CRIMINAL INTENTIONS: Season One, Episode Eight: COLLATERAL DAMAGE by Cole McCade

Author:Cole McCade [McCade, Cole]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Published: 2019-02-09T16:00:00+00:00

[6: CIGARETTE BURNS]

THAT HAD EASILY BEEN ONE of the top five least pleasant conversations of Seong-Jae’s life.

David Ashbury’s former associates had been all sniggers and aspersions, implications and innuendo, juvenile and smug and without the slightest sense of the gravitas of the situation, or the fact that Malcolm and Seong-Jae were pursuing an active investigation for a kidnapping with intent to harm still in progress.

If Malcolm had not dragged him out of there by his collar, he very well might have punched one of them in their smirking mouths.

Humans.

He was still fuming, as he and Malcolm pulled up outside of a sprawling country club with buildings designed to look like rustic hunters’ log cabins—the only thing useful they had gotten out of those asinine wastes of space; the name of the lodge they frequented with Ashbury. As he parked the Camaro, though, Malcolm flicked Seong-Jae a concerned look.

“You want to vent before you erupt?”

“I…no.” Seong-Jae raked a hand back through his hair. “I am just…”

“An introvert,” Malcolm pointed out.

“Yes.”

“And we are dealing with far too many people on this case for your comfort.”

“Why does it actually sound sensible when you say it, while I feel like I am simply being a grouchy ass?”

“Because you are a grouchy ass,” Malcolm retorted. “But with good reason. This case is rough enough without tackling twenty different personality types in the space of twelve hours. It’s eating at me, too.”

“You seem better equipped to handle it,” Seong-Jae sighed.

“I just have more experience hiding it. I learned to develop extrovert camouflage to survive.” Malcolm tossed his head, that rakish little come here gesture that was so arrogant, so infuriating, so attractive that it could distract Seong-Jae in his worst mood, watching how it made Malcolm’s hair ripple around him. “Come on. Let’s get through this. You can hide behind me if you need to.”

“…if this is you trying to pretend once again that I am not taller than you, it is not working.”

“I still have a good fifty pounds in pure muscle mass on you.”

“I am aware how heavy you are, Malcolm.”

Malcolm shot him a kindling look—but then only shook his head ruefully with a tired smile, and reached over to grip Seong-Jae’s hand for a moment of warm comfort before getting out of the car. “C’mon.”

The sign over the main reception building declared this sprawling grounds The Buck Hunters, and the interior was pretentious in a way that Seong-Jae could not put his finger on when it was all rough wood furniture and mounted stag antlers and driftwood pieces everywhere. It was almost puzzling, distracting—but the uniformed girl behind the desk was friendly enough, as she offered a pleasant, chirping smile. Seong-Jae lingered on that smile for only half a second…before he zeroed in on a display case on the far wall.

A display case with one glass pane missing, a few crumbles of shattered glass still stuck in the metal frame and a spot inside conspicuously empty.

He nudged Malcolm. Malcolm followed his line of sight, then nodded subtly before turning a smile on the receptionist.

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