uncomfortable that they were all staring at her, and had stopped talking the minute she’d approached.

When she was gone, Titan leaned closer to the table, as if he had a secret to impart to April and Misty. Instead of telling them something, he asked, “What did they tell you?”

“That Virginia was dead,”
April said. She sat back and crossed her arms over her chest. “You sound like you know an awful lot about what’s happened.”

He shrugged. “I watch the news.”

“That’s not what you said,” April countered. “You said everybody knew. Who is everybody?”

“People at Charlie’s,” he informed her. He had a straight face, which made her think he was telling the truth, or he was good at lying. “Tom called me to tell me he’d heard about it from a mutual friend.”

“Who was the friend?” she asked.

“He didn’t say, and I didn’t ask,” Titan said. He lifted his glass and took a long swallow.

She knew that was bull, because when she called someone to tell them something like this, she usually started the conversation with, “So and so just called and said that this happened.”

Before April could ask more questions, the waitress was back, this time with food. Wouldn’t you know it, she thought, that food would come quickly when you didn’t want it to, and it would be late when you were starving. Right now, what she wanted was to know why Titan was so interested in April’s death. After the meal had been delivered, Titan dug in like he hadn’t eaten in months. April stared at her plate. All she could think about was her friend, someone she didn’t know that much about, really. Just that she liked to read Regency romances, and she liked to submit to her lovers.

“What were you doing at the store?” April asked. He set down his burger and wiped his mouth as he swallowed what he was eating. To her, it seemed as if he were stalling, so he could form an answer that would make her happy.

“Well? Did you come to see me, or did you come to probe about Virginia? And, if you did come about her, how did you know I knew her? And why were you there at the same time the cops were? Are you a cop? Is this some sort of undercover thing where they send in the ‘official’ guys, and then send in someone else to probe me?”

She hated the grin that appeared on his face. “Sweetheart, the only probing I want to do with you involves both of us being naked.”

Heat rushed through her, warming her cheeks and other pertinent parts of her body. “I’m not talking about sex,” she said when she’d managed to get herself back under control. “Are you a cop?”

“Nope.” He started to eat again.

“Then why are you asking me what I told them?”

“Curious,” he said between bites.

“Curious my Aunt Fanny!” she said, realizing too late that she’d screamed the words. People from several tables over turned around to look at them, to see what was happening.

“Sorry, sorry,” she said to the other diners. Their waitress approached to make sure everything was fine. Titan assured her it was. When she was gone, and people were only glancing at them and not openly staring, April leaned toward him like he’d done to her and Misty earlier.

“How is it that you just happened to be at the store when the cops were there, and you just happen to ask me what I said to them about a murdered woman?”

“Something like that.” He wiped his hands on his napkin. After he tossed the used paper on the table, he drummed his fingers on the surface.  Something about the quick movement of his fingers told her he wasn’t a happy camper right now.

She glanced at Misty, who was looking at her plate as if it were a priceless work of art, and she wanted to memorize every line and color.

“Tell me the truth,” she said. “Why were you there?”

“I wanted to see you,” he said, shrugging slightly. “Is that so hard for you to believe?”

April wanted to believe it, but she knew that, if that were the truth, he wouldn’t have started the conversation the way he did.

“Then why didn’t you ask about me? Why did you immediately want to know what I said to the cops?” She knew she should believe him, but right now it wasn’t an easy thing to do. She was still too freaked out by the whole situation.

“Because I figured that’s why they were there, and it brings us right back to my original statement. I was curious. It’s a state of mind that happens to a lot of people.”

April pushed her untouched plate toward the center of the table. Somehow the thought of putting anything in her mouth made her sick. All she could think about was Virginia, and the way she smiled the last time she’d been in the store, happy that she’d met someone who might make a perfect Dom for her.

“You need to eat something,” Misty said.

“Who could have done this to her?”

“The cops will figure it out,” Titan said. He actually had a smile on his face, one that she was pretty sure was meant to reassure her that things would be fine. “And I’m telling you the truth when I say I don’t carry a badge.”

“Who are you?”

Once again, he leaned toward her. “Someone who wants to spank your ass tonight. And do that other thing too.”

April couldn’t help but smile, despite the turmoil going on in her mind. A spanking would be great. She had read somewhere that the birth rate went up after tragic events, because people used each other’s bodies for comfort.

Arguing with him about “that other thing” wouldn’t do any good. A spanking would be nice; but sex, no. Instead of voicing her thoughts, April stared down at her untouched food.

“I just don’t understand how this could have happened,” she finally said. Even as she spoke, April’s thoughts centered on the man she’d seen Virginia with at Charlie’s. It seemed strange to her that this man would come into Virginia’s life, and days later, it would be ended.

“Titan?” She glanced at him. He was leaning back in the booth, his gaze inquisitive as he studied her.

“Yes?”

“You knew Virginia?”

“I’d met her, yes.”

It was a pretty innocuous answer. “But you weren’t exactly friends, is that what you’re saying?”

“I never had any intimate contact with her, if that’s what you’re asking.”

April cleared her throat. “Do you know anyone who did?” She had to find a way to discover who Virginia had been meeting with at the club the night April had seen her.

“Yes.”

She wanted to scream at him. Was she going to have to pull answers from him one by one? “Who?”

“Doms.”

The urge to yell intensified. “Okay, let me ask this. Recently, I saw Virginia at the club, meeting with a blond man. I couldn’t see his face. Do you know who he might be?”

Titan’s brows knitted together in a frown. He looked as if he were mentally going through all the men he knew, trying to find a man who had blond hair among them.

“No,” he finally said. “That doesn’t ring a bell. But she met him at Charlie’s?”

“Yes.” April picked up a French fry and put half of it in her mouth. It had gone cold, and the taste was nasty. She swallowed the half she’d bitten and put the other part on her plate.

“They check IDs at the door, although I don’t think they keep records. If he was new, though, the bouncer might remember him. We could go tonight and ask him.” He held up a finger. “Although, he sees lots of people, both those who are just curious, and those who are there to play. Unless this man said specifically he was there to meet Virginia, it may be a dead end.”

“And lots of people are very quiet about who they are at the club to see,” Misty said.

“Not me,” April said. “They all knew who I was… visiting.”

“That’s because you were booked into one of the rooms,” Titan replied. “If you were just going to the bar, you probably wouldn’t mention someone by name at the door, unless you were asking if that person was inside yet.”

“And I’m sure the cops have already questioned the doorman,” Misty added.

“They just found out she visited Charlie’s,” April said. She didn’t have to add that the information came from her; it was pretty obvious. She still remembered the shocked look on Threadway’s face when she’d mentioned the club.

Was it wrong of her to want to talk to the bouncer before the cops did? She wasn’t sure, but it was something she desperately wanted. There was every chance they had gone to the club right after they’d seen her, but there was also the chance that they’d had someone else to interview about Virginia.

“Let’s go to Charlie’s now,” she heard herself saying.

“I can’t,” Misty said. “I have other plans that can’t be broken.”

“I can,” Titan said.

April tried not to shiver at the smile on his face. It was obvious he was thinking about things that could happen at the club between them. She was thinking about trying to find out about the man Virginia had met that night.

“No funny business,” she told him.

“Nothing funny about spanking,” he said, “although it can be fun. The two words are not always synonymous.”

It seemed as if he were trying to make her smile, and April appreciated the effort. “We can debate that some other time. Right now, I want to go to Charlie’s and question the bouncer.”

“And the sub who works the appointment book. Don’t forget her,” Titan said before he drained his glass. The waitress appeared with the check. She inquired what was wrong with April’s meal, and after being told that nothing was, she took it to the kitchen to be boxed while she ran Titan’s credit card to pay the bill.

As they were preparing to leave, Misty hugged April. “Let me know what happens, and let him spank you while you’re there. It will relieve some tension.”

April didn’t answer. Spanking was the last thing on her mind right now. She wanted to know what happened to her friend. If she were a detective in a novel, she’d be able to solve the problem long before the police did. As it was, she didn’t even know what questions to ask the bouncer. Titan was right; he did see many different people every night. How was he supposed to remember one person?

Even before the questioning started, April was sure that it was a dead end.

***

It turned out she was right. The bouncer, who seldom had a night off, looked at her as if she had a third head when she asked him if he remembered a blond man coming into the club to meet Virginia.

“The cops just asked me the same question,” he said. “I remembered her when they showed me her picture, but I had no information other than that. Sorry.”

The appointment sub yielded no data, either. Virginia was not listed in her book, which wasn’t surprising. Unless she and her potential Dom had booked a room, they wouldn’t be listed as being in the club that night. One of the waitresses might recall serving them food, or drink, but there was no telling who worked their table. Short of interviewing everyone who worked that night, and hoping they would remember the couple, it would probably be another dead end.

But April was willing to give it a try. She and Titan found an empty table in the gathering area. Within moments a scantily clad sub was there, asking how she could serve them.

They both ordered soft drinks, and when she was back, Titan asked her if she knew Virginia.

“Was that the woman who was murdered? Everybody’s talking about it. The cops were here asking questions, too.”

We already know that, April wanted to scream. “Did you know her?” she repeated.

“No. None of us remembered her.” She glanced around the room. April had the feeling she wanted to say something else, wanted to gossip a little maybe. Instead, she looked at Titan before she lowered her gaze. “Will there be anything else, Sir?”

“Where’s Tom?” he asked.