I narrowed my eyes at him. “Do you think I should be compensated for damages and…everything?”
“I promise you, I take this situation very seriously. It’s my job to make sure you are properly andfullytaken care of.”
Well, all rightie then. A little rush of wistfulness made me swallow hard. There wasn’t anyone else in the world who worried about me being taken care of. Except Mom, of course, but…I had to take care of her now. And I couldn’t keep bothering Swann with all my whining angst. “What else do you need to know?”
“I must follow the line of inquiry about Brayden Price, as he was in the video in question. You say he was never near your gloves.”
“Correct.” I sounded as official as any Black Suit Guy.
“Did you bring the gloves here to the Desert Freeze?”
“Negative.”
He looked at me a long moment. “Could Mr. Price have gained access to them at your home?”
“To reiterate my earlier answer,” I drawled, “he’s never been to my home.”
“Could he have gotten inside your home while you weren’t there?”
Trying to wiggle out of paying again? “No. My mom is there all day. All fucking day. Watching murder mysteries.” I gazed into his gray eyes, which were almost as opaque as his sunglasses. “You probably like murder mysteries, huh?”
His non-expression didn’t change. “What contact have you had with Mr. Price?”
“Mostly online. Gaming. Chatting. That kind of thing. I swear to God he had nothing to do with my exploding gloves.”
“But he did come here, in person, to the Desert Freeze?”
“Yes. Just once.”
“What happened?”
“We talked…about just random stuff. We…” I waved my hands around. “I don’t know. Kissed. Or whatever.” Apparently whatever.
“You kissed him. That was all?”
What else would we have done in the back of the Desert Freeze? Embarrassment made my face hotter than the sunlight. “Actually,hekissedme. Once. And then he, uh, bailed.”
Is this really what I had to do to get my money? Excruciating.
“I know this is tedious, Ms. Taylor. For both of us. But one more time, can you list the order of events. Please include your food poisoning and your injury.”
I heaved a huge sigh. This guy was torture. Just as well he hadn’t come in to order a freezie; he’d probably tell me how to do every step. I pitied whoever had to work for him or worse, fuck him. “Two nights ago, I logged onto Legendelirium—”
“No. Starting with Mr. Price’s visit to the Desert Freeze.”
Sex with this guy had to be about as enjoyable as assembling Ikea furniture, even if he read the instructions in that subtle exotic accent. “SunSummoner—I mean Brayden, Mr. Price, parked right here.” I pointed down. “In this spot. On this oil-stained patch of concrete. Here.”
BSG gave me another bland look. Okay, fucking him would suck, but fuckingwithhim was a damn good time. And I’d be getting paid at the end.
“He came inside the Freeze,” I said. “I greeted him. Flirted a little, I guess. We went in the back. He kissed me.” Had there been a moment where something might’ve come of it? I had no idea. This wasn’t fun anymore. “And then he left. Ghosted me right to my face. I went home after work. Logged on to Legendelirium. You’ve seen the video, so I’ll skip the play-by-play. Bog gnomes jumped me and my glove blew up.”
“When did you injure your hand?”
“When I was here at work.”
He raised an eyebrow.
“And then the glove wentpow!while I was wearing it, and it hurt a hell of a lot worse.”
