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Austin raised his beer, and then attacked his dinner. To watch him eat, one would never guess he'd had a snack on the plane there. Nixie delicately cut into the fish, and while she seemed to hardly eat at all, the fish disappeared quickly.

When everyone had finished, Nixie flagged the waiter for the check and paid with plastic.

"Do you want to thank your friend for your drink or do you want to slip out the back?" Nixie asked.

"You could always make out with Austin," Nixie suggested with a completely straight face. "That would certainly send a message that you are...unavailable. For drinks and everything else."

"Or I could shoot him," Austin interjected with a scowl.

"I scowl at everyone," Austin grumbled.

"It would be neat and easy, and it would explain why she gave the appletini to me, the only single girl at the table," Nixie replied reasonably.

"How about I just walk out with my arm around both of your waists?" Austin offered by way of computerize. "Then I'll look like some high roller with two gold diggers."

"Someone's getting a little too big for their britches," it was Nixie's turn to grumble.

Austin's eyes flickered to Nixie, but he took Kaori's paw and brought her knuckles to his lips where he kissed them gently. Hand in hand, he led her out of the restaurant, looking slightly awkward. Nixie followed two steps behind, trying to keep the smile out of the corners of her mouth.

The valet brought the car around and Austin helped first Kaori an then Nixie in.

"Next stop, the chalet," he announced,sounding relieved.

After driving for a while, they came to a fancy 3-story modern and stone-and-timber chalet. Austin pulled up in front of the main house.

"Austin, would you go get my replacement phone now? I know it's getting late, but I really need it for the phone conference with Denmark tomorrow," Nixie insisted.

"Right away, Miss Prince-Hughes," Austin relied.

Nixie smiled and got out of the car. When Kaori also got out, Austin sped away on a mission for the phone. Nixie looked up at the building and suppressed a shudder. She hated this house; it was one of Sovenn's favourites. That made it a good candidate. Steeling herself, she unlocked the door and stepped in.

She could tell instantly that something was wrong. There was a faint smell of...something very bad.

"You can't smell that?" Nixie asked, sniffing. "It's like...rotten meat."

She started moving from room to room, searching for the source of the smell. It was strongest in the office. After a little poking around, she found a secret door. Once open, the scent strengthened until it was difficult not to gag.

"Ugh," she cried. Her skin wasn't the source of smell, she was certain, but there was something foul down the hallway.

"No--I have to see if it's down there," Nixie insisted. She pulled the collar of her shirt over her nose and pressed forward.

At the end of a hall was a small room with a round bed in it. Closets and dressers with drawers lined two walls. Nixie had a sinking feeling in her stomach. The smell was strongest in here. Nixie took a moment to calm her heaving stomach and then started opening closet doors.

When she opened the 3rd door, a decomposed body fell onto the floor.

Nixie choked back a sob and flew outside. She knew who the body was. It was one of Sovenn's many whores, probably put in the closet as part of some sick game, and then forgotten there. It was probably just before his plane crashed, and so without anyone to hear her screams, she had died of thirst in that tiny little space. It was more than she could stomach.

Once outside in the brisk twilight air, she threw up her expensive dinner. She couldn't speak but her shoulders shook with the heaving and the sobbing.