Designed for Murder (Killer Style 4)

He looked over at Mika in her bright green Geeks Do It In Costume T-shirt as she gave her side of the events to the uniformed cop. “It’s not your kind of case.”

“Why’s that?”

Quid pro quo time.

“Mika Ito is a Maltese client,” Carlos said. “A man in a black ski mask has been targeting her friends. Not like your ultra-violent junkies mugging people. This guy is more of a run-of-the-mill mugger, except for what he’s after.”

The detective raised an eyebrow. “What’s he after?”

“LARPing costumes.” He felt like an idiot just saying the words. The city was on the verge of a poisoned cocaine tsunami of violence, and he was looking for fucking purple and silver vestments.

“What-ing costumes?”

“LARP. It stands for live-action role-playing.”

“Like D&D but with costumes?”

Dungeons and Dragons was the gateway drug to LARPing and other role-playing games. Carlos tried to picture the beefy guy in front of him calling out spells and couldn’t make the image hold. “Reggie, I’m seeing a whole new side to you.”

“What, you think there aren’t any black geeks in the world?” He said it with just enough gravel in his voice that men who didn’t know the detective better would have taken a few steps back.

It just made Carlos want to nudge him further down the annoyed path. “Geeks who look like you and eat felons for breakfast?”

“You’d be surprised, ’Los. I was once a young nerd, too.” He unwrapped a piece of cinnamon gum and popped it in his mouth. “Anyone hurt tonight?”

Carlos popped the sore knuckles on his right hand, the ache from pummeling the attacker increasing with each snap. “No, but he had a gun.”

“That new?”

Carlos nodded. “According to the reports I’ve read and what Mika has told us.”

They both turned to look at Mika. Officer Puberty towered over her, but she still managed to seem like the bigger presence as she waved her hands around her like a flock of drunk geese to make a point. She must have felt him watching her, because she stopped her hands in mid-swoop and looked at him. The air sizzled between them. He inhaled and smelled her spicy perfume. Licked his lips and tasted her creamy flesh. Fisted his hands and felt the soft silk of her hair.

Reggie pulled out his radio and messaged the uniforms who’d just pulled to a stop at the alley’s entrance to do a sweep for the attacker’s gun, lost somewhere in the trash and debris littering the alley. Then he turned his attention back to Carlos.

“He’s upping his game,” Reggie said.

Carlos averted his gaze from Mika before his mind got lost going down a road he couldn’t travel. “Seems like it.”

“Any ideas why?”

“Would have a much better one if we could figure out why he’s taking the costumes.” Figuring that out had been the main reason for coming with Mika tonight, but all he’d gotten from her Magic Battledome court was reinforcement for his existing sabotage theory and a lingering discomfort with the ease that he’d fit back into the world he’d shunned so completely.

“If your girl’s got one that’s the same as the others, I might be able to pull a few strings and get the crime lab to take a look,” Reggie said.

Using the police lab sure as hell beat begging help from the few private labs that would do the occasional favor for Maltese Security. Of course, he knew Reggie was about as altruistic as a prowling wolf.

“I appreciate that,” Carlos said. “So much so that I won’t even mention the fact that doing so gives you the perfect opportunity to chat up that new lab tech.”

“Dom?” Reggie chomped on his gum and didn’t bother to hide his grin. “Isn’t that just a happy coincidence that he’s on shift tonight?”

“You’re pathetic.” He laughed.

“No, I just don’t ignore the front door when opportunity comes knocking.” Reggie cut a glance at Mika. “You’d be wise to follow in my footsteps.”

The sound of Mika practically purring with satisfaction and the sight of her blissed-out expression as she collapsed against his chest flashed in his mind.

Carlos shook the image out of his head. “Nothing but trouble doing that.”