“When we talked, you mentioned that there were times Alfonsi didn’t want anyone watching over him. I just wondered—is it possible he was seeing someone? Maybe had a mistress, or something?”

“Lady, Alfonsi had an eye for pretty women, and his son was just like him.”

“But he didn’t have a particular favorite, or one you saw him with more than once?”

Hofster hesitated. Not a sizable silence, but one still marked enough to make her instincts spark. “He was real careful about who he was seen with.”

“Careful enough he wouldn’t want any of you with him if he was seeing someone regularly besides his wife?”

Another pause. “That’d be a possibility, yeah. He was damned sure happier on the mornings when he drove himself in. Not the short-tempered asshole he sometimes was.”

“Was there anyone closer to him he might have shared details with? Another bodyguard, maybe?”

“The only person he shared details with was Junior and, my guess, he’s not gonna be talkin’ any sooner than his daddy is.”

Not the answer she was hoping for, but more than she’d expected. “Okay. If you think of someone, can you give them my number and ask them to call?”

His chuckle was one reserved for lost causes and half-mad people. “Yeah. Sure. Good luck.”

With that, the line went dead.

Cassie pulled up the browser on her phone and typed Pro Domme into the search bar.

...specializing in BDSM sexual services with male or female clients for commercial gain.

Lizbet had asked the interviewee if she’d made a living at it.

“I didn’t have to for a very long time. Now...it helps.”

There’d been pain behind her voice. An aggravated edge that Cassie had originally chalked up to the woman being caught unaware by the question. But what if there was more to it?

She was so focused inward, Sam’s turn onto the street in front of the station sent her listing to one side. She caught herself with one hand and scanned the employee parking. “Hold up, Sam.”

Almost instantly, Sam eased up on the accelerator.

“Everything all right, Miss McClintock?” This from Abel, who sounded more than a little concerned.

“Yeah, fine.” She sat a little taller in her seat. At 11:30 in the morning, a lot of employees were already headed out for lunch, so the parking lot wasn’t as thick as it could have been, but the tall iron fence that surrounded the lot didn’t make looking any easier. “Just trying to see who all is here.”

There. The snappy little red Chevy Spark that Lizbet had been so happy about buying just a few months ago.

“I’m good.” She waved Sam on to the guest parking lot in front of the building. “If you’ll drop me off there, I’ll just run in and get what I need.”

She hustled down the long sidewalk, a power walk just shy of a jog, and heaved open one of the tinted double doors.

Bonnie was the last person she’d expected to see manning the front desk, and given the surprise on Bonnie’s face, Cassie was the last person she’d expected to see today, too. “Cassie! Please Jesus, tell me the big dogs came to their senses and brought you back.”