Page 38 of Dead Serious Case 5 Madame Vivienne

Thoroughly spent, I collapse against him, and he keeps his hand wrapped around my softening dick the way I like. We’re both breathing hard and I’m not gonna lie, my head’s also spinning a bit from how hard I came. I didn’t just see stars; I’m pretty sure I discovered a new constellation.

“We should probably tell Chan we’re definitely not using these gaudy thrones for our wedding.”

Danny’s chest rumbles against mine as he chuckles. “Don’t fancy recreating David and Victoria Beckham’s wedding photos, then?”

I smile against his neck, sated to my bones. “This will forevermore be known as the BJ throne, so no, we won’t be using it for our wedding.”

8

Sonia opens the door looking somewhat frazzled and I smile. “That bad?”

She rolls her eyes. “She’s driving me mad.” She steps back and allows Tristan and me to enter. “She’s always been a bit hotheaded—all that red hair. Her fiery nature is what drew me to her in the first place, but it’s unlike her to let someone get under her skin this badly. Please, will you go and talk to her?”

I chuckle; after a year as Maddie’s partner, I know all too well howfieryshe gets when she’s in a mood. “Where is she?”

“In my office.” Sonia sighs and turns, leading the way towards the kitchen and the delicious scents filling the air. “You can just go ahead and—oh.” She stops dead as we reach the kitchen and find Maddie there. “I thought you were still in the office. I—” Fisting her hand on her hip, she points to the steak knives in her wife’s hands. “What are you doing with those?”

“The darts weren’t making me feel any better, so I thought I’d try knives.” Maddie scowls down at the sharp implements.

“For heaven’s sake, it’ll be bloody axe-throwing next.” Sonia hurries across the kitchen and takes the knives back, slotting them neatly back into their places in the knife block. “Here.” She opens the fridge and retrieves two beers. Handing them to herwife, she turns Maddie around and shoves her at me. “Go and talk it out before I end up with huge holes in my office wall.”

I snort and glance over at Tristan, who’s watching it all in amusement. “You alright if I…” I nod towards Maddie, who hasn’t lost the scowl.

“I’m fine.” Tristan unwraps his scarf and slips his jacket off. “I’ll help Sonia.”

“You can help by sitting down and having a glass of wine while I check the roast potatoes.” Sonia takes his coat and gives him an affectionate smile.

Maddie mutters under her breath and stalks back out of the kitchen, heading back to Sonia’s office, I assume. I follow along behind her and slip into the room before she can slam the door in my face.

“It’s not Sonia’s fault, you know,” I say calmly as I close the door behind me with a quiet click.

“I know that!” She bangs the two bottles down on the desk. I lift one of my brows and stare at her, waiting. Eventually, she blows out a slow breath and closes her eyes briefly. “I know,” she repeats, this time a little calmer.

Unbuttoning my coat, I lay it over the back of one of the chairs and reach for a bottle. “Want to start from the beginning?” I ask as I retrieve my little Swiss army knife from my pocket and use it to pop the lid off before handing the beer to Maddie.

She releases a deflated sigh and I watch as the anger drains to a low simmer of frustration. Propping herself on the corner of the desk, she takes a slow swig.

“Honestly, Danny, I don’t even know where to start.” She picks at the label with her thumbnail as I flip the top off the second bottle and drop down onto the small two-seater sofa.

“I’m guessing this has something to do with Byrnes?” I glance at the dartboard mounted on the wall. Pinned to it is a printoutof Byrnes’ face. Six darts protrude from it and the paper is filled with so many holes that it’s almost disintegrating.

“It’s not just him.” Her frown is almost permanently etched between her brows at this point. “Okay, it’s mostly him, but things at work are just… weird.”

“That word seems to come up a lot.” I smile. “Tristan has created the Everett Scale of weirdness. One beingmy goodness would you look at that, and ten beingI killed my husband and stashed his body in a hidden cellar so no one would notice.”

Maddie snorts and relaxes, some of the tension flowing from her shoulders. “And that’s why I love Tristan. He has a unique way of looking at the world.”

“That’s probably because he sees death as much as we do. More, actually.”

Maddie blows out a breath. “I have something for you.”

She sets her beer on the desk and reaches over to grab a manila folder, which she hands to me. “You can keep that, it’s a copy.”

I open it up and find she’s right. It contains crime scene photos and a few sparse notes, plus Viv’s post-mortem report, but that’s more or less it.

“Is this a joke?”

Maddie shakes her head. “I wish.”