Chapter 12

Randy quickly took inventory of the bar, squeezing Jasina's hand reassuringly before leading her towards the counter, ordering himself a bottle of Bud Light, which seemed to be a favorite here. He didn't order anything for her, not knowing if she was a drinker and figured she'd speak up if she wanted something. Turning so his back was to the bar, he sipped his beer -after paying for it- and let his eyes stray, wrapping one arm around her shoulder and keeping her close.

"Far left corner, that's him." He murmured softly to where only she could hear, taking a drink.

Jasina slowly moved her gaze to the corner and felt the chills instantly run through her body, trying not to look nervous. He was a complete scoundrel and looked like he hadn't showered in months, his beard hanging down to his chest and his head bald with a huge skull tattoo. He wore a black sleeveless shirt with tight black jeans, his beer belly hanging out. He currently had a woman up against the wall and she didn't look at all comfortable, even though she wore a silver mini dress with knee high matching boots, all of it glittering.

She was definitely a stripper.

"As far as I'm concerned, he's not only a witness but a suspect." Randy whispered in her ear, feeling her shiver of disgust and smiled, mainly so it looked like she wasn't shivering out of nervousness or being grossed out, instead desire. "But our job isn't to bust him, only investigate, get information, and write a story. If anything, we find can help the police solve this, then we turn it over anonymously." He wasn't about to be branded a vigilante.

"Damn son, that is one fine lookin' woman you got there."

Randy's eyes narrowed as he turned towards what he assumed to be a local, offering a lukewarm smile. "She sure is." He drawled, suddenly possessing a Texan accent like everyone else. "She's also shy 'round strangers, so why don't you stop starin' at her?"

"Now, now Timmy baby, no need to be rude." Jasina used her best country accent and hoped it passed.

Moving to stand in front of him, Jasina wrapped her arms around his strong neck. When Randy's arms wrapped around her waist and his hands slid down to grab her ass, Jasina didn't jump because she knew it was part of the job playing the part, and fiddled with the small hairs that were on the back of his head. Her accent was better than his, probably because she was a native while he was from across the country. Smiling, he kept hold of his beer and moved so they were walking away from the bar.

"C'mon sweetness, let's get a private seat." He said loudly, making himself heard over the commotion and walked her right past Landon, not missing the way Landon's eyes suddenly moved from his stripper to Jasina and ushered her into a seat away from the man. "You alright?" He asked quietly, wanting to make sure what he did wasn't out of line.

"I'm fine, promise." She quietly replied, her mouth right by his ear to make it seem like they were having a private moment at their table, nuzzling his neck a little with her nose. "He's coming this way." She whispered and continued pressing closer to Randy, feeling like every part of her body suddenly broke out in goose bumps when Landon approached their table, keeping her eyes on Randy's neck.

The sooner they got out of here, the better off she'd be.

"I don't know you." Landon said, sitting down at their table without waiting for an invitation, his eyes roaming over Jasina with open appreciation and lust before narrowing them at Randy, taking him in warily. "I know everyone who comes into my bar."

"We're not from around this way, we're just passin' through on the way to San Antonio."

"Such a shame...If you were locals, I'd offer your pretty lady a job. She'd bring in some damn nice tips."

'For a price...not fucking likely.' Randy thought, hoping Jasina knew he wouldn't let anything happen to her. "Hear that baby, you got a job if we ever decide to move this way."

"That's great, baby." She giggled in a country girl sort of way, not moving an inch away from Randy's side and was thankful he hadn't removed his arm from around her.

So he owned the bar, that was definitely suspect material and Jasina wondered if the murdered teenager worked here. If she did, he would be arrested automatically for underage employment in a bar because of alcohol. She hoped Randy cottoned onto all of this and slowly looked over at Landon's way, smiling.

"So how long have ya'll been in business 'round here?"

"Long enough." Landon answered with a snort, looking around the bar. "Too damn long, place is dyin' down, we need some new blood around here." He eyed her again. "Got any friends who are hot as you are?"

The man was blunt and didn't sugarcoat, Randy would give him that and not an inch more.

"One of my regular girls went and got herself murdered, haven't found someone to replace her."

That was the opening she needed and Randy shook his head. "Hell no, if someone got murdered 'round here, why would she or anyone she knows want to work here?"

"Bad shit happens to dumb sluts who don't mind their business." Landon stated coldly, no emotion in his voice. "Your woman isn't a dumb slut, is she?"

"No." Randy couldn't keep the bite of steel out of his tone.

He definitely murdered that poor girl, Jasina was almost one hundred percent sure, but didn't dare say a word as she just leaned against Randy with a phony smile on her face. They weren't there to mind their own business and Jasina hoped Randy got all the information he needed because she wasn't sure how much longer she could stand being in this place with a murderer. Being a drug addict, Jasina learned quickly her emotions couldn't be shown, especially when it came to covering her ass.

'Please Randy hurry the hell up!' She thought somewhat frantically, but didn't show how scared she was, acting as if what Landon was saying hadn't made her stomach do a flip-flop.

"Bitch who doesn't mind her business deserves whatever she gets, nothin' like a nosy broad to ruin a good time." Randy said with a laugh, gesturing for another beer.

"On the house, for sayin' what every man here already thinks and every woman needs to hear." Landon grinned, adjusting his stomach and looking at Jasina, smirking broadly. "I like a woman who knows her place, shows she's properly trained."

Whether this guy was the murderer or not, Randy already knew he had a hand in the death somehow. He had a misogynist attitude towards women and hinted at violent tendencies. Quite frankly, he was just plain getting on Randy's nerves.

"She knows her place." Randy was going to get hit for that comment later.

"Good thing too, women round here learn damn quick or they wind up missin'."

When Landon leered like that, Randy could see missing and black teeth. He was ready to leave, whether this was the murderer or not, they still had a very interesting story to go on. As much as Jasina wanted to smack him for that last comment, she knew it was all for show and Randy didn't treat women like they were property. Jasina had to fight back shivering with dread when Landon stated that women around this place either learned their place or wound up missing.

That meant he more than likely murdered more women other than the teenager. When Randy told her it was time to leave, Jasina breathed a huge sigh of relief and stayed beside Randy, looping her arm through his while Randy reluctantly shook Landon's hand, thanking him for a great time. Jasina felt ill because she could feel Landon's eyes on her ass the whole walk out of the bar, the door closing roughly behind them.

The minute they were in the truck and away from the bar at what Randy deemed a safe distance, he pulled over in order to do a full body shudder, one of disgust and anger. "Give me a moment, Jasina." He grunted when she looked at him, knowing she probably needed a moment as well.

That had not been pleasant. It never was in those types of places, surrounded by those types of people and it always pissed him off, knowing people like that existed. When he was calm enough, he turned to face her, reaching out to gently take her hand.

"Are you alright?" He asked softly, hoping he hadn't scared her out of this job.

Blinking, huge tears slid out of Jasina's eyes down her face as she shook her head, lowering her head and buried her face in her hands, shuddering from head to toe. She suddenly took Kleenex's out of her purse that she'd left in the truck and began wiping the makeup from her entire face, mostly her eyes, refusing to look at Randy while she cried. When they pulled up to Randy's car, Jasina hopped out and took her Stilettos off as soon as she was inside of it, lowering her eyes to her lap.

"I'm sorry." She finally whispered, dabbing her eyes as a few more tears fell. "I can handle this, but those types of places bring back some memories for me that I don't wish to ever relive. I hope you understand and I won't blame you if you want another partner for this job."

He understood completely, knowing a bit more about Jasina than he would ever admit; he didn't do investigative reporting because he was lousy at it after all. "I don't want another partner, Jasina, I like you as my partner. And that place was trash, Landon was even worse. I don't blame you for being upset." He reassured her, reaching across her to get in the glove box and pulled out a box of hand sanitizer wipes, handing them to her.

"Thanks."

If Jasina ever found out that Randy knew her past history, she would quit working with him on the spot just on principal. Nobody at the newspaper knew about Jasina's past and she wanted to keep it that way, making Trish swear she would never utter a word about it. Trish did it without any problems because it wasn't her business or place to talk about something as awful and tragic as Jasina's past.

"Are we done with the investigating part? Because I know he had something to do with her murder and I think we should send the police what we found out anonymously like you explained to me. There's too much evidence against him and..." Jasina forward and pulled something out her bra, which was a very small recording device, smirking as Randy's eyes widened. "I recorded the entire conversation, pretty good eh?"

His eyes were wide because she had pulled it out of her cleavage, though he would never tell HER that. He shifted in his seat and procured his cell phone, opening it to reveal the case was hollowed out, inside a mini recorder resting. "Great minds think alike." He chuckled before sobering. "This isn't enough for them to bring him in for the murder, but it is enough to have him brought in as a suspect and probably even maintain warrants to search his bar, residence and vehicle. I'll mail them to the station."

"Sounds good."

Jasina knew they could never step foot in the bar again after sending those recordings in, having a feeling Landon would automatically assume they did it. He didn't look as stupid as he sounded, especially since he'd probably murdered a lot of women who didn't bend to his rules. Randy pulled out of the parking garage, leaving the beat up truck there, which he bought out of a local car shop that sold beat up vehicles for a couple hundred bucks. Randy had no idea the car shop belonged to Jasina's current boyfriend, Mark Calaway.

"Do you want me to drive you home or are you going to be alright?" He asked as he pulled onto the highway that would take them to their road for the office, wondering if she was even able to drive.

Today/tonight had definitely shaken her up and he idly mused on what her boyfriend would have to say when he seen her. He was also going to have to sell that beater or scrap it and go buy a new one. Randy never kept the same car after using it for a job and as he had no intention of repeating this particular excursion, he wasn't keeping the car.

"I'll be fine. I'm gonna change the office before heading home."

It was going on six o'clock, where the hell had the day gone?

Jasina knew Mark probably wasn't going to be happy that she was getting home so late from work, but it came with the territory. Her job meant everything to her, but so did her family. And the last thing Jasina needed to do was walk through the front door of their home looking like a trashy hooker. She would make sure she looked exactly as she left that morning, only more tired, refusing to tell Mark about her little escapades with Randy.

It was simply not his business.

She looked beat and it was only six, Randy could not imagine being tired at this hour. He was revved and ready to go. Though while they idled in traffic -rush hour for people coming off of work-, he peeled off the tank top and threw it in the backseat, wrinkling his nose as he relaxed back in his seat, his abdominal muscles rippling with the movement. Somehow, beer had gotten spilled on the top and he couldn't stand the scent of beer lingering on his clothes, especially mixed with all the other 'lovely' scents from that hellhole.

"I'll start typing up my notes for you." All his notes were in his head, where they did her absolutely no good.

"Sounds good and whatever you don't have, I do."

She gently tapped her temple with a sad smile, both of them nodding simultaneously as if reading the other's mind. They definitely made a great pairing in the field, Jasina couldn't deny Trish's brilliance. She had this knack for tagging people together who didn't seem like they would gel as a team, but ended up doing so. They arrived back at the office about an hour later, thanks to rush hour traffic refusing to be kind, and Jasina walked inside with Randy to change out of her hooker clothes, laughing at something he said. Even though he was great at what he did and serious ninety-nine percent of the time, Randy did have a dry sense of humor that Jasina appreciated.