LITMIR.BIZ

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his activities over the past seven days. Her mastery of disguises was very impressive, and he needed to find out if she might have stumbled onto anything that would jeopardize his investigation. He didn’t think so, but he’d have to be sure.

      The city landscape dwindled and changed. Elf/Angel settled a little deeper into her seat and accelerated. The speedometer crept higher, leaving sixty behind and pushing seventy. He waited for the car to protest the speed with various vibrations and rattles. Instead, the engine purred like a very contented cat.

      “You still haven’t told me where you’re taking me.”

      “It’s Friday afternoon. We’re going where all the good Minnesotans go on a summer weekend.”

      “I’m not from around here. Enlighten me.”

      “On the weekend, everyone goes up north to the cabin on the lake. We’re going up north.”

      “That I can see. Where up north?”

      “To the lake.”

      “The lake. According to your license plate, there’s more than one.”

      “True. But the only one that counts is the one we’re going to.”

      “And that would be…?”

      “The one where the cabin is.” She smiled and her dimple winked at him. “You’re kind of slow, aren’t you?”

      “You’re killing me, Elf.”

      She chuckled, and the husky sound sent images of late-night intimacies flashing through his mind. He shifted, trying to get more comfortable. Between tight legroom and tightening pants, it wasn’t easy.

      “Any chance you’ll be stopping for gas? Soon?”

      “Just filled the tank before I picked you up, so no, I’m not planning on it. I’d like to get mostly there before full dark.”

      He muttered a soft curse and shifted again, still finding no comfort.

      Elf gave him a quick once-over, a frown creasing her forehead. “Something wrong?”

      “Nothing access to a rest room wouldn’t solve.”

      “Ah.” The frown deepened. “Hmm.”

      “I take it you hadn’t considered the need for rest stops before you hustled me out of that room?”

      “No.”

      “Understandable. You can’t be expected to think of everything.”

      Red crept up her neck and stained her cheeks. Interesting. Was she embarrassed by the situation or mad at not having thought of the eventuality?

      “Of course, it wouldn’t be so bad if you hadn’t forced that glass of doctored water down my throat.” He twisted the guilt knot a little tighter.

      The flush deepened. “Sedatives are a workable, short-term convenience.”

      Short-term. She hadn’t planned on keeping him in custody for very long. Another interesting detail. “Your planning skills could use a little work.” He waved his free hand. “Never mind, I’ll manage.”

      They were approaching an exit ramp. Elf flipped on her turn signal. The ramp led to a rest stop where a steady procession of cars and trucks pulling campers and boats performed the weekend drivers’ ballet.

      If he could get away from her, it would be easy enough to catch a ride out of there.

      She maneuvered into an empty parking spot some distance from the main building. The car keys jingled in the silence when she pulled them out of the ignition and dropped them into a lower pant-leg pocket. “You’re left-handed, right?”

      “Yeah. Why?”

      “Just working out the logistics.” She stretched between the bucket seats and grabbed something from the back seat before getting out.

      Her vanilla fragrance still floated in the air. If it hadn’t been for that scent, he wouldn’t have made the connection between Elf’s disguises nearly so fast; the change in her appearance had been so complete.

      She stretched, giving him an unexpected glimpse of her bared midriff. Was that…? She rounded the car to the passenger door and pulled it open. He got another glimpse, just before she hunkered down beside him. It was. She had a pierced navel. And a pierced nose. He wondered what other parts of her body sported nontraditional jewelry.

      A handcuff closing around his right wrist broke into his ponderings. She reached over and freed his left hand, then stood, tugging him out of his seat. Her left hand, warm and slightly callused, held his right hand, and he realized she’d cuffed them together. The dark blue sweatshirt she’d pulled out of the back seat draped casually over her wrist, hiding the cuffs.

      Interesting. He couldn’t wait to see what she had planned next.

      The rest stop consisted of one main building and a couple of smaller structures spread across a wide, grassy expanse. She led him on a meandering path towards one of the outbuildings, which sported a Family Rest Room sign. A mother with two small boys exited the structure and Elf tugged him in, locking the door behind them.

      He gave the facility a quick scan, then turned to her. She was studying the cinderblock construction of the rest room, too. “Elf?”

      She shrugged. “This is the best I can manage until we get to the lake. You better not have a bashful bladder, because that window’s too low, too large and on the wrong side of the building for me to cover both exits.”

      Figures she’d notice the same things he had. “You expect me to—” He looked around the large, open room. Sink, towel dispenser, wastepaper can, diaper-changing table…. No stall door. No stall. Everything was out in plain view. “This is a joke, right?”

      She shook her head and glared at him. “And I’m not taking the cuffs off, so don’t even bother to ask.”

      “You know, this just isn’t right, on so many levels, I can’t begin—”

      “Then don’t bother. Or do, but do it while you’re…” She gestured towards the urinal.

      He shook his head and crossed the room, with her a half step behind him. He began undoing the button fly of his Levi’s. Her arm moved in unison with his. She pulled the sweatshirt off their wrists and stood beside him, staring straight ahead.

      “Uh, Elf?”

      “What.”

      “About those logistics you were working out?”

      “Yeah, what?”

      “I am left-handed, but for some things, I need to use my right hand.”

      She looked at him out of the corner of her eyes as they widened with realization. “You’re kidding.”

      “Trust me, I’m not.”

      She looked around the room. A tiny groan and a hang of her head told him she noticed the same problem he had—no exposed pipes she could cuff him to while he took care of business.

      By his best reckoning, there were two options. Either they stayed cuffed together, or she let him loose.

      Without cuffs on, he could use the advantages of his height and strength. Would she take that risk?

      Or had she been at this job so long, she wouldn’t mind dealing with a little intimacy usually reserved for couples not held together by stainless steel bracelets?

      She tilted her head from side to side, like she was trying to ease tight muscles, and heaved a deep sigh. “All right, already. Get on with it.”

      “Yes, ma’am.” He let loose with a big sigh of his own.

      This would go down in agency history as one of the oddest situations ever. Not that he’d tell anyone about it. He’d never live down the jokes.

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