Killer Summer

  Summary

  Leah Samuels, owner of the Black Orchid Investigations firm, agrees to accompany Jardain Bensington, once a suspect in a murder case, to the women-only pleasure planet of Wild for a much-needed vacation. On their second day on the planet, a young girl is murdered. Leah is asked to investigate since Wild is far from the nearest police department. Using tried and true investigative techniques, Leah and her team search for the killer among the wealthy and privileged women who visit the exclusive planet. Tensions run high as Leah is forced to investigate employees and friends of her lover Jardain, who owns the resort. Loyalties are tested and suspicions run rampant as Leah closes in on the killer and the horrific motive for the young girl’s murder. Just as their relationship seems to be on track to becoming serious, Leah and Jardain first must weather the storm of uncertainty and deception that surrounds the heinous crime—and their tenuous romance.

  killer summer

  killer summer

  kay bigelow

  Sapphire Books

  Salinas, california

  Killer Summer

  Copyright © 2019 by Kay Bigelow. All rights reserved.

  ISBN EPUB - 978-1-948232-59-3

  This is a work of fiction - names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, business, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without written permission of the publisher.

  Editor - Heather Flournoy

  Book Design - LJ Reynolds

  Cover Design - Fineline Cover Design

  Sapphire Books Publishing, LLC

  P.O. Box 8142

  Salinas, CA 93912

  www.sapphirebooks.com

  Printed in the United States of America

  First Edition – July 2019

  This and other Sapphire Books titles can be found at

  www.sapphirebooks.com

  Dedication

  To Reddeer for understanding about the foibles of being an author.

  Acknowledgments

  I would like to thank Christine Svendsen and the team at Sapphire Books for creating a supportive environment in which authors can nurse their books from concept to publication. I’d especially like to thank Heather Flournoy, my editor, for her sensitivity and understanding of my characters as we revisited them for this third entry in the Leah Samuels series. Her suggested changes always make the book better.

  Prologue

  Leah Samuels and her sentient gynoid butler, Rusty, stood at the foot of her bed looking at her overstuffed suitcase that, even working together, they couldn’t get closed.

  “According to my research, Boss, you need to take more leisure clothes and fewer suits. I’d take the pinstripe suit, a white shirt, the black loafers, and leave the other four suits home.” Rusty had a powerful computer for a brain and Leah wondered, not for the first time, if Rusty’s brain wasn’t wasted being her butler.

  “You’re right. Okay, hang up the other suits and let’s see if we can get the suitcase closed now.”

  “Nope. More stuff is going to have to be put back into the drawers.”

  “Drude,” Leah swore. “Why am I not allowed to take a second suitcase?”

  “There’s a weight limit on the shuttle. Jardain told you all about that the other night when she was here for dinner.”

  Jardain and Leah were leaving for the women-only pleasure planet Wild. Jardain was scheduled to pick her up at one o’clock which was only a half an hour away, and she hadn’t finished packing.

  What was I thinking when I agreed to go to Wild with Jardain? I can’t do this. I should just call her and tell her I can’t go. I’ll tell her I’ve come down with a really, really bad cold. No, I can’t do that. I saw her this morning and didn’t even sniffle. Damn. What if we get there and she decides she doesn’t like me as much as she thinks she does?

  “Boss? Where did you go? Cots said if you seemed to freak out I’m supposed to say that you are going to Wild no matter what. He said he’d come over here and cuff you and take you to the SpacePort and deliver you to Jardain. Why would he say that?”

  Cots was her business partner and best friend. He’d seen her through the dark times following the betrayal by her wife, Quinn, and Quinn’s subsequent murder nearly three years earlier. He’d made sure she’d survived her descent into depression and self-recrimination.

  “He thinks I need to take a vacation with Jardain.”

  “Ah,” Rusty said. “And so you shall.”

  Rusty took away more clothes. She tried closing the suitcase and almost had it, but opened it and took out the second pair of jeans and two of the three tablets containing thousands of books each. Then the suitcase closed easily.

  “There. You’re ready.”

  “Not even a little,” Leah murmured as the doorbell rang announcing Jardain was at her front door.

  Chapter One

  At the SpacePort, Leah and Jardain checked their luggage and sailed through the security scanners with ease. They sat amidst the other passengers who were chattering excitedly with one another as they waited to board the shuttle that would deliver them to Wild. One by one, the passengers’ names were called to board the shuttle. Jardain and Leah’s names were the last to be called. As they entered the shuttle, they were escorted to the first seats in premium class. “Welcome aboard, Dr. Bensington. It’s nice to see you again.”

  Leah heard the whispers traverse the ship as people realized that Jardain was on board with them. “Your reputation knows no bounds, does it?” Leah asked with a smile.

  “They know me because my dragon boat has a very large lesbian following.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  “Will Kelly Mayers please step forward?” a disembodied voice asked.

  “What’s going on?” Leah asked.

  “Mayers is either a man, a reporter, or both in all likelihood. Nearly every flight has someone trying to sneak on board. When we entered the ship, we were all scanned to ensure our identities matched our DNA, we had no communicable diseases, and we weren’t carrying weapons, among other things. Mayers apparently violated one of our prohibitions.”

  “What will happen to her?” Leah asked. She wasn’t sure she liked having been scanned for anything, let alone DNA. It seemed a little too invasive for a vacation.

  Mayers made her way to the front of the plane and was escorted off by two SpacePort security guards. “Wild is sorry for the short delay caused by our departing passenger,” the anonymous voice told them.

  “If she’s off the ship, why are we being held here?” Leah asked.

  “They need to remove her luggage from the hold.”

  “You know, I’m pretty sure Cots can create something that would make assessing your guests prior to their being allowed on your ship.”

  “How early in the process would he be able to do that?”

  “At the time they purchase their ticket, I suppose. Or maybe when they check in at the gate. Or as they travel down the hall to the door of the ship. I guess the possibilities are numerous.”

  “I need to sit down with him sooner rather than later. We could use an assessment of all our systems.”

  “He’d love the chance to get to know you better,” Leah said. She didn’t mention that Cots didn’t particularly like the fact that Leah was dating Jardain because of her reputation as being the ultimate lesbian player. She knew he didn’t fancy nursing Leah through another heartbreak.

  Jardain pulled out her phone and made a note in it.

  Two hours into the fli
ght, Leah decided she was tired enough to want to take a nap but knew sleep would evade her because she had never been able to sleep on interstellar ships. She wasn’t sure why; she’d never been on a flight that had gone wrong or that hadn’t arrived at her destination on time.

  Jardain took Leah’s hand and raised it to her lips and placed a butterfly-soft kiss on the palm. That kiss sent waves of emotion through Leah. She wished this one flight would arrive hours early at their destination.

  Ten hours later, however, at three in the morning, Leah stepped off the interplanetary ship and onto the ground at Wild’s SpacePort. She hadn’t been able to sleep even though she’d been awake for nearly twenty-four hours, and was so tired all she wanted to do was lie down somewhere and sleep for three days. When she’d been a rookie cop years earlier, she’d read up about jetlag because a man she’d arrested claimed it was because of jetlag that he’d murdered his wife when she nagged him to get off the couch and mow the lawn. Now, though, she knew what it must have been like for her suspect, and understood how someone might go off the rails because of it.

  “Let’s get our luggage and get to the resort. I could use a shower and food,” Jardain said with a smile.

  Their luggage would be waiting for them after they passed through another security check. They picked up their bags and entered the main part of the terminal, an enormous cavern of a room with only a few women scattered around inside. Despite the lack of people, the noise created by those few increased steadily in volume as more women departed the shuttle and their voices were added to the cacophony. The din careened off the twenty-foot-high ceiling and bounced around the room. Jardain steered them toward the doors leading outside.

  “There’s our ride,” Jardain said, nodding to a woman holding up a sign that read, “Dr. Bensington.”

  As they approached the black-suited woman, Jardain said, “I’m Dr. Bensington.”

  “Good morning. Welcome to Wild. My name is Ryan. I’ll be your on-call driver while you’re here. May I presume this is Leah Samuels?”

  “Yes, you may,” Leah said.

  Once in the resort’s black Ersetz sedan, Leah asked, “How will the other passengers get to the resort?”

  “There are shuttles waiting for them just there,” Jardain said, pointing toward three small hover-busses at the curb side not far from where Ryan’s car had been.

  “How many women are here?”

  “We usually have at least one hundred, not including the staff, on any given day. That number increases over the weekend. If we have something going on in one of our entertainment venues, like a concert, we may have three or four hundred women here. And over the holidays, there’s likely to be a similar number.”

  “Where do you put them all?”

  “We’ve had to expand our facilities several times, and we’ve just completed building a dormitory to make staying with us a little more affordable, if a little less comfortable, for guests.”

  “Interesting,” Leah said, and then sat lost in thought and did the math. Astonishingly, Jardain could be making over a million credits every week.

  Ryan sped along a two-lane road leading away from the SpacePort. The sky was just beginning to lighten, but even so, Leah couldn’t see well enough to know whether there was anything to see. She knew they didn’t pass through any towns or villages. From the breeze coming through the open windows of the car, she could smell the earthy aromas of newly ploughed land. Ryan had them at the main resort forty minutes later just as Leah decided she couldn’t keep her eyes open any longer. Ryan slowed their progress as they entered the resort through an enormous arch.

  As they neared a large building, Ryan stopped in front of it. After they exited the car, Leah paused and looked around. She could see trees across the street that were so dense she guessed they were part of a forest that might stretch away from the building for miles. When they climbed the steps and entered the hotel, a woman came through a door to their left and approached them. “Jardain! Welcome back.”

  “Camryn. You’re looking good.”

  “Yeah, yeah. Why don’t you introduce me to your companion?”

  “This is Leah Samuels. Camryn McDonald is the owner of Wild.”

  “Good morning,” Leah said as she studied the woman, more out of habit born of being a police detective for twenty years than from any real curiosity. What she saw was a woman in her late forties, dressed very casually in navy blue shorts and a red T-shirt. Her red hair was tied at the nape of her neck with a blue ribbon, and both the ribbon and the hair hung down to her mid-back. Her feet were bare. Her blue eyes studied Leah in much the same way as Leah studied her. Leah wondered why the owner of the resort was up at three o’clock in the morning to greet them when the night clerk could have just as easily checked them in.

  “You both look exhausted. Why don’t I have Ryan take you to your bungalow? If you’ll tell me what you’d like, I’ll also send out dinner or breakfast, whichever you’re ready for. Or you may want the fruit and cheese platter already there,” Camryn said, looking at Jardain.

  “I think I’d prefer the fruit. How about you, Leah?”

  “I agree.”

  “Good. Here are your keys,” Camryn said, handing Jardain two cards that would, according to Rusty when she’d given Leah the details of a stay on Wild, give them access to not only their bungalow, but the many restaurants on the planet as well as some of the scheduled events. “Ryan’s still out front. Enjoy your stay, you two. Perhaps you’ll agree to have dinner with me later this week.”

  “I’d like that,” Jardain said.

  Once they’d returned to the car, Ryan made a U-turn and headed back toward the arch, but bore right when a curve in the road appeared. Ryan had them quickly at the door to their bungalow. She carried their luggage in and put it in the bedroom. Jardain thanked Ryan, gave her a tip, and sent her on her way.

  “Eat or shower first?” Leah asked.

  “Why don’t you shower first? I’ll find the food and something to drink. There are probably robes in the bedroom for us.”

  Leah went to the bedroom. It was a large room with a king-sized bed, two dressers, two walk-in closets, and two chairs in front of a large window. She had no idea what the view was out the window, but was sure it was going to be spectacular if someone had put chairs in front of it. She took her suitcase into one of the closets, put it on the fold-down luggage rack, and removed the clothing needing to be hung up. She stripped out of her clothes, folded them, and laid them on a shelf labeled “Laundry.”

  Leah stood in the shower, letting the hot water pour over her. What am I doing here with Jardain? Oh shut up! Enjoy the place while you’re here. You haven’t had a real vacation in twenty years.

  After she was dried by the drying tube, she put on a luxurious white robe and sighed deeply. She walked into the living room to find Jardain stretched out on the couch, her eyes closed.

  “Jardain?” Leah asked softly.

  “I’m not asleep, I’m resting my eyes.”

  “Uh-huh. Your shower is awaiting you.”

  Leah held her hand out to Jardain, who took it and let Leah help her stand.

  “Did you eat anything?” Leah asked.

  “Didn’t make it that far. The kitchen is behind you.”

  “Let’s have a small picnic in the bedroom.”

  “Okay.”

  After Jardain’s shower, they sat cross-legged on the bed in their matching bathrobes. Leah wondered if Jardain was more tired than she was.

  “Thank you for coming to Wild with me,” Jardain said.

  “I can’t wait to see your planet in the light of day, Jardain.”

  “Would you do me a favor?”

  “Hang on a second, let my mind recover from the whiplash change of subject,” Leah said, laughing.

  “Oh. Sorry. I’ve been thinking of this for a few days.”

  “Uh-oh.”

  “Would you call me Dani?”

  Dani was Jardain’s family nickname.
Leah knew about the name because she’d visited Jardain at the hospital where her grandmother had been a patient after a heart attack. Jardain and her grandmother were very close. Luckily, a new heart had been created for her and, once in place, returned her grandmother to excellent health.

  “I’d love to call you Dani. In fact, I wondered if you’d let me.”

  “Okay, I’m glad that’s settled.”

  I wonder if there are other things Dani wants to ask and hasn’t yet.

  As that thought flitted through her mind, she saw Dani’s eyelids beginning to droop. She climbed off the bed and took the tray with the fruit and cheese they’d barely touched to the kitchen. When she returned to the bedroom, Dani was beneath the covers, nude, and asleep on her side.

  As Leah rounded the bed, she took her robe off and tossed it onto a nearby chair. She slipped into the bed, trying not to disturb Dani. She lay facing Dani and watched her sleep. In sleep, Dani was not the image of a tough-minded executive. Rather, she looked at peace and had a slight smile on her lips. Leah studied those lips, knowing they could kiss her until her knees were weak. She moved to Dani’s eyes. The black eyelashes lying on her cheeks were so long and thick Leah wondered if she ever had trouble seeing through them. Leah wanted to touch them, but didn’t want to wake Dani.

  Dani sighed in her sleep and rolled over so her back was to Leah. Leah couldn’t resist the urge to run her hand down Dani’s back and over her ass. As she moved her hand slowly down the soft skin, Dani moaned and moved closer to Leah. She snuggled against Dani’s back. The hair at the nape of Dani’s neck was still damp from her shower and smelled of the citrusy shampoo she used. Dani moved closer to Leah so there wasn’t a centimeter of space between them. Without thinking, Leah put her arm over Dani and rested it lightly on her stomach. Dani was just enough awake to move Leah’s hand to her breast.