by Sable Hunter
Victoria picked up a strand of Alivia’s hair. “All I’m suggesting is a one-tone hair color and a few tailored pieces for your public appearances.” She placed a hand on Alivia’s arm and looked over her left shoulder into the mirror. “We’ll keep Alivia, but they don’t call it undercover for nothing. You need to blend in, honey. Talk the talk, walk the walk, and dress the part. This isn’t the Miss Texas USA pageant. Our contest doesn’t lead to the Miss Universe pageant, not like the other one. This is a very respected, traditional event. We aren’t just about a pretty face, and strutting down the runway to say you want world peace. The Miss Texas/Miss America pageant is scholarship-based and the judges respect talent, not just a sexy figure.”
Alivia grew even more nervous at the thought. “I don’t think I have a talent.”
Saxon, with Micah in tow, returned in time to hear her comment of dismay. “Do you happen to twirl a baton?” Saxon asked, wanting to tease away the worry on her beautiful face.
Alivia folded her arms over her chest in her best Lara Croft pose. “Do I look like a girl who twirls a baton?”
Micah and Victoria both chuckled, even though they might as well not have even been in the room. Alivia and Saxon were zeroed in on each other.
“Well, I don’t think the judges are going to let you drag a computer on stage to show off your online gaming or hacking skills.”
“I can do other things, Saxon.”
“And one of those things isn’t twirling a baton. We’ve already established that, sweetheart.”
“Don’t call me sweetheart.”
“Fine.” Saxon turned and walked from the room, not because he was angry or mad at Alivia, but because their sexy push and tug bantering made his blood rush through his veins and his cock rise to attention.
“Don’t worry, Alivia.” Victoria scrunched her nose. “You can sing, or dance, or play an instrument.”
“How about a dramatic reading?” Micah asked from the door.
Alivia’s eyebrows shot up. “Acting?”
“Sure.” Micah sat down at his desk. “I could whip up a monologue for you to perform.”
“No!” Victoria and Alivia both said in unison at the idea.
Micah kicked his feet up on the table and put his hands behind his head. “Oh, ha, ha. Not a Don Juan kind of scene. I will have you two know I am capable of writing things that aren’t hotter than Texas asphalt on the fourth of July.”
“Oh, we know,” Victoria said. “Just don’t stop writing the other stuff though.” She winked at him. “I own every book you’ve ever written.”
“I don’t know if I can pull this off,” Alivia confessed, interrupting the discussion. “The makeup, the clothes. I’m not sure we should do this.” She was feeling overwhelmed.
Saxon leaned on the wall in the hallway. Hearing self-doubt in her voice tore him apart. Alivia Hart could do anything she wanted to, and he knew it.
“We could solve this case just by investigating,” Alivia continued. “Dragnet will get the information we need. If I can crack the Infinity Killer case, I can do this.” She looked at Micah with pleading eyes. “I’m telling you. We have the cooperation of the State Police forces. If we comb through their databases using my software, this murderer will have nowhere to hide.”
Micah took his feet down from the table and considered her suggestion for a moment. “I have faith in you, and your software, Alivia. And you may very well be right. Maybe we could crack the case through investigation alone, but we have to play it safe.”
“All we have to do is narrow down our search,” Alivia responded. “Find similarities.”
“I’m sorry, but no.”
“No?”
“No. If this pageant is going forward, we have a responsibility to protect everyone involved, and the best way to do that is boots on the ground. Like I said, I have total faith in you, Saxon, and everyone else on the team, but an investigation won’t help if someone is attacked at the event. I realize there will be police and security, but no one will have more information and insight than we will. I want to be there with a gun to take out this scumbag if he shows up. You and Saxon will keep using your considerable talents online, but you entering the pageant will give us a considerable edge.”
Alivia looked at him hard for a single second. “Fine. But don’t blame me when I embarrass us all.”
“Nonsense,” Saxon stated flatly as he reentered the room.
“I second that,” Micah muttered as Victoria returned the dresses to their bags.
“Which of these do you want to save for the evening gown competition?”
Alivia looked at Saxon. “Which one?”
“Hmmmm…” He grinned. “I like the first one best.” The one where he could almost pretend she was naked.
“I agree,” Alivia said, nodding her head.
“Good choice,” Victoria agreed. “We’ll take the blue one for a back-up, just in case. Saxon, will you take these out to my car? I’ll get someone to hem the gowns, so they’ll be perfect for the big event. Remember, we only have a few weeks to get ready. So, this won’t be our first session. Next time, we’ll try on bathing suits and practice walking.”
“Practice?” Alivia asked in a high voice. “I’ve been walking most of my life.”
“Yes, but we must practice gliding…” Victoria put her hands out and swept across the room. “Gliding is important.”
At Alivia’s exasperated look, Micah patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, everything will be all right.”
Alivia bit her tongue to keep from saying anything more. Why wouldn’t anyone just say it? She was being used as bait, and Alivia was fine with that, she just wished someone would come out and admit it.
The room was filled with unease until Victoria broke the silence. “We have two options to get you into the pageant, Alivia. You can either take Miss Lufkin’s place. Or. Miss Sweetwater has bowed out for family reasons.”
“I spent some time in Sweetwater as a child. I think that would be the best fit for me.”
“There’s a catch.” Victoria’s face told Alivia she probably wasn’t going to like what she said next. “You’d have to take part in a Rattlesnake Wrangling Event.”
“What?!”
The trio heard a roar of laughter come from Saxon in the hallway.
“It’s a local tradition,” Micah interjected with a tiny smirk on his face. “The locals flock to see the beauty queen duel with the serpents.”
Alivia shuddered. “And what do I have to do to get into the Lufkin spot?”
“Basically, just have your picture taken at a sawmill or two.”
Alivia’s blood began to boil. “Well, why didn’t you say that in the first place?”
“I kinda wanted to see you handle a rattlesnake,” Micah said with an outright laugh now.
“All right, I’ll see to it that you get the Miss Lufkin spot and they can pick a new Miss Sweetwater. As trying as Micah can be, he is right, you basically just need to have your picture taken and make a few public appearances, all of which can be accomplished with a quick trip to Lufkin.”
Micah re-entered the conversation, ready to be serious again. “In the meantime, we’ll keep up the investigation.” He stood and claimed his jacket from the back of a chair. “I need to get going, and I believe Destry is expecting you, Victoria.”
“Hot date?” Alivia asked when she saw the smile spread across her new friend’s face.
“It’s always a hot date with that boy. I’m one lucky woman,” Victoria murmured on her way out the door behind Micah.
“Jesus!” Alivia yelped when she turned the corner to find Saxon still leaning on the wall in the hallway. “Creep much?”
Saxon dropped in behind her, following her back to his office with his eyes locked on her ass the entire way. “I wasn’t creeping. I was returning. Slowly.”
Alivia stopped just as she came through the door to the cozy room they were sharing. “You know.” She turned and looked him s
quare in his handsome, scruffy face. “I can feel your eyes on my rear end.”
“Must feel good to be so appreciated.”
His seductive words sent a shockwave straight to her core, and Alivia momentarily forgot about how big of a clusterfuck this was all turning into for her. Never in her wildest dreams would she have thought she’d be entering a beauty pageant. Wait until Violet heard about this. She’d fall right off her chair with laughter.
CHAPTER TEN
Taking a seat at the computer she’d been using, Alivia tried to sort through her feelings. Trying on the evening gowns, and hearing the flattering things Saxon had to say had only confused the issue. “Could I see the information on Anne Rader?”
“Yea, sure.” Saxon handed her the single sheet of paper. “Any ideas on how to explain this?”
“No, but there are a few things I can try.”
She pounded away on her keyboard while he tapped on his. They managed a workable truce for about twenty minutes before Saxon had enough. “I agree with what you said to Micah downstairs.”
Alivia kept banging away at her keyboard. “Oh yeah?” All her efforts to remain aloof were proving to be futile. She was unsure of what she’d gotten herself into, and being hopelessly attracted to the man sitting next to her wasn’t helping. “You agree with me? Aren’t you afraid such a concession might hasten the end of the world or something?”
“Oh, you’re cute.” Saxon sighed and shook his head. “Why do you have to be so difficult?”
“I’m not difficult,” she protested vehemently. “You’re difficult!”
“Heck, you’re like a little porcupine that wants to be petted but can’t control its quills.” He held his hands out on either side of her shoulders. “Those little pointy barbs just stick out all over the place.”
“How about you? Don’t you think you have…pointy things sticking out on you?”
Saxon chuckled. “Well, maybe one…pointy thing sticks out for you.”
“Oh, you’re a comedian, aren’t you? A horny comedian.” She stuck out her top teeth and crossed her eyes at him.
Saxon roared with laughter. “Maybe you should do a comedy routine for your talent.”
Alivia went back to typing and clicking her mouse. “Maybe.”
“Or maybe Micah could write you up something after all.” Saxon was feeling suddenly bold. “I could help you rehearse the scene, for sure.” He squeezed her shoulder with his strong hand.
A shiver went down Alivia’s spine at the idea, and she literally shuddered. Time to change the subject or they’d be screwing on the table again. “You were saying?” she asked, wheeling around in her chair, instantly feeling the letdown of his hand coming off her shoulder. “About agreeing with what I said to Micah?”
Saxon glared down at her with hooded eyes. Damn, he was sweating. Raking a hand over his forehead and up through his hair, he tried to hide the fact. “I…uhhh,” he fumbled for words. “Your program.”
Alivia nibbled on her bottom lip for a brief second. “What about it?”
“Let’s try it.”
Oh, there were so many things she wanted to try with this man. A second or two passed before Alivia realized he wasn’t flirting, Saxon was actually respecting her talent. “Okay.”
“After reviewing the police reports, I think using our tools and insight will be what solves the crime. Going to the pageant might protect the attendees, but we can’t wait until we get there to find this psycho, we’ve got to do it now.”
“I agree.” She was as happy as a June bug to pull up her pride and joy on the screen in front of him. Alivia laughed to herself. Savvy would be jealous; the robot was convinced she was Alivia’s pride and joy. And to tell the truth – she was probably right.
Bringing his chair closer, Saxon leaned forward, elbows on his knees, and cheeks resting in his palms. “I’ve read about this program of yours. You used it to catch the Infinity Killer and solve some other cases.”
Alivia beamed as she typed. “Yes, that’s right.” She turned to him with a serious look on her face. “I could never take all the credit. My program is just a tool that accesses information available in other places and narrows the info down using parameters. The police caught Infinity. I didn’t. The men and women who pounded the pavement and asked the questions were the real heroes. Dragnet just made the process easier.”
“I think Dragnet was a bigger factor than you think. Ten years unsolved makes for a damn cold case.” Saxon placed a hand on hers. “This will be a team effort, Alivia.”
“All right. I can live with that.”
“Good. Shall we?” Saxon asked. He gave her a smile and a wink.
“Shall we?” Alivia was mesmerized by the heated look on his face. Shall we…what? Jump each other’s bones?
“Dragnet.”
“Oh! Yes. Ha!” Alivia snapped out of her lusty fugue. “Let’s track this sick son-of-a-bitch down.” She focused on the screen, her fingers moving like lighting.
Saxon followed along with his eyes as best he could, but he’d never seen the program before, and it was damn sophisticated.
“I’ve already been working on some parameters.” Alivia talked as she typed. “Pooling data mostly. Savvy spends a portion of each day adding links to this program. We’re trying to include every state database, every local police force database, and every governmental agency’s data pool. Arson investigators. Crime labs. Countless others. If there is data accumulated, we’re trying to get permission to access it.”
“Savvy? I thought your assistant’s name was Violet.”
“Violet runs my office. Savvy runs my life.” She glanced at him and grinned. “She’s a robot, an AI robot that I’ve programmed to do incredible things.”
“Wow. I’m intrigued and impressed.” Saxon leaned forward in his chair. “As forward-thinking as my colleagues are, they still see what I do…” he gestured between them, “what we do, as a bit too intangible and not hands-on enough.”
“I understand. I can see Micah’s point about our being on the front lines at the pageant, it just took me a while. I guess I spend so much time in the online world, I sometimes forget things can be done places other than the internet.”
“Believe me, you’re not alone. I get caught in the same trap.” He gestured toward the screen. “Where do we start? I’ve got a tech-boner anticipating what you’re going to do next.”
“What?” She cracked up with giggles. “You’re crazy. Who’s the comedian now? Tech-boner, I’d like to see that.”
“Well, I can show you, just say the word.”
“Enough with the penis jokes, I can’t think straight when you do that.”
“All right. All right. I’ll behave for a while.” He leaned back in his chair and raised his hands to rest behind his head. “Dazzle me.”
Dazzle her he did, especially the bulge she could make out behind his zipper. Alivia forced herself to look at the computer screen. “Well...” She smoothed a lock of hair away from her ear. “Let’s start with a certain age group of female victims.”
“Eighteen to twenty-five.”
“I was thinking the exact same thing.” She entered the numbers into her template. “How many years should we go back?”
“Let’s keep it small. Five years. Too much data makes me crossed-eyed sometimes.”
“I know the feeling.” Wow, at least five minutes had gone by, and they weren’t bickering. She glanced up at the ceiling, sure that the roof would cave in any minute. “Where do we want to look? Should we be safe and go national, or stay state-wide?”
Saxon thought it over for a moment. “I’d say we stick with the same motto about too much data. Let’s keep it local. Texas only for now.”
She’d worked with various people on cases using Dragnet, but those folks were more likely to be pot-bellied police detectives with as much jelly donut filling on their ties as in their mustaches. As much as they meant well and wanted to help, those men were usually better at giving
her leads and filling her mug with bad coffee than they were at working side-by-side at a computer monitor. But Saxon was her equal in their world, and she felt a powerful connection with him that she’d never experienced before.
“And… Done!” Alivia exclaimed, hitting enter with authority. “One-hundred and seventy-five.”
“Jesus. That’s a lot. Can we narrow it down further?”
“You bet ya.” Alivia sat, posed with her hands hovering over the keys.
“Got it!” Saxon snapped his fingers. “Let’s try cause of death. Look for chokings. Strangulation. Anything that falls into that category.”
Alivia worked as fast as before and clicked enter again with gusto. “Eighteen.”
“That’s still a lot to investigate in such a short period of time.” Saxon put a hand on her chair and spun her around to face him. “Shoot straight with me here, Alivia. How accurate is this program?”
Alivia beat back the inclination to be defensive. “Dragnet is quite accurate, but like any program, it’s only human-based.”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning, it has to work off the information humans feed into it. Details of crimes. Dates. Names. Statements of eye-witnesses. Online searches done by investigating officers and the notes of detectives. Basically, if the information has been put into a database, my program can find it.”
“Can we search for beauty queens or pageant contestants?”
Alivia turned her chair back to face the computer and started typing. “We can try. So long as someone found that detail of a victim’s life important enough to put in the file, we’ll find it.”
Saxon waited a moment until the program gave her an answer. “What do we have?”
“Eight in total, but that includes Mindy Nixon and our other known victims, so five we didn’t know about.”
“Solved?”
Alivia scanned the screen, then looked toward him. “None. All the cases are still open.”
Saxon stood from his chair to pace across the room. “Go back further.”
“Ten? Fifteen?”
“Twenty-five.”
Alivia typed and waited for the data to appear. “Five more murders that fit our parameters. The first occurred in ninety-five. There’s nothing before that.”