Something glittered on the surface of the—hood? mask?—while her face was still hidden. She raised her head to show him his surprise.

His own shocked face reflected back at him on the dozens of tiny mirrors covering her face.

He tasted blood. Must have bit his tongue as he crawled backwards on the mattress and struck his head on the wall.

"Take that fucking thing off!"

"Oh, come on, silly!" The mirrors moved with her lips, though her mouth wasn't visible beneath the mask. "It'll be fun. You could wear it instead, if you wanna."

"Take it off," he said again, not daring to look at her, to see himself reflected in the contours of her head. To see his guilt reflected back at him.

She slipped off the replica mirror mask and shook out her hair. "Party pooper." She almost laid it on the dresser, then reconsidered. "If you let me wear the mask, I'll let you put it wherever you like."

"I'm not gonna put it anywhere with you wearing that—that thing."

"Fine."

She laid the mask on the dresser, beside his portfolio bag and the hotel bible. It tinkled like a swinging chandelier, the same sound it made when Nico Damiani slumped face-first on the rolltop desk in the antique shop's back office.

The girl climbed over him and hovered over his groin, a sly grin curling her lips. Like she had something over him now that she knew how scared the mask had made him.

He pushed her head downward to avoid her scrutinizing gaze. She put up no resistance, taking him swiftly into her mouth. Her scalp was clean and pale. Auburn hair parted in the center. His mind relaxed as his body stiffened.

His cell phone made a chittering buzz like an insect against a still-wrapped condom on the bedside table. He sat up abruptly, unintentionally shoving himself hard down Tish's throat.

She gagged and fell back on her calves as he snagged the phone. If she expected sympathy, he had none to give. And maybe she deserved a little pain after what she'd put him through with the mask, which he could still see beside the bible. He was just glad she hadn't instinctually bitten down.

"Sorry," he said. "I've gotta take this."

He slid his thumb across the screen and put it to his ear while the pain in his groin subsided to a dull, not-entirely-unpleasant throb.

Tish wiped her lower lip and sat up with an angry animal grunt. She lit the joint he'd left half-smoked on the bedside table.

"Savage," he said into the phone, passing an irritated glance at the girl, who was sucking down his best shit as eagerly as she'd sucked on him. A long silence passed. "Hello?" The sudden edginess in his voice made him sound like a nervous old woman.

"They let him escape, Martin. They let him escape."

He recognized Sheila Tanner's voice straight away, could even tell she was drunk. I should've called her first. She should be here instead of Trish or Tish or whatever her name is.