Marise had been in town for a couple of days. She'd found a cheap place but was no closer to finding her husband. People weren't friendly in the city and no better out here in the middle of nowhere. She scrunched up her face as she pouted, wondering where he could be.

She slipped up beside a tall figure in a uniform and delicately touched his arm. She leaned in and batted her eyes as she knew she had looks going for her, if little else. "Excuse me, officer. I am looking for someone. Could you perhaps help me?"

Constable Cockburn was standing around, doing nothing, and that was what Constable Cockburn did second best.

First best? Beating the shit out of people – including women. She had wondered after the fact if her willingness to hit women might give her away. That was brothel shit, after all.

It didn’t take long to realize it wasn’t just brothel shit.

There were things Fanny hated. (Most, things, really.) More than law-abiding citizens? She hated pretty law-abiding women. Those were the bitches that always snagged the better customers. Imagine her disgust when such a pretty thing came up to touch her! Her eyes immediately soared down the much smaller woman’s dress.

… God damn it, she was wet immediately. The closest thing she’d had to sex in months was choking Roberts, and he didn’t even die.

Officer Cockburn turned his head fully away, as if he were too absorbed in the … bench, to even notice the woman touching his arm.

Missie eyed the constable who kept looking forward and seemed in deep thought. She tried to look in the direction he was looking. "Oh. Maybe it's one of those stake outs. Is someone supposed to sit on that bench you're waiting for? I can wait. Until they come, let me tell you about my scoundrel of a husband. He married me and got all my money and has kept running off ever since."

She looked from the bench towards the constable and smiled. "You've got the loveliest eyes, officer!" She said sweetly. It was true, but didn't hurt to butter him up in case it'd help.

Who did this woman think she was? Fanny cracked her neck to the side, glaring down at her.

Scoundrel of a husband, eh?

“Check a brothel,” she deadpanned with a no-nonsense stare.

Where all scoundrel husbands went. She would know; they were some of the few that just paid up instead of trying to convince her she was in love with them when they finally puttered one out.

She was content to ignore the beautiful woman, but then she just had to keep on talking. No one had commented on her appearance in months. It used to be all people could think about, and now … she was invisible. It wasn’t bad. It wasn’t great, but it wasn’t bad either.

“You could kill your husband,” she blurted out, staring intently, “and we’d never even know.”

Huh. She knew this uniform would give her power, but she hadn’t expected it to come with a sudden hankering for clam.

Marise seemed deep in thought and folded her arms as she pouted. "In a brothel? He's never even.." She wasn't going to reveal anything embarrassing about her marriage, though maybe her words were already more than obvious. Her head cocked to the side as she continued to stare ahead in thought, though no one suspicious came by.

The constable mentioned killing him. Did cops trick people to doing bad things? They were the good guys, they knew it was bad! She looked up at the tall blond and gave him another large smile. It was one she'd given to Edwin to get him to fall for her, at least she thought it was her smile that got his attention. "Oh, I could never do that. I wouldn't even know where to start!"

Her head leaned back, as she started up at the blue sky. "But... I do want all of that money. He keeps almost all of it to himself. I even made sure there was a decent life insurance on him, in case he spent it all. If he was in a brothel, I would hope that mean man did croak. Why surround himself with beautiful women when I'm free?" She clutched her hands together in worry and looked up at the constable as if wanting an answer.

Fanny raised her brows as though she couldn’t believe her naivety.

“Then try a brothel with too many doormen.”

It was always a brothel in the end. All paths led to brothel.

… She could see right down her dress when she beamed up like that. She saw no reason to inform her of this ‘tragedy’.

“So … you’re trying to catch you a burglar with a wedding band. What’s this got to do with me?”

Missy looked at her confused. "A secure brothel?" She hadn't heard of a thing, but she had been rather sheltered about such places.

The confusion didn't leave her when 'he' spoke. "Burglar? I have no clue what you are saying. But I always thought you police types would help people. And I could really use a hand. I don't think it's a big deal for a woman to feel lonely when she has ta chase her man all over the place. Please, if you can't help me find him, can you give me some advice at all what I should do?" She sighed and whether it was on purpose or not, she certainly leaned closer to Fanny on one hand giving a better view down the dress.

Her brows only arched higher, grown in but still much … thinner, than one might expect a man Constable Coburn’s employable age.

There were words coming out of her mouth, but most of what Fanny noticed was cleavage. Cleavage cleavage cleavage. This girl was coming off cheaper than Fanny in her first days, where even butlers would stiff her.

She’d seen plenty of breasts. Enough to know with a gem seller’s expertise that these, these were nice breasts! Totally different than all the other breasts. How much did Fanny have on her? Her hand flew to her wallet-- no no no, terrible idea.

“Choke him,” she answered, apparently to this young woman’s bosom. “And lemme watch.”

The constable seemed very intent on looking in her direction but not her face. She stared up at him but didn't interrupt him, maybe he was deep in thought? She could be like that. Staring off at nothing while her mind worked in overtime.

When he spoke, she looked confused but then laughed. "You are so funny. How can we do that if I can't even find him? Help me and you can watch whatever you like?" She smiled up at him clueless but sweetly and lightly touched his arm. She did that sort of thing when she had wanted her husband to do something and usually it got him to look her in the face if nothing else.

Surprisingly, it worked. ‘He’ looked up from her breasts to her face, resolution in his eyes.

“I know just where to find him.”

With that, Constable Coburn started walking toward the nearest brothel.