Leave Me, Baby, One More Time: OWL Investigations Mysteries, #3

By Alina Popescu

Sidekicks are so much trouble!

Especially when you have a soft spot for them. And they're suspected of murder.

Private investigator Emmett Naoki went to great lengths to stay clear of his assistant and past and present crush, David Wright. Yet one call for help is all it takes for Emmett to drop his vacation plans and run home to save David's ass. The hardest part is to keep the I told you sos to a minimum.

For months, David has refused to kick Shirou, his ex, to the curb. To no one's surprise, Shirou puts them all in danger when his long-term lover is murdered. In Emmett and David's office.

David makes an obvious suspect. He's also too stubborn to make things easier for himself. Add a possible Yakuza connection, an on-and-off girlfriend with an axe to grind, and David's lying ex being as useless as ever, and Emmett is served a bitter cocktail of disasters just waiting to happen. Bottoms up!

Leave Me, Baby, One More Time is the third LGBT mystery in the OWL Investigations series. If you like snarky banter, gripping whodunnits, and a hint of romance, then you'll love this book.

Get your copy of Leave Me, Baby, One More Time right now to find out if Emmett can clean up this huge mess before it's too late.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Alina Popescu
• Release date: Nov 27, 2019
• ISBN: 9781393613640

Alina Popescu

Alina Popescu is an author, traveler, and coffee addict. She has published several paranormal, science fiction, urban fantasy, and contemporary series, many of them having reached the Amazon bestseller lists for their genres. Her stories often fall under the LGBTQ fiction and romance subgenres. Born and raised in Romania, Alina has been writing for most of her life. She’s an avid consumer of stories in all their forms. She’s fascinated by myths, folk tales, and other creators’ visions of the future. She finds her inspiration in books of all genres, movies, and the occasional TV shows or anime binges. Alina is a proud geek and needs her fast internet connection and assortment of gadgets more than she needs air.

Book preview

Table of Contents

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Chapter Eight

Chapter Nine

Chapter Ten

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Thirteen

Chapter Fourteen

Chapter Fifteen

Chapter Sixteen

Chapter Seventeen

Chapter Eighteen

Chapter Nineteen

Chapter Twenty

Chapter Twenty-one

Chapter Twenty-two

Chapter Twenty-three

Chapter Twenty-four

Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-six

Chapter Twenty-seven

Chapter Twenty-eight

Chapter Twenty-nine

Chapter Thirty

Chapter Thirty-one

A Note from the Author

Other books by Alina Popescu

Meet Alina Popescu

Chapter One

YOU’VE GOT TO BE kidding me, I muttered as the calm, but firm voice of a flight attendant advised us to pick up our luggage and exit the plane in an orderly fashion. They’d apologized for this inconvenience, after a full hour of waiting around, strapped down to our seats like utter fools.

I yanked my carry-on bag and stood. I needed a shower, I needed sleep, and I needed food. But what I wanted was to be home already and assess the total chaos waiting for me there. I’d only been away for like a week and everything had fallen apart. This was why I didn’t take vacations. Ever.

As I was waiting for the people in the front seats to stumble out of the plane, I checked my phone for any texts or emails from my older brother, Tate. I was hoping he’d tell me more about the situation back home. Nothing. I gnawed on my bottom lip and tried to run my hand through my hair. I’d tied it in a messy bun, so I couldn’t even do that.

I’d make it back, eventually. I’d drop my bag, then check on David, my current assistant and potentially new private investigator, if I managed to keep him out of jail long enough to get certified, that was. Luckily for him, this wouldn’t be my first time proving the cops wrong. If they thought David had killed a guy on the premises of my agency, OWL Investigations, they definitely needed all the help they could get.

David was far from stupid. He’d been lazy as a teen, which was why I’d had to tutor him back in high school. But his mind was sharp enough to cut yourself on it, and he’d applied all that to PI training. He wouldn’t make such a silly mistake like shooting a guy at his workplace. Especially since said guy was his ex-boyfriend’s side squeeze.

We made it back to the boarding gate and we were told a new plane would be made available in the next few hours. We’d get text message alerts with the new gate and boarding time. At least I had plenty of time to find some food.

I searched for an appropriate restaurant, grumbling at the offerings. It had been so much easier to find food that worked with my diet back in Turkey. I’d been there for a modeling job and used that flashy cover to investigate a suspicious death, I’d survived hurling myself off the side of a mountain and had turned in a cold-blooded murderer. Since I’d needed to get back in shape for a beach photoshoot, I’d severely altered my diet and upped my fitness regimen from sporadic gym sessions to two workouts per day.

The smell of cheeseburgers and fries reached me and brought with it a moment of clarity: the undercover work was done, and so was my diet. Plus, some comfort food would do wonders for me right now. With a fresh grin on my face, I ordered a double cheeseburger, fries, sweet chili sauce, and a water. I took my newly acquired treasure to one of the small plastic tables and dug in. Halfway through, I was full and a little nauseated. Okay, maybe I’d stick to healthier food for a while, until my body got reacquainted with burgers and pizza and all the junk I adored.

Another bright idea saved me. I could get a lime ice cream. Tart, but with a sweet undertone, perfect for my nausea. I treated myself, then let out a contented sigh. What now? I had a few hours to kill and relaxing with a book just wasn’t my style. Not when I could find a coffee shop, flood my bloodstream with caffeine, and start working this case.

I found a Starbucks, ordered a latte with enough extra shots of espresso to never fall asleep again, and pulled out my laptop. I made a list of things to check: first, our victim, Daisuke, and his whereabouts before his death. What the hell was he doing in town anyway? Second, look into what Shirou, David’s cheating ex, had been up to at the time. I had a feeling the dirty liar wasn’t the killer, because having him thrown in jail would have made my life way too easy. I wasn’t jealous at all that he’d moved in with David. No, I was just mad Shirou wanted to get my accidental hire to quit his job and go back with him. I thought back to our high school reunion when blind drunk me told David I had work for him. Was I happy I’d inadvertently caused my teenage crush to move back home? To be determined.

I glared at my laptop and pressed the keys a bit too hard. I realized what I was doing fast enough to keep my keyboard from breaking and took a few long breaths. They weren’t exactly calming, but they’d work for now. Right, back to my list. I first deleted the long string of unflattering statements I’d typed about Shirou, then replaced it with people I needed to talk to: Daisuke’s family, potential partner, enemies, and people that just hated his guts for some reason. Should I add myself to it then? I did hate both him and Shirou for what they’d done to David.

I growled and glared at my laptop. There was one thing I needed to do. I didn’t want to do it, but I had to. With a frustrated sigh, I navigated OWL Investigations’ virtual storage and clicked my way to the folder with David’s name on it. I’d always known he’d moved to a large East Coast city. I’d never cared which. Or what he’d done there. It had been my way of getting back at him for so deliberately ignoring me throughout high school. When I’d first hired him, I’d made my brother do the obligatory background check. I didn’t want to know too much about David’s time away from me.

Philadelphia. Okay, good, I knew where he’d been and where he’d met Shirou. I looked through his work history and finally realized why Shirou had been disappointed in the job David had taken here. Before moving back home, David Wright was a well-known name in the sales world. He’d worked with several financial service providers, climbing the corporate ladder pretty fast. He’d held nothing but managerial positions for the past few years, probably making a lot of money, a lot more than he could ever make as my glorified sidekick. Okay, so maybe him becoming a PI wasn’t the most lucrative move in the world. I’d give Shirou that. And maybe staying here wouldn’t open as many doors for him. Our city, still on the small side, had a healthy, varied economy. The upside was that if one sector was in full recession, the rest would compensate. The drawback was that none of these sectors would ever allow for a quick and successful climb up to corporate fame.

I stopped obsessing over David’s choices—they were his to make anyway—and dug into other aspects of his past. No trouble with the law, at all. Not even parking tickets. I looked deeper into this and realized he hadn’t even owned a car in Philadelphia. He’d owned no properties there, and although his credit score was more than healthy, he’d not lived the high life at all. With David, this wasn’t surprising. His parents had been well off. Not super rich, but I’d say upper middle class, at least. His aunt had been married to a powerful businessman, but they’d had no kids. So David had had two pairs of dotting and financially stable parents growing up. Despite their wealth, they’d raised David to give money the exact importance it deserved: good to have, smart to invest, and never to be used to demean others.

When I was done digging through David’s goodie-two-shoes past, I moved to Shirou. Yes, I’d contracted an out of town PI I knew well to do an extremely thorough background check when that little shit had strolled into town. I’d not been exactly proud at the time, but wasn’t I happy now?

Shirou Nagato had been the ultimate trouble kid. Expelled a few times, he’d run away from home at one point, had been prone to getting into fights and acting like a little gangster. Daisuke’s name popped up a lot in the report. They’d pretty much been joined at the hip since childhood, giving their parents grief in tandem. Daisuke’s surname was also Nagato. And—surprise!—they were truly related after all. Cousins, four times removed. Would you look at that?

Chapter Two

MY PHONE PINGED with a message from the airline. We’d be boarding in thirty minutes on a different plane which would hopefully not break down. Thank fuck, I muttered. I was tired of the petty crimes Daisuke and Shirou had dabbled in. Nothing big enough to get either of them murdered.

Maybe it was time to call Deb. What’s the purpose of having a Major Crimes detective as your best friend if you didn’t call her the moment your employee and maybe crush became a murder suspect?

Deb took her sweet time answering. What do you want? I’m busy, she muttered.

Well, hello to you too! When there was an emergency, I usually started talking, no hello required. She was the one always complaining about my lack of niceties. I didn’t mind the role reversal much.

I’m surprised you remembered I exist.

Yeah, I’d been in full avoidance mode because she asked too many questions about David and how Shirou’s presence made me feel. What was she, my therapist? Sorry, Deb.

Good. Now try that again. But make sure you sound less irritated.

I rolled my eyes and huffed. I couldn’t control my annoyance.

Where are you, anyway? she asked, sounding mildly amused.

LA. Stuck at the airport and waiting for a replacement plane.

Did you damage the first one in a fit of rage? I imagine hearing about the murder in your office might have sent you off the deep end.

No. I wouldn’t have purposefully delayed my return.

Should I give Shirou a protective detail?

I groaned. Deb, can you be serious for a moment? Did you catch the case or not?

I was the first detective on the scene, yes. But they swapped me the moment we figured out what was going on. I know both you and David, and they didn’t want any suspicion over how the investigation is conducted.

Great, I couldn’t have the best detective in Major Crimes working this because she was my best friend… Assholes! Who got the case?

Danny Conrad.

Of the people working Homicide or Major Crimes in our city, Danny Conrad was the one I hated the least. Deb didn’t count, I worshiped the ground she stepped on. And herein lay my problem. Danny was another worshiper of Deb’s. One who’d been in love with her for years, not that Deb noticed, or believed me when I told her. Needless to say, he hated my guts. He knew I was gay, of course, but hey… I still hogged Deb’s attention when she wouldn’t give him the time of day outside work.

Oh, dear God, why?

Deb chuckled. He’s a great detective.

Sure, I bit out. He was too. Which meant I’d have to subject myself to trying to assist him. Not that he’d let me.

You’ve never crossed paths with him, have you?

Not on a case, no.

She giggled. Deb fucking giggled. She’d probably done that all of three times in her life, and two had happened when she was in kindergarten. You’re in for a ride.

What does that mean?

It means I already have a large sum on when you two resort to settling matters with your fists.

Great, just great. I’ll make sure you lose. He’s good, right?

Not as good as me, but close enough.

Ah, Deb, humble as always. I sighed and rubbed my forehead, feeling a headache trying to morph into a full migraine. They like David for this one, don’t they?

Golden boy David? No, they don’t like him for it. But they realize he’s a good suspect. He has a partial alibi.

What does that mean?

It means your brother can vouch for when he arrived home on the night of the murder and when he left in the morning. There’s a record of Miss Bigallow calling your house after placing the 911 call.

Thanks, Deb.

Always here, Em. About you and David—

Plane’s boarding, Deb. Gotta go, I said and rushed to hang up