He scratched his head, looking guilty. “I don’t remember.”
“Do you have a watering can?”
“Yup.”
I followed him out to a storage room by the kitchen. He pulled out a new can with the tags still attached to it. While he filled the watering can, I took a plastic container and added water. “Let’s give the plants some love so they can thrive.”
An hour later we’d finished watering, and I felt better. “Why do you have so many plants when you don’t care for them?” I poked him in the chest and remembered the plants in his office. “You got them from Happy Flowers too?”
I’d been so immersed in his extravagant penthouse that I didn’t even think these plants were from my shop.
“They look happier now,” he said.
“You spent a lot of money on them.”
“I love supporting people I care about. Will you help me?”
“With what?”
“Be their caretaker?” He pointed to the plants. “I fear I might kill them.”
“Since you asked nicely, I’ll help you.” Cupping his face with both hands, I gave him a loud kiss on the mouth.
After a hot and steamy shower in his massive bathroom, we returned to his office. I sat on his lap while he uploaded some images from the Boston Harbor Hotel onto advanced facial recognition software. A few images popped up on the screen for Francisco Bottega.
“That’s him!” I recognized the man from one clear image. The others were too blurry.
Kain typed into the search bar to look for a Black Rose Killer tattoo. A flurry of thorny crosses filled the page.
“Seems like many people like Hawthorne’s cross tattoos.”
“It’s his sigil. Back then, when he killed people, he dipped red roses in black ink.”
Kain searched Francisco’s location and got an address. “I’ll visit Francisco and see if he knows anything about the Bleeding Hearts murders.”
“Can I come?”
“No,” he said firmly. “Why do you want to come?”
“Because I’m fulfilling my promise.” I flexed my bicep. “I’m going to destroy the monsters with you.”
“Thank you for your thoughtfulness.” He touched my cheek. “I’m not sure what I’ll run into, so it’s too risky.”
“You should take Detective McNally with you.”
“Okay.” His eyes held me. “You should spend more time practicing self-defense.”
“Why don’t you try to escape this move?” I straddled him, looped my arms around his neck, gyrated my hips, and felt him grow hard.
“I surrender,” he moaned. “Do whatever you want, my sexy passionflower.”
Chapter Thirty-One
Eva
The next day, Kain had meetings to attend and contractors to meet for his renovations. Grandpa invited me to meet his bingo friends before I headed to the gym to work out.
With a fruit dish in hand, I walked down to the first floor and knocked on Emilio’s door. Though he lived in my building, I hadn’t met him. I heard he shared a three-bedroom apartment with his friends.
