By the time I turn around to get another look at Black, he's gone.
"Shit," Puck says scratching his mohawk.
"We have to try and get that shirt," I whisper, looking around for any signs of Black.
Puck nods in agreement. Suddenly, his phone starts vibrating in his pocket. He pulls it out and checks the screen.
"It's Mark. I better answer this outside," he says, walking out the front door.
While he's talking, I decide to go upstairs to check on Brittany.
Once I get to her door I knock and wait a few seconds, but no one answers.
"Brittany?"
Still nothing. Shit.
Technically, I'm off duty while we're in the house but I still feel obligated to know where she is. That's when I notice there's a note sticking on the door.
Carmen, I'm going for a run on the treadmill downstairs. Be back soon. -Brittany
I breathe a sigh of relief but it doesn't last for long when I realize I still don't know if Black has a laundry room in this house or not. I don't even know how to get downstairs to find Brittany either and Puck is probably still on the phone. Maybe that Nick guy can help me.
I go back downstairs and peek out the front door to see what Puck is doing. He's perched on the edge of the fountain with his back facing me, phone in hand. Great. I guess I'll look for Nick then.
I walk to the kitchen and the dining room but find them both deserted. Nearly all of the other doors on this floor are locked, including Black's study. When I'm about to give up I find a door that's unlocked, with stairs leading down to what I assume is the basement.
I slowly make my way down the stairs, listening for any signs that someone is coming. When I reach the bottom, I enter a spacious white hallway with two cream colored doors on each side, and what appears to be a large glass window on the left side, followed by a glass door. I hear a low thumping sound coming from the first door closest to me, so I turn the knob quietly and enter.
Thankfully, inside is a laundry room. The washing machine is making that thumping noise and I peer through the glass to see if Black's shirt is inside. The spinning distorts everything but I distinctly remember Black's shirt being white and these are all colored clothes.
Just as I'm standing up I hear a deep voice say, "What are you doing?"
I jump and turn around to find Brittany with a playful grin on her face.
"Jesus, Brittany!"
"Sorry, it was just too easy," she replies between laughs.
I smile back but my heart is still racing in my chest. It's then that I notice she's wearing a tight, grey tank top that shows off the toned muscles of her stomach, along with black shorts. All of her exposed skin has a light sheen of sweat to it.
"Hey, eyes up here."
My eyes snap back to her face and now she's smirking. "I'm just kidding, Carmen."
"Umm yeah, sorry, it's just that you scared me," I mumble.
"Yeah, the gym is at the end of the hallway, the glass door on the left. I was heading back upstairs when I saw this door was open."
"Oh ok, cool."
"So…were you coming down here to look for me?" Brittany asks with a hopeful smile.
"Kind of, I was also looking to see if there was a laundry room, but I couldn't find Nick and I wasn't exactly sure where the gym was either," I reply.
"Oh, that's right, you really haven't seen the whole house yet. Well, you can do your laundry here whenever and I can give you a grand tour of the rest of the house later. Sound good?"
"Yeah, sure…do you and Black do your laundry down here too?"
"Usually I do my laundry at home and Johnny mostly has Nick take his stuff to get dry cleaned. I had a few things that needed to be washed here though, so I just put them in," Brittany says pointing to the washing machine that's on.
Damn it. That explains why I couldn't find Nick, he's probably at the dry cleaner's as we speak. Wait…did she say she washes clothes at home?
"But I thought you lived here?"
"No, I stay here sometimes but I have my own apartment, about fifteen minutes away. Sometimes Johnny comes over but it's just easier for me to come here since he's been working a lot lately," Brittany replies.
I bet he has, being a drug lord is a full time job.
"So, do you want to cool off with me?" Brittany asks, raising her eyebrow suggestively.
I feel my mouth dry instantly. Is she flirting with me? Or did I miss something? My confusion must show because she giggles.
"There's a pool in the back yard. Do you want to join me?"
Oh. Of course.
"I, uh didn't bring a bathing suit."
"Don't worry, you can borrow one of mine. I'm sure you'll look great in anything."
I feel my cheeks heating up.
"Umm sure, I just have to go talk to um, Luke for a second."
"Ok, I'll see you in a few," Brittany replies with a wink.
After she leaves, I take a deep breath and exhale. She's not flirting with you, she just wants to go swimming. She's probably not into women anyway. Plus, she has a boyfriend! I shake my head and go upstairs to find Puck.
He's waiting for me in my room.
"Geez Carmen, took you long enough. Where did you go?"
"Keep your voice down, will you? I was trying to find the laundry room but it turns out Black gets most of his stuff dry cleaned anyway. I wouldn't be surprised if he burned that shirt though. What did Mark say?'"
"They found traces of blood at the warehouse and they handed it over to forensics so it could be tested. Hopefully we'll find a match," Puck replies.
I nod. Still, without finding a body we can't really charge Black with anything.
"Well, I'm off for the rest of the day, so I'm going to the agency. I'll call you with any news. Later," Puck says, walking out.
"Later."
Soon after, there's a light knock on the connecting door.
"Come in."
Brittany enters holding a red bikini set and a striped towel in her hands.
"Sorry, this is the best I could find. It's a little small on me but it might still work out," Brittany says handing it to me.
"Thanks."
She doesn't make any attempts to move, just looks at me expectantly.
"Looking for a striptease?" I ask her with my smirk in full effect.
"Oh, sorry I'm going to uh, change too. Be right back," Brittany says in a rush, closing the door behind her.
Nice to know I'm not the only one who gets nervous.
A few minutes later, I'm tightening the knot on this bikini top. I walk to the vanity mirror and do a little spin.
I look good.
My breasts are a little bigger than Brittany's and it was already small on her, so the top draws more attention to the twins. The bottoms are low enough to reveal the cross tattooed on my lower back but high enough to not expose anything.
"Brittany, are you ready yet?"
"Yeah, I'm coming now."
Wanky.
She opens the door and it takes all of my will power to refrain from drooling on the spot. She's wearing an electric blue one-piece that matches her eyes perfectly. It exposes slivers of her stomach, while hiding other parts due to the "x" pattern on her torso.
When I finally meet her eyes she staring intensely at my chest. I feel bold and can't help the next words that come out of my mouth.
"Like what you see?"
She immediately looks up and let's out a nervous chuckle.
"Uh, yeah you look good. I mean, the bikini looks good on you."
"Thanks, Britt."
She smiles at the nickname.
"You called me Britt."
"Oh, uh…sorry, Brittany."
"No, don't apologize, I like it," she says, as her smile widens.
"Ok, cool…so should we get going then, Britt?"
She takes a moment to answer because her eyes are on my chest again. She realizes she's been caught for the second time and looks away, her cheeks flushed.
"Right. Follow me."
We make our way downstairs towards the back of the house where Brittany unlocks the door leading to the yard. I opened this door earlier on my quest for the laundry room but didn't bother to observe the view once I realized it led outside.
I'm glad I waited because it's absolutely beautiful right now.
It's almost sunset and the sky is filled with hues of pink and orange. Since it's nearing the end of June, it's still sunny and warm out here even though it's well after 8pm.
There's a deck attached to the house, overlooking a manicured lawn and a huge pool accompanied by a circular jacuzzi.
"Wow," is the only thing I can manage to say.
"I know, right? I love coming out here. C'mon, let's get in!"
We walk down the stairs of the patio to the pool, our hands accidentally brushing in the process.
"Is the water cold?" I ask when we reach the pool's edge.
"Shouldn't be, since it's a heated pool but there's only one way to find out."
Before I can ask her to explain, I'm in midair before hitting the water with a hard smack. I open my eyes underwater and see Brittany's lithe form dive in after me. We both swim to the surface and I'm gasping for air, while Brittany can't stop laughing.
"What the hell, Britt?"
"You…should've seen…your face. Priceless," she manages to get out between laughs.
I want to be mad at her for ruining my hair and getting me soaked but I can't help but grin instead.
The rest of the evening passes with us splashing water at each other, racing from one end of the pool to the other, and trying to dunk each other underwater.
We take a break to go inside and Brittany fixes us both grilled cheese sandwiches with fries. I go upstairs to grab my phone, but there's no missed calls or texts from Puck or Mark.
By the time I go back outside, Brittany is waiting for me in the jacuzzi, holding up a bottle of Smirnoff and two shot glasses.
It doesn't take long before half of the bottle is gone.
I think I can hold my liquor a little better than Britt, but we're both giggling at the silliest things. After awhile, she stops laughing and just looks at me. Her eyes take her time traveling up my body, from what she can see of my chest above the water, to finally stop at my face.
"You're hot," she blurts out.
My eyes widen. Wasn't expecting that.
It takes me a moment to recover but I try to stay cool.
"Hotter than Johnny?" I ask, raising my eyebrow.
She nods. "Maybe even hotter than me," she replies wiggling her eyebrows.
We start giggling again but it's short lived. She's staring at me again like she wants to talk but something's holding her back.
"It's more than that though," she says finally.
This jacuzzi is big enough to seat around eight people, but now she's moved close enough that our thighs are touching.
"I like you."
I inhale sharply through my nose. I want to respond with something sweet in return but it's not that simple. Maybe it's all the alcohol in my system but I decide to speak honestly.
"I like you too, Britt…but we can't."
Despite my protest, she starts leaning in closer, and I make no attempts to stop her.
"I know," she says and I feel her breath against my lips.
All I want to do is close the last few inches that separates our lips, but I know I can't. Despite the fact that she has a boyfriend, I can't get involved with a possible suspect. It could potentially screw up this case, and we've worked too hard on it to let my attraction to her get in the way.
With Brittany's lips only a few centimeters away, I hear a loud buzzing noise. It snaps us both out of our trance, and Brittany looks away, her ears and cheeks both flushed.
I see it's my phone buzzing from a small table a few feet away, on the lawn.
I get out of the jacuzzi as quickly as I can, wiping my hands on my towel on the way out.
"Hello?"
"Santana? It's Mark. We found a match for the blood. Can you talk?"
I look back at Brittany and she gives me a shy smile back.
I raise my finger, telling her I'll be back and start walking, further out into the lawn.
I can't tell if I'm more relieved or disappointed at not kissing her.