Armed and Fabulous (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (26 page)

I took a deep breath, remind
ing
myself that I was dressing like a skank to get a lead on our victim and hobbled into the living room
, where
I was met with
silence.

Maddox
gulped. Solomon leaned back in the armchair
. He had
one long, lean leg slung across the other,
and
his eyes
ran
over me darkly from head to toe. I didn't know if he liked or loathed wh
at he saw—
an
d he really was seeing too much
,
given that the
S
pandex clung to every curve like a second skin—
but I tried not to care.

"
Jeez
," breathed Adam, his eyes having a hard time
leaving
my
b
oob area
to
look at
my face.

"I can't believe I'm going to leave the house looking like this." This was also going down in my dating life as possibly one of the weirdest dates ever.

"You should have worn the thong," said Lily. "
Now l
et's go slut up your face."

Music to my ears.

Chapter Eight

I strained to hear the brief, not so happy,
conversation between Maddox and Solomon, barely audible from the bathroom where Lily gunked up my face
. After a
swooping layer of black eyeliner and retro red lips
,
and my hair rearranged to loose,
we tripped back to the living room,
where
it was decided that Solomon would wait outside Flames and monitor our wires, listening in
on
everything we said and heard. The moment wires were mentioned, the four of us spent a couple of uncomfortable (for me) minutes assessing my costume.
Every time I yanked the hem down, one hand holding the top up, I was less sure that it qualified as a dress.
Maddox didn’t seem to mind until he saw Solomon looking
long and appreciatively
, and scowled at him.

"There's nowhere you can put a wire on her," pointed out Lily.
“It’ll bug out.”

"It'll fit in her bra," said Maddox, seriously studying that region under the pretext of a technological emergency.
At least, I think that’s what he was doing.

Solomon looked at the piece of kit in his hand, then to my bra
region
,
and finally met my eyes. He smiled.
I lost the ability to think for a few precious seconds as my breath quickened.

"I'll fit it," said Maddox, holding out his hand to Solomon.

“Where did you get that?” I asked,
proffering
my hand.
I didn’t wait for an answer.
"I'll fit it. Just tell me what to do," I said, trying not to think about Maddox's hands in my bra. Or Solomon's. Certai
nly not both at the same time
!
I bit the insides of my cheeks before they could flush as
red
as my lipstick
.

A couple of instructions later
,
and the wire was transmitting and tucked, by my own hands, into the right cup, away from the sound of my heartbeat.

Solomon handed a similar one to Maddox
,
which he
tucked under his t-shirt, fastening it to his chest with a piece of tape. A
fter a
couple of
“O
ne, two, one
,
twos
,”
we were happy they were working. Some creative shuffling later (me alone in the kitchen
, Lily
generously
offering to help Maddox
) and they were switched off until needed.

Lily zoomed off to change
while we went through the plan. A
short time later
,
she reappeared
looking like an Asian dominatrix in a tight
,
rubber dress and a black bob
bed
wig, her lips blood red and her face pale. "Trust me, I will not look out of place," she said
at my raised eyebrow
. "I'm going to head out. There's a parking lot for employees. You'll be on the guest list
under fake names
and
I’ll wave you through.
I'll text you if Tallulah comes in." She clattered out, her spike heels sounding like daggers on the stairs as I wondered what else she had in her closet that I didn't know about.

We gave her an hour's head
start before
I jettisoned the
hip
-
length cardigan
I’d wrapped around myself
in favor of
a jacket
. We
clambered
into Solomon's car,
and
I crossed
my fingers that none of the neighbors would happen outside and see me dressed like a prostitute,
despite the
long coat thrown over
me
,
as I
climb
ed
into
the
Lexus with two men.

Solomon drove without speaking,
steering
the sleek car with ease through the light evening traffic and pointing it downtown
. He
pull
ed
into a space
half a block from the club
fifteen minutes after Lily said the doors opened
.

"Seriously? You expect me to walk in these things?" I asked, pointing at the heels.

Solomon twisted around and looked down at them, his eyes running up my legs
before fixing on my eyes.
I shivered. "Can't you?"

"Not a half block. These are
“
get
-
in
-
a
-
car
-
get
-
out
-of-
a
-
car
-
and
-
pose
”
shoes." They were also
“
flat
-
on
-
your
-
back
-
heels
-
over
-
your
-
head
”
shoes
,
but I decided putting that image into Maddox and Solomon's
minds
probably wasn't the best idea. Lily
, however,
would
have thought
it was brilliant.

"I'll drop you outside when we're ready. You need help switching on the wire?" Solomon asked.

"No. I'm good." I wriggled out of my coat and placed it over my front, shuffling to get my hand inside my bra and switch the wire on. When I noticed Solomon watching me in the rearview mirror, I stuck my tongue out, just a little bit. He laughed, which surprised me into smiling. "Is it working?" I asked.

Solomon stuck an earbud into his ear and said, "Say something."

"C cup," I said.

"It works."

"Try mine." Maddox
switched his
wire
on. "Eyes forward,
"
he said.

"Not as flirty," said Solomon, "but it works."

"Safe word?"

"Scarlet."

"Done."

"Pardon? Safe word?"
I asked.

Maddox twisted in his seat. "In case we get any trouble. Just work 'scarlet' into a sentence and Solomon will be alerted that
we need help
. It's not a typical conversational word, but it's not so crazy that it would make anyone suspicious."

"Okay. Scarlet it is."

Solomon extracted a passport
-
sized photograph from his jacket pocket and passed it to me. "This is a recent shot
of Dean. F
ind someone who recognizes him and can point out Tallulah."

I took it and slipped it into the tiny purse I carried. It was just large enough to hold my lipstick, a few dollars, my cell phone and bank card. "Anything else?"

"That's all for you." Solomon checked the traffic, pulled out and drove the half block before
swerv
ing
to the curb and letting us out. "I won't be far," he said
, quickly glancing at me
.
I think he
was trying
to reassur
e me
.

Flam
es
’ entrance
was an anonymous black door
set into a
brick wall
.
A
small emblem of a flame on the front
was the only clue
.
Maddox gave the handle a tug and it opened. With Maddox in front, we
walked up the stairs to the booth at the top where Lily waited. Before we could say anything, she checked our fake names off the guest list, stamped the backs of our hands with
a
flame
stamp
,
visible
only
under the blacklight
wand
she waved over top
,
before
signaling we could go in. T
he tuxedoed h
ulking wall of a doorman opened
the door for us. I didn't even have a chance to ask if she had seen our mystery woman
before she turned to a woman in a leather trenchcoat who entered right
behind
us
.

T
hrobbing techno music
assaulted us as soon as we entered
and a sea of scantily clad bodies
, both male and female, paraded
in a wave of human flesh
. Lily was right. My bra, hotpants and
skintight
dress
combo was positively overdressed compared to the buttless chaps, skimpy lingerie, PVC and rubberwear,
stomach-roilingly worn by both
sexes. I could see dancers on a far stage performing, their movements fluid and
spry
as they dipped and swung around poles. A small dance
floor
divided
them
from
us
. Beneath the sparkling disco ball
,
couples gyrated
, their hands freely roaming
the
places that should not be groped in public.

"Montgomery has a wild side," I said against Maddox's ear and he shot me a bemused glance.

"Let's start at the bar," he said, nodding in the direction of where I assumed he could see the bar over the small crowd blocking the way. As we pushed past, hands seemed to find their way onto my butt, brush
ing
over my thighs and arms
,
each receiving a sharp
jab
from me
.