Alice Sinclare paused at the edge of what might be thought of as the bad side of town, the black haired woman dressed in a fine business suit checking a slip of paper with the address that she had jotted down. 'Looks like this is it,' she noted, walking forward again. The office she was looking for was in an older building, the high-rise clearly having seen better days and the once elegant facade fallen into disrepair. Walking forward she looked around the lobby, noting with some disgust that the elevator was out of order, Alice took the stairs up to the floor where Yamazaki Investigations waited. "Good morning," he looked up from his work with a smile as she entered the outer office, the older man who was sitting there at the reception desk with a half finished box of donuts nearby, "welcome to Yamazaki Investigations." His clothes consisted of a wrinkled business suit, all in basic black much like his thinning hair. "Alice Sinclare," she introduced herself with a formal nod and asked him, "I think I have an appointment for ten A.M.?" "Tom," he introduced himself with a charming smile, "come on, I think the boss is in." He smoothly got up, casually picking up his coffee and drinking as he led her past the desk to a short hallway and a door marked 'Lucy Yamazaki, head investigator.' He knocked on the door and called out, "Boss, your ten o'clock is in." "Come in," she called and Tom opened the door, waving Alice in. The woman who got up from behind her desk and walked over to offer her hand, her business suit clinging to her body. Full breasts pressed against her pure white blouse, the dark blue skirt hugging legs that almost seemed to go for miles. Full glossy lips matched her dark red hair, her natural scent earthy and warm and her gaze was filled with a kind of unbridled sensuality. "Miss Sinclare," Lucy smiled warmly as she studied her, her dark hair falling in waves down her back, "take a seat, please." Alice thanked her as she sat, hoping that her recent tears weren't too visible. "Thank you for seeing me on such short notice," she said with a sigh. "I have an associate who frequents your bookstore," Lucy sat on the edge of her desk, the pose giving her a sexy sort of style, "it's the least I could do." She paused as she studied Alice, "You mentioned a background check when we talked on the phone?" "Yes," Alice hesitated, "it's... somewhat delicate." "Our client confidentiality is assured," Lucy calmly reassured her even as she studied Alice thoughtfully. Alice felt the faint beginnings of a blush under the other woman's gaze. It wasn't that she was attracted to the woman, it was just that she was so unconsciously sexy it was a bit distracting. Taking a steadying breath Alice said, "I've recently become involved with someone, we've been seeing each other for a few months." "Hmm," Lucy made a sound of acknowledgment, like any good interviewer prompting her to go on without influencing her. Uncomfortably Alice continued on, "Recently I got something of a surprise from her, not a good one." She sighed, "I suddenly realized I've been assuming a lot of things about her, really without any basis in fact." "And so you want us to do the background check," Lucy nodded. She smiled, "Did you bring us any information we could start with?" Alice felt a bit of relief at the woman's more business-like manner. "Here's a recent photo, address of her place of business and a list of her friends I've met," Alice passed the sheet and photo over as she added, "her name is Jess Drake." "Thank you," Lucy took the sheets calmly. The detective had a remarkable poker face but Alice thought she noticed a flicker of something when she mentioned Jess' name. "Do you know Jess?" she asked softly. "Only by reputation," Lucy answered calmly. She smiled, "We'll take the case, ma'am. I'll have a preliminary report ready within a week or so, as well an rough idea of how long it'll take to do a full report on her." Alice smiled in honest relief, "I'm glad." She took out her cheque book and asked, "How much do I owe you for a retainer?" "Background checks are normally just a flat fee," Lucy smiled as she admitted, "but I think this may be a bit more time consuming." She considered a second, "How about two hundred to start, then we'll see how it goes?" Alice wrote out a cheque for five hundred and passed that over, "This should cover several days work, at least. Contact me as soon as you need more." "Of course," Lucy nodded gracefully. They talked for awhile, Lucy gently extracting more details from her about Jess then escorted her out. Alice felt an odd sort of relief as she headed up the street, going back to Sisterhood books. 'It feels good to be doing something,' she thought, trying very firmly not to think about the shocked, painful look on Jess' face when she slapped her last night. "You did WHAT?" Tom blurted, looking at his boss in shock as they held a post interview meeting in Lucy's office. "We've been hired to do a full background check on Jess Drake," Lucy repeated as she waved the photo casually, "it's all fairy simple, so don't make me get out the dictionary and help you with the longer words, Tom." Dramatically Tom flopped down in the chair usually used for customers. "You do know who Drake is, right?" he asked. "No," Lucy answered, "and neither do you, really." That made Tom stop, then he finally nodded. "Point," he conceded, "there are all those rumors about her and her reputation, but that's about it." "Exactly," Lucy nodded. Her expression was calculating, "Just imagine how some of the movers and shakers in the city would react to knowing the dirt on Jess Drake?" Tom rolled his eyes at that idea. "So how do you want to go about this?" he asked her crisply, already considering the shape the investigation would take. "Google the name Jess Drake and I want to know who on paper owns Jess' Tattoo parlor," Lucy said crisply, "it's possible that the Drake name is an alias." "Oh?" Tom looked curious to see where that was going. Lucy smiled slightly, "Jess as in ties, restrains and Drake means dragon. A magician who's name just happens to mean 'bound dragon' makes me a bit suspicious." "I'll hack into city hall records, too," Tom noted. He paused, "Should I approach any of our contacts with the Lady Diana's organization?" "No," Lucy shook her head firmly, "not with their whole situation involving the priest and demon going on. They might decide we're freelancers looking for work." Tom got up, his mind already occupied with planning out his online search. "Oh," he suddenly remembered, "is Rose going to be involved?" "I'll contact her," Lucy assured him. Tom headed out to his desk and turned to the computer perched on the edge of his desk. Looking like an older model it was oddly out of place, but looks were deceiving. Inside of that battered old casing was the latest in hardware as well as some modifications that were quite possibly gray-market if not illegal. 'Hmm,' Tom thought as he worked, 'I thought I saw Rose go into Lucy's office earlier.' Lucy waited a few moments then turned towards her desk and with a impish little smile called out, "All's clear, lover." A naked Rose crawled out from under the desk, her face still glistening with fluids. "Gods," she got up, stretching, "I can't believe you interviewed that woman with no panties on!" "I'm just glad she was too distracted to notice you," Lucy chuckled, gently stroking brown hair away from the other woman's face. "Oh," Rose gasped as Lucy pulled her forward, delicately licking the juices from her face. "You're insatiable," she gasped as hands slid down. "And you love it," Lucy laughed. She sauntered back to her leather chair and sat down, smiling up at Rose with a hungry look. "What?" Lucy let her legs spread, revealing glistening, wet flesh as she purred, "Do you want to get back to what we were doing?"
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