A Bead in the Hand (Glass Bead Mystery Series Book 2) (16 page)

“Or maybe not, maybe it’s nothing, just a random piece of junk on the stairs,” Tessa said. She glanced over at our thrashed room. “I don’t care about the stupid keychain. I care about getting back in our room and cleaning up this mess.”

“You two can’t stay here,” Ryan told us. “I think this is a crime scene now, given the other incidents that we’ve had this weekend.”

“What are we supposed to do? Where are we supposed to sleep?” asked Tessa, her body tense with anger. Her phone started dinging as text messages popped up on her phone again and again, aggravating her even more.

Ryan unclipped the radio from his belt and called down to the front desk.

“Marie? It’s Ryan in Security. We’ve got a situation up here in room 611. I’m sending you a couple guests who need a new room,” Ryan said, then listened to the response. “Okay, thanks, they’re on their way.”

“Go to the front desk, and Marie will take care of you,” Ryan said.

“And what about our belongings?” Tessa asked, sounding calmer now that she knew she’d have a place to sleep tonight.

“Unfortunately, under these circumstances I need to secure the room until the police can gather evidence and look for signs of theft and damage. That means you’ll get your things back tomorrow. I will personally make sure that happens.”

“I really don’t want to have to wear the same clothes two days in a row,” I said. If I was going to be the next murder victim, I wanted to heed my mother’s advice and have on clean underwear when I showed up in the morgue. Or was that the hospital?

Ryan approached the door to examine the lock and the knob.

“What are we going to do about you-know-who?” I asked Tessa.

“Val? You can text her and let her know where we are.”

“No, Tessa,” I hissed, grabbing her hand and pulling her a few steps away from Ryan. “I mean the
other guest who is staying in our room
.”

“Gumdrop,” she said a little too loudly. My cat was in the room; at least I hoped he was still in there. We needed to get him out. There was no way I was going to leave him behind for the night.

“We’re not even supposed to have a cat in our room,” Tessa whispered in my ear.

“Ryan, I need to get something out of the room,” I said. “It’s really important.”

“And what is it that can’t stay in this room overnight? Valuables?”

“My roommate—not Tessa here—but my other roommate, who frequently breaks all the rules, sort of smuggled a cat into our room.”

“A cat?”

“Not just any cat. My cat.”

“He’s the best cat,” said Tessa, trying to be helpful, but I was sure Ryan didn’t care what kind of a cat Gummie was.

“You do realize this hotel has a strict no-pet policy?” Ryan asked, with a small laugh that told me he wasn’t serious about evicting us for breaking the rules.

“We need to get this room locked up immediately so the investigators can examine it tomorrow,” said Ryan, taking a more serious tone.

“I’ll go in and get Gummie,” I offered. “Val’s giant tote is in there too, so I’ll just put him in that, and we’ll get out of here.”

“Sorry, Jax. I think I better get him. You’re already a suspect in a murder investigation. I don’t think you should spend any more time than is necessary messing around with a crime scene.”

Ryan entered the room while Tessa and I watched from the doorway. I was nervous. Gummie wasn’t all that friendly with men, having recently attacked a reporter on my sofa during an interview. Although, what Gumdrop really did was attack the drink the reporter was holding, which was laced with catnip.

“Here kitty-kitty-kitty,” Ryan said quietly. “Come on out.” That Gumdrop did not immediately run out of his hiding place seemed to surprise Ryan. It didn’t surprise me at all. Gummie was not one to take orders, and he was more of a saunterer than a runner.

“His name is Gumdrop?” Ryan asked.

“Yes, but also try Gummie.” If Gumdrop didn’t want to be found, nothing you called him would help.

“Gummie? Gummie? Where are you?” whispered Ryan as he crept around the room, gingerly avoiding stepping on any possible evidence, even stepping around the vacuum cleaner tracks on the carpet. He got down on his hands and knees and looked under the bed.

“A-ha! There you are,” said Ryan. “Come on out.” Ryan reached under the bed and tried to grab the cat.

A long hiss came from under the bed. Ryan quickly withdrew his hand and retreated.

“I don’t think your cat likes me.” This was not surprising, given Gummie’s recent bad attitude about many things, including being forced to do something he didn’t want to do.

“It looks like Gumdrop scratched you,” Tessa said. Drops of blood trailed across Ryan’s wrist.

In a typical mom move, Tessa whipped out a tissue and a Band-Aid, ready to administer first aid.

“No, I’m fine, really. I don’t need anything. It’s just a little nick.”

Tessa grabbed his hand and applied the Band-Aid. You did not say no to Tessa.

“Look, I’m going to walk away,” Ryan said, pressing his Band-Aid down and nodding a thanks to Tessa. “I’m just heading downstairs. I don’t want to see you going in the room. Just make sure you close the door when you leave. And take the cat, nothing else.”

Standing in the doorway of the room, I pulled Gummie’s carrier-cum-tote bag toward me. Val had tossed a couple of cans of cat food into the bag. I pulled a can out and popped off the lid. Immediately, at that distinctive
snick
sound of the can’s seal releasing, Gumdrop was at my feet. Gummie may not come when he is called, but he certainly never misses a meal. I grabbed the cat and stuffed him in the carrier along with the can of food.

“Ugh, Gumdrop. I need to put you on a diet,” I said, lugging him down the hall as Tessa closed the door and double-checked the lock.

“Yelllloooo” was Gumdrop’s only response.

We found Ryan by the front desk. “Here you are, Marie, these are the guests who need a new room for a few nights.”

“Okay ladies, what we’ve got here is a situation. The hotel is completely sold out. Like there are
no
rooms.” Marie was typing and talking at the same time, and it was a challenge for her.

“Yes, I see. Usually that is what ‘completely sold out’ means—that there are no rooms,” I said—I admit it—sarcastically. I was tired and cranky at this point and ready for bed. Any bed. Well, maybe not
any
bed.

“But…I’ve got this one room—”

“We’ll take it.” We held our hands out for the key card. I hoped we weren’t about to move into a broom closet.

“I’ve got to get back on duty. I’m glad you both are safe,” Ryan said. Then turning to me, he said, “See you tomorrow?”

“Oh, yes. See you then,” I said, half-wishing I was heading upstairs with him instead of Tessa.

“Enjoy your stay,” said Marie, as she slid the tiny envelope containing the key card across the counter toward us with a smile. “Tenth floor.”

The key card was marked with a big number ten, but Marie hadn’t told us a room number.

“How are we going to know which room is ours?” I asked Tessa as the elevator, as chilly as ever, whisked us past floor after floor.

The elevator’s doors clunked open, revealing one door at the end of a short hallway. We slid the key card in and out of the reader, and pushed the door open.

Tessa and I stood in stunned silence, looking into the room. How could we have possibly ended up here?

“Definitely not a broom closet,” Tessa said, breaking the silence.

I was astounded by the gorgeous room in front of us. It was exquisite, filled with elegant mahogany furniture, and a vibrant Oriental rug in greens and blues. A wet-bar stood along one wall, and there was a gorgeous view of the city expanding before us behind floor-to-ceiling windows.

“I sure hope we’re not paying for this,” I said, looking at the rate card posted on the inside of the door. “Because if we have to pay, you’ll need to sell off your first-born child.”

“Selling her off sounds like a pretty good idea. And my second-born, too,” Tessa said, collapsing on the sofa.

“I fully agree. I actually think if you have the opportunity to sell off both of your daughters to settle our hotel bill, we could give them a pretty good deal. Maybe two for the price of one?” I said as I looked around the luxurious suite. I stepped into the bathroom. It was tiled with luscious crema marfil tile and finished with brushed nickel hardware. Plush sage-green towels, many more than we could use, were stacked in an alcove near an oversized claw-footed tub.

“Oh, my, Tessa, you’re going to have to see this,” I said, leaning out of the bathroom door. “It’s the most beautiful bathroom I’ve ever seen.” There was another door that led to a bedroom with two elegant queen-sized beds. Each was covered in so many layers of quilts and pillows I’d almost need a ladder to crawl on top of it.

“Tessa? This sure beats our old room with its shabby bedspreads and stained carpet,” I said, laughing with astonishment. I turned around to see if I had succeeded in cheering up Tessa. I found her fast asleep, head tipped back on the sofa cushions. I removed her shoes and flopped her down on the couch. I wasn’t going to try and get her into a bed. I found a soft wool blanket in the closet and covered her up. “Goodnight, Tessa. Tomorrow will be a better day.”

TWENTY-THREE

I BORROWED TESSA’S PHONE
and called Val to tell her where our new room was. She was at our door a few minutes later.

“Are you going to tell me what you’ve been up to?” I said as I let Val in.

“Luke was super nice.” Of course he was. “And he bought me a drink,” Val said, sashaying into the room. “And then we—”

“Val, I don’t want to hear about it.”

“Niiiiice. Who’d you have to sleep with to get this room?” Val asked with a little wink. “That super hot security guy?”

“I’m not going to talk about that. And it’s not like you’ve got any moral superiority. You’ve been dating Rudy, and now you’re out with Luke, having drinks and doing who knows what—”

“I’m not dating Rudy. It’s platonic. You know what that means, right? It’s the same thing I tried to tell Bruno.”

I stood there, looking at her blankly. I’d never heard her say she was having a relationship with a man that didn’t involve sleeping with him.

“You know, Jax? Platonic, as in
just a friend
, like you and me.”

“Yes, Val, I know what platonic means. It’s just surprising. I didn’t think you had friends who are guys. And Luke, what’s the story with him?”

“Luke, he’s a passionate man. He needs someone like me to be passionate with him.”

“Val, I don’t want to hear about it.”

“Oh no! Where’s Gumdrop?” Val asked, looking around. “You didn’t leave him behind in the old room, did you?”

“Of course not. He’s already curled up on my bed.”

“Where do I get to sleep? Looks like Tessa’s already got the sofa,” Val said, noticing Tessa passed out on the couch.

“There’s a bedroom with two queen beds. Take the one without the cat.”

With her leopard print overnight bag on her shoulder, Val headed into the room.

“Time for bed,” said Val, peering out the door at me. “You need some beauty sleep.”

“I look that bad, huh?”

“Oh, nothing a few hours of rest can’t cure.”

In her pink satin nightie, Val stood at the bathroom mirror taking off her makeup. My tinted lip balm and mascara had worn off hours ago. She finished her beauty regimen, got in bed, and pulled on her zebra-print eye mask.

“Night-night, honey.”

“Good night, Val.” It was quiet and dark in the room, but I couldn’t sleep. My beauty sleep, or any kind of sleep, was going to have to wait.

I slid out of bed and into my jeans.

TWENTY-FOUR

I DIDN’T KNOW
what to expect in Le Bar so late at night. I hoped some of my friends from the bazaar would be there. It would be nice to have a drink and chat with someone—and not the kind of chat that Detective Houston liked to have.

There was one person in the bar, and while he wasn’t my favorite person in the world, he might just have some answers for me. Sal.

“Uh, hi, Sal,” I said, coming up behind him. He turned, surprised, and then his face turned from surprise to lecherous delight.

“Coming to find me, eh? You wanna go back to my trailer?” he asked.

“Look, Sal, it’s not what you think. I was trying to see if any of my friends might be down here. And instead, it’s just…you.”

“Oh baby, you’re just being shy now,” Sal said, beckoning me to sit next to him at the low slung table next to the bar’s balcony railing.

“Just hold on, Sal.” I sat down across the table from him, well out of arm’s reach. I might as well make use of this time, since I had several questions for Sal.

“Here, lemme buy you a drink. Whaddya want?” Sal asked, getting up and heading to the bar.

“Nothing, I’m fine.”

“Suit yourself,” Sal said. He ordered and paid for his drink, then slid back into his seat with a new double bourbon in his hand. Sal looked like a bullfrog, half-lidded eyes staring straight ahead, not moving, but not uncomfortable either. Just sitting, perhaps waiting for a fly to zoom past. I was hoping I wasn’t the fly. He’d definitely cooled to me now that he knew I wasn’t in the bar looking for a late night hook up.

I looked over the railing and down to the lobby below. Ryan was standing by the ballroom door and talking with another security guard. He glanced up and saw me. And Sal.

“Jax?” Ryan said, staring at us in disbelief.

“Really Ryan, it’s not what it looks like,” I said in a panic. This was the last thing I needed, for Ryan to see me here with Sal.

“It sure
is
what it looks like,” Sal said, scooting his chair around to my side of the table and trying to put his arm around me. “Sorry, pal, she came looking for me. You’re missing out.”

I looked at Ryan with bulging eyes and mouthed the words, “No, no, no.”

“What’s going on up there?” Ryan demanded.

“I came here to see if I could have a drink and talk to some friends, but nobody was here except Sal. I have some questions for him, but he thinks I have other things on my mind.”