Cordelia walked into the main offices of Lamont Cranston Investigates. Main offices sounded so much better than three rooms on the third floor of a rinky-dink office building. Glancing at the reception area, she took in the scattered pizza boxes, the cans of Pepsi, and the crumpled napkins. The room was a mess. Two of the couch cushions had that crushed by writhing bodies look and the third had been tossed across the room. At least she didn't see any clothes strewn about. Maybe Nissa'd actually made it to the back room before undressing her latest Romeo. Or Juliet. Whichever.
No wonder Nissa'd hightailed it out to buy bagels. Obviously they couldn't let potential clients see this disaster area. She'd skived off to get out of cleaning up. It was almost enough to make Cordelia wish Wen Ning wasn't bringing clients back with him. Almost.
She started by picking up the cushions to plump them, checking carefully to make sure they weren't hiding clothes or condoms or whatever. Better to look now than be surprised once the clients were here. After cleaning the reception area slash kitchenette, Cordelia checked Wen Ning's office. As far as she could tell, the desk, chairs, filing cabinets, and weapons hadn't been disturbed.
Having made the rest of the office acceptable, Cordelia turned to the guest room. Wen Ning took in the occasional homeless person, giving them a place to stay for a night or two until he could come up with something more permanent. The room held little more than a couch that pulled out into a bed, a bookshelf worth of old sci-fi, and a standalone cabinet full of clothes in a variety of sizes.
Bracing herself, Cordelia opened the door to the guest room. The rumpled sheets weren't so bad but she could smell the sex, Ugh, no. She did not clean up other people's bodily fluids thank you very much. If Nissa wanted to bring people back for the night, she could at least clean up after herself.
When she heard the doorknob rattle, Cordelia turned on her brightest smile. Have to keep the paying customers happy. Her first impression was of a cloaked figure. Her smile didn't falter but her hopes plummeted. Experience had taught her that cloaks were rarely of the good. A second look revealed a guy who wouldn't be too bad looking if he weren't just standing there like a total doofus with his mouth dropped open. Probably not a client. He was acting too much like one of Wen Ning's idiot friends.
After a spate of Chinese from the hallway, cloaked guy stepped into the room allowing her to see Wen Ning holding up … was that Wei Wuxian? Her hopes hit bottom. Nissa'd been right. Definitely not paying customers. "Oh, it's you."