Paint the Town Red (Fox & Oakby Murder Mysteries Book II)

Sleuth and Snoop

The next day was Saturday, and after arranging Oliver to babysit the little'uns, Imogen headed to Abernathy to meet with Ibaa Sarin. The girl didn't seem too eager to help but agreed on having a cuppa in a small café.

Ms. Sarin didn't look too well. Her eyes were red and puffy, and she kept pulling at a thick scarf wrapped around her neck.

"Are you alright?" Imogen asked after they greeted each other and ordered their tea.

Ibaa nodded. "It's just some lurgy, nothing too bad. I should just go to my Dad's pharmacy, get something for it."

"Your father is a pharmacist?"

Ibaa nodded again.

"He's... overprotective of me. He didn't know about... Mr. Horvat, or my boyfriend before him. He's very old-fashioned, probably has a husband in mind for me." The girl mournfully stirred her brew. "Some 'nice' medical student back in India."

Imogen immediately felt acutely sorry for the girl. She couldn't imagine being in such situation, but it surely would be horrible to have no choice with whom to share one's life.

"I didn't even fancy Matej that much, to be honest," Ibaa said quietly. She had her hands wrapped around her mug. "He was just around, you know." She shrugged. "And he was... OK. He bought me flowers a couple of times, and at the beginning he seemed interested. But then after a while it was just sort of a habit for him. I think men just get used to us. Like it's on autopilot for them, going to the same woman for the same thing."

That was quite an uncomfortable notion, Imogen thought, and shifted on her chair. Was she... a habit then? Was that why the Mayor offered her to live together: so he could get 'the same thing' from 'the same woman' easier and not limited to lunch breaks? To think of it, they hadn't had their usual 'lunch break' for quite a while. There had always been something else to take care of: Petra, the investigation, Andrew. Was that why he decided to offer her to rent together, because he was in withdrawal from his habit?! Imogen reminded herself that she wasn't here to exchange the experiences of being one's boss' mistress. She was supposed to sleuth.

"And what about Kitty and Mr. Buric? Was that a habit for them too?"

Ibaa shrugged again.

"She didn't talk about him much," she said. "We were friends - but not that close. She was experienced, you know. She's had boyfriends before, and sort of knew what she wanted. And what she... liked."

"What do you mean by 'what she liked?'" Imogen asked.

Ibaa leaned over the table, and Imogen unconsciously moved closer as well.

"Well, in sex, you know," Ibaa said. "She was into some mental stuff, actually. We went out for drinks once, and she sort of mentioned some things. She didn't go into details, but– It was basically some Fifty Shades of Grey stuff."

Imogen hadn't read the book. When it had been popular, she'd had very little interest in the subject. And now that she had the practical experience in the subject, she had no interest in the angle on it that the book described. Her experiences with the Mayor had been anything but about a power struggle or controlling another person - despite him being her boss. Everything that had been happening between them had been healthy and jolly and made Imogen feel good about herself. And to think of it it'd been so long since anything of the sort had happened between them! Imogen felt some sort of a restless discomfort buzz through her body - and then a realisation dawned. Maybe she had the habit as well!

Imogen ordered herself to stop thinking with her nether regions and to focus on the task at hand. And then she told herself to stop thinking about the Mayor's hands.