Three Hours (Seven Series Book 5) by Dannika Dark

had a little chitchat with your friend, Reno. I’ve never met a PI, but that’s one scary fucking man. I can’t imagine what kind of woman would go for a guy who looks like he eats nails for breakfast.”
    I plucked an olive off her napkin and ate it. “He’s a doll. Have you heard anything new?”
    She shook her head. “The girls are scared, and Dean’s afraid they’ll start looking for another job. What if this is some maniac stalker? Or maybe someone has a personal grudge against the owner and he’s taking it out on us. What do you think happened to Skye?”
    Daphne still had on her stage clothes, including a classy black top made with small rhinestones that she’d borrowed from me. Long beads draped in loops from the sides and connected between the breasts in multiple rows.
    “I don’t want to know what happened to her,” she said, not waiting for my answer. “Gives me nightmares just thinking about it. Dean won’t let the bouncers walk us to our cars since he’s more concerned about maintaining order inside, so we’re going to start walking each other out in pairs. When you get ready to leave, just grab one of us. If I could afford a bodyguard, I’d hire one, but it’s probably worthless unless someone was specifically coming after me .”
    “Do you think it’s random?”
    “Those two girls had nothing in common except that they both were Shifters. Different hair colors, body types, ages—it just doesn’t make sense. Don’t serial killers go after girls who look alike?”
    “That’s one thing I’m not an expert on,” I said with a nervous sigh.
    She sipped her drink and got a faraway look in her eyes.
    I patted her hand when she set down the glass. “Don’t worry your pretty little head over anything. My friend will look into it, and if there’s anything to be concerned about, you can bet he’ll help us. Just be sure you’re not withholding any information. He’s one of the best.”
    “Everyone can’t stop talking about it.”
    “The girls need to pull it together or they’re going to scare off the customers,” I said. “Chitahs can smell fear, so that’s not the kind of atmosphere we want to create. Keep them calm and let them know an investigator is looking into it. The last thing we need is a nervous girl getting onstage and shifting into her animal. I’m sure some of the men wouldn’t mind knowing what her animal is, but if she begins attacking customers…”
    Her hand flew up. “Jesus, I know. We had an emergency meeting this afternoon about it. Tina took off work because she was literally shaking, and girlfriend, I just happen to know she’s a grizzly bear,” Daphne said with a nervous laugh. “These men would crap their pants if she shifted on stage into that bad motherfucker.” Daphne stood up and straightened her clothes. “I have to go on in a little while. Wish me luck.”
    I returned to the dressing room to grab my things and ran my fingers across Skye’s locker. I lifted the latch, and when it opened, the first thing I saw was a picture of her little girl affixed to the inside door. My heart shattered. I’d never noticed the photograph before because most of us kept our eyes on our own business. A single piece of cheap tape held it on, and someone had drawn a red heart in the bottom right-hand corner. Lola was a darling child. She was posed in front of a field of wildflowers, clutching a blue toy pony. She had her mama’s beautiful blue eyes and must have inherited her father’s hair. It fell to her shoulders in brown spirals and led me to believe she was biracial. That sweet baby was probably wondering where her mommy was. Who was Skye’s cousin? She hadn’t mentioned if it was a man or woman, or even how old they were. Did they have children of their own? I tugged the picture from the locker and slipped it into my purse. She didn’t have anything else in there worth looking through. Just a pair of shoes, a jacket, lipstick, two magazines, and some