Mistress Of Sin

"You want to order a drink, or are you going to sit there all night?"

The female bartender's abrupt outburst snapped Cole from his trance.

"Oh! Yeah, sorry. I'll have a Coke, please."

The bartender gave Cole a peculiar look. "You came to this club to sit at the bar alone, stare at people, and order soft drinks? Not the usual thing attractive men do here on a busy Friday night."

Attractive? Cole never thought of himself as attractive. She wasn't the first to think so, however, whether he knew it or not. He was in his mid 30's, tall, short dark hair, muscular body, and strong jaw with a five-o'clock shadow. Okay, maybe he was attractive, but was it too obvious that he had been spending all his time observing the jam packed dance floor?

"I have to be at work in a few hours. Can't go in hammered, can I?"

The bartender smiled, nodding in agreement. She turned to fetch him a Coke.

Unknown to her, Cole was already at work. A member of Chicago Police Department's Bureau of Detectives, he was investigating a recent series of disappearances of young women in their late teens and early twenties, all of whom were described as very attractive. Their disappearances were believed to be linked to a long running sex trade organization with hubs in major cities around the country. He traced the missing women's last known locations to a night club near Chicago's industrial district.

The owner of the club, Travis Dunham, was a well known wealthy entrepreneur with a reputation for dirty business. Unfortunately for Cole, as well as the rest of the CPD, his wealth provided him with a wall of lawyers so thick no detective or prosecutor would dare attempt to break through without ironclad evidence. Cole knew if he were to make something stick, he'd have to catch him in the act.

The bartender returned with Cole's ice cold drink and left to tend to others at the bar. He took a sip as he focused on the dance floor filled with people laughing, dancing, and having a great night.

All of which Cole hadn't experienced in a very long time.

Above the dance floor was a balcony reserved for VIPs. Among them, leaning over the rail, was none other than the owner Travis, scrutinizing the dance floor in an all-too-similar fashion to Cole. Cole was certain they were both searching for the same target, albeit for very different reasons.

There were plenty of women on the dance floor, though most of them didn't stand out as supermodel material like the vanished women. All seemed to be accompanied by someone, usually a man, probably their significant other or soon-to-be one night stand.....

Then Cole saw her.

A woman of stunning beauty danced in the center of the crowded club. Her pale silky smooth skin shimmered in the lights of the dance floor while long black-as-night hair swayed with her every movement. Her sensational red cocktail dress barely covered her upper thighs, and also managed to show off the magnificent curves of her hips. The front of the dress was deeply V-necked to display her well-endowed breasts in all their glory. Her legs, long and toned, descended to a pair of unapologetic black open-toed fuck-me stilettos. How she was able to dance in those stratospheric heels was a mystery to Cole, but she did so with both grace and elegance.

She was beauty personified.

Cole found it strange she was alone. She appeared to have no one accompanying her on the dance floor. Odder still, no one seemed to be paying any attention to her at all. It was as if she was on that dance floor all by herself, dancing inside an invisible bubble to the catchy beat of music pounding into everyone's ears.

For a brief moment, while lost in awe of this woman, her eyes made contact with Cole's. He was mesmerized by her luscious red lips and sexy smile. However, he swore he saw the dark pupils of her eyes turn bright ruby red and then back to a lovely shade of brown. Just an illusion or refection of the lights, he thought.

Here....

In a feeble attempt to hide his obvious staring, he looked away, up toward Travis, who must have noticed the woman in the sexy red dress as well. Travis motioned for one of his security guards and told him something while pointing in the girl's direction. Cole watched as the bouncer made his way down the stairs and through the crowd to her. She accompanied him back through the crowd and up the stairs to the owner's niche. Travis greeted her with a kiss on the hand as they disappeared from Cole's view.

This was it. This was his chance. He would wait for her to come back down from the balcony, and if she didn't, he would rush up the stairs to find her. Probable cause.

"I better be right about this."