“How about let’s see if Heather shows up, and I’ll text Neil to see what he has to say? If it’s all good with him, then I guess I’m in, just this once though. I’m not making any promises to be like… the permanent fill-in when someone doesn’t show up for work,” I say, putting my foot down before she gets any ideas.
She claps her hands, hopping up from her seat. “Awesome. I’ll go let Randy know not to panic trying to find someone else if Heather doesn’t show.”
“And if my boyfriend doesn’t care!” I shout after her, but she’s already disappeared through the door.
Aimée takes a seat where Crystal just vacated and starts telling me the colors of the outfit she’ll be wearing while I tap Neil out a text giving him the details about what Crystal just offered. Admittedly, half of me wants him to tell me no, to come home as soon as I’m done with the girls’ makeup because he misses me and wants me to himself, but the other half, the half that’s still gung-ho about gaining my independence and earning the money to go to cosmetology school, wants him to agree it’s a great opportunity to earn some super quick cash. Either way, I won’t fight him on his decision. I won’t do anything that would break his trust in me, just as I know he would show me the same respect.Chapter 21DocI walk into Seth’s office at Club Alias after receiving his text fifteen minutes ago. The news hadn’t leaked yet, but what he told me had me running out the door to drive here.
“Alison’s body was just found. They dumped the OG makeup artist in the woods between here and the mansion. A hiker found her when his dog went apeshit,” he tells me as soon as he wakes up his computer to show me the police report he hacked. “I had her name and a bunch of random keywords set so it would ping me if anything popped up on the radar. And it motherfucking pinged.”
“So not safe and sound in another state because of some great opportunity,” I murmur, not liking the fact that Astrid is working late tonight in the dead woman’s vacated job position and not where I can keep an eye on her.
“Definitely not safe and sound. She was murdered. Autopsy hasn’t started yet, but the field agent suspects strangulation as the cause of death,” he says, and a chill goes up my spine.
“Did they—”
I’m cut off when the phone rings, and Seth answers it, “Imperium Security,” seeing it’s from the forwarded line instead of the Club Alias number. He listens for a moment and then his eyes meet mine, my stomach instantly knotting. “We’ll be right down,” he replies to whoever is on the other end and hangs up.
“What’s going on?” I ask, the hair on the back of my neck standing up as he stands and rounds his desk, and I follow his hurried stride out the door.
“Apparently, one of Astrid’s coworkers is here. She needs to tell you about the dead girl she said,” Seth informs me, and I feel like I’m going to vomit.
“How the hell does she know about—”
“We’re about to find out, bro. Stay calm,” he says, and for Seth to be the one telling me to stay calm, I know my growing panic must be showing.
We gallop down the stairs to the floor of Club Alias, cross the dance area, and make it to the hidden door on the other side that leads to our business next door. We flip on the lights once we lock the door behind us and when we reach the front, we unlock the glass one and open it for the woman standing outside.
She comes in, holding the strap of her purse tightly at her shoulder, nervousness permeating the air around her.
“Heather?” Seth clarifies, and she nods as he takes the seat behind the desk and I take up residence at the wall behind him, my arms crossing over my chest as I lean back against it.
He gestures toward the seat in front of the desk, and she sits. “Um, first, before I say anything, I need to know y’all will protect me,” she says low, as if she’s scared someone will hear her talking to us. “Alison isn’t the only one who’s suddenly disappeared. She’s just the only one who had anyone care she was missing.”
As Seth assures her we will assign a security detail with surveillance at her home and in her car, I check my watch to see how much longer Astrid has until she’s supposed to be off. She texted me earlier saying she’d be later tonight because there were several more girls to work on. My brow furrows when I see the symbol at the top of my watch showing that my cell is disconnected. When I pull it out of my pocket, an empty battery emblem flashes across the screen.