A Body to Die For (36 page)

“Danny’s at the inn,” I told her.

“Actually, it was you I was hoping to speak to. Have you got a minute?”

“Sure,” I said without enthusiasm, having nada interest in chatting with the queen of the menacing mud wrap.

“I could tell by the way you spoke to me yesterday that you still hold me responsible for what happened during the wrap.”

“Give me a good reason not to,” I said.

“That’s what I intend to do.”

I’d been moving about the kitchen with the phone in my hand, pouring myself a glass of water, but as soon as I heard the words,
I paused.

“Let’s hear it,” I told her.

“I think Josh did those things to you during the wrap,” she said.

“
Think?
”

“I mean, I’m almost positive he did. I didn’t actually see him go in the room, but from some information I pieced together
from another therapist, it had to be him.”

“Okay, well, take me through it, then.”

“I can’t right this second. But I thought if you wanted to meet me in a little while, maybe around seven, I could explain
everything I found out.”

I didn’t like Cordelia much, and she’d never seemed to like me, particularly when she’d seen me in the office with Eric. I
also had no reason to trust her. She might have something on Josh, but then again she might just be making trouble. Or she
might be interested in learning what I knew about the case, particularly if she’d learned Eric was now a suspect. But I said
yes, I would see her. I needed to learn what she was up to. She said she was staying at a friend’s place and gave me directions.

I phoned Danny to let her know I was headed over there, but all I got was a recording announcing that the inn was temporarily
closed. I tried again in five minutes. Still nothing. I felt a tiny swelling of anxiety. I threw on my jeans jacket, grabbed
Danny’s keys again, and made certain the door was locked behind me.

Set against the twilight sky with its darkened windows, the inn looked desolate, like a haunted house. If Danny was here,
her car would probably be parked out front, but there was no sign of it. Maybe she’d finished earlier than planned and was
picking up dinner for us as discussed. Farther down the parking lot, I could see a small cluster of cars. It might mean some
staff were still inside the inn. At the far end of the lot, near the trees, the yellow police tape flapped in the wind, but
there no longer appeared to be any cops around.

As I stepped out of the Jeep, I was startled by the sound of an engine engaging. I glanced up and saw a car slide out from
the small pack of cars in the middle of the lot. Even in the dusk I could see it was a silver Saab convertible.

With my heart beating harder, I watched the Saab drive alongside of where I stood and lurch to a stop. Josh lowered his window.

“You just love horning in on all the fun, don’t you?” he said, nasty as a brand-new cold sore.

“Is anyone still here?” I asked.

“I’m afraid you’ve missed them all.”

“Was Danny heading home?”

He was quiet for a moment, as if he knew the answer but was deciding whether or not to keep me in the dark.

“I haven’t a clue,” he said finally.

I turned on my heels and climbed back into my Jeep, going through the motions of searching through my bag for the keys. I
had no intention of leaving—I needed to get my clothes. But I didn’t want Josh to know I intended to hang around. As soon
as I started the engine, he took off, his car screeching as it pulled out of the front gate.

Within a minute I was out of the Jeep again and on the top step of the inn, trying one key after another on Danny’s ring.
I was beginning to think that the ring didn’t hold an inn key when I found the one that fit. I turned it in the lock and pushed.
The door opened with a mournful creak.

The first thing I noticed was the light coming from the hallway behind the front desk. Maybe Josh had lied about everyone
being gone. I walked around the front desk and down the corridor.

“Anyone here?” I called out. The light, it turned out, was coming from the small sitting room. The table was covered with
computer printouts, and there were half a dozen half-empty coffee cups. The room had the forlorn look of a place that had
been used for a time at full force and then abandoned.

I heard the sound just as I was turning to leave the room. It was that mournful creak again, of the front door opening. My
first thought was Josh. He’d come back. I felt the urge to hide, to duck behind a desk in one of the offices, but this area
would be the first he would check. Instead I strode out to the front, trying to look cocksure of myself.

But it wasn’t Josh. It was Beck standing there in the dusky light of the lobby. I felt relieved, but at the same time uncomfortable.
I had no idea how things would play out with him after the dressing down he’d given me last night.

“What are you doing here?” he asked, sounding more perplexed than angry. He took a couple of steps closer to me.

“I’m going back to New York, and I forgot half my clothes in my room last night. I thought Danny would be here.”

“How did you get in?”

“Danny loaned me a set of keys.”

“Don’t you realize that someone very dangerous is on the loose? He’s killed two women already. You shouldn’t be here alone.”

“I thought you had a suspect,” I said. “Plus, even if Eric didn’t do it, the killer would hardly be hanging around the inn.
It’s closed. There’s nobody left here to kill.”

He half smirked, half smiled. I was reminded of why I had found him so utterly attractive.

“Thanks, though,” I added. “Thanks for your concern. It’s… well, unexpected.”

“And why is that? Because of the way I spoke to you last night?”

“Yeah. I’ve had bear bites that hurt less.”

“I hope you can see how much pressure I’ve got on me right now. Plus, when we talked in the lobby last night, I realized that
you’d been poking around in the case—when I’d told you not to.”

“I’m sorry,” I said. “I’ve just been so worried about Danny.”

This was finally the time to tell him about the prostitution. He wasn’t going to like the fact that I’d hid it from him, and
I needed to steel myself for another blast of anger. I realized, in fact, that we were standing in almost the exact same spot
we’d been in last night when I’d first made him so mad. Maybe I’d suggest we have coffee someplace and I would tell him there.

Something about the déjà vu of the moment, of being there in the lobby with him again, made me turn around instinctively and
look at the front desk. Then I turned back again to Beck. His deep blue eyes gazed into mine and held them so hard, I couldn’t
pull away.

And suddenly the realization hit me. Last night when we had stood in the lobby and Natalie had glanced up, a worried expression
on her face, I’d assumed she’d caught Danny’s eye. But Danny had told me later that she had no memory of such a moment. It
was because she had never looked at Danny.

Natalie had been looking at Beck.

W
HAT’S THE MATTER?
” he asked gravely.

I realized that my face had instantly betrayed my bewilderment.

“Um, nothing. It’s just… everything all of a sudden. You know, Natalie, Anna, it’s all so horrible. I should leave. It’s really
hard to be here.”

“I thought you said you needed to get your clothes.” He crossed his arms over his chest and looked at me warily.

“Right. I do. They’re in my room.” I was doing everything in my power to sound normal, but it wasn’t working.

“Do you want me to come up with you?”

“No. No, I’ll be okay.”

“I’ll wait down here for you, then. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I’m fine.” Thanks to my anxiety, I’d sounded cryptic, almost dismissive.

I turned and hurried up the front stairs, trying to appear as if I were in a bit of a rush, but not frantic, which was how
I felt inside. My mind was a total jumble. Something was wrong, but I wasn’t sure what.

It took me over a minute to get the door to my room unlocked because my hands were trembling. Once inside, I turned the dead
bolt. Then, after flinging open the closet door, I yanked my clothes off hangers and gathered them into my arms. Finally I
sat on the bed and tried to think.

If Natalie had looked up at Beck last night, not Danny, the question was
why?
I was pretty sure it was right after I’d made the comment about how Anna had thought she was being followed. Had my comment
triggered a revelation on Natalie’s part, caused her to realize that some piece of information she was privy to—and had up
until that moment dismissed—was significant after all? Why look at Beck in particular?

I saw her in my mind. The glance she’d given had been one of more than surprise. It was worry, even alarm. Had she been looking
at Beck for reassurance? Or because the revelation had something to do with him? All I knew for certain was that soon afterward,
Natalie’s shift had ended and she had been murdered on her way to her car.

I didn’t know what to do. I couldn’t very well barricade myself in my room and demand that the police come over and rescue
me from their chief detective. For one thing, I had no proof that Beck had done anything. He had no motive, no connection
with Anna or Natalie. He was a cop, for God’s sake. Yet I knew that Natalie had looked at Beck last night, and I knew, with
all the instincts I possessed, that it had meant something. And he had acted so strangely when he had questioned me after
Natalie’s body was found. I didn’t have time to figure it all out now, alone in a deserted hotel, with a potentially homicidal
police detective. What I would have to do was go back downstairs, seem perfectly normal. But I didn’t know how to do that.

Quickly I dug through my purse for my cell phone and punched Jack’s New York number.

Please be there, I pleaded to myself. He picked up on the second ring.

“Jack, I need your help,” I said urgently. “I’m back at the inn and it’s all shut down and there’s a cop here and there’s
something funny. I think he might be connected to at least one of the deaths, but I’m not sure how. I’m all alone with him.
And I think he suspects now that I’m feeling weird about it. And I need to seem normal, but I don’t know how.”

“Wait, slow down, Bailey,” he urged.

“I can’t slow down. I’m up in a room and he’s gonna wonder what’s taking me so long.”

“Shouldn’t you call the police?”

“I wouldn’t know what to say. I don’t have anything specific to go on. Just tell me how to play the situation. How do I stay
in control?”

“How old is he? Is he a macho kind of guy?”

“Mid-thirties, and yes, macho. But not over the top. Not a redneck.”

“Listen to me then, Bailey. The
last
thing you want to do is look like you’re trying to control the situation. You can’t be tough or threatening to him. You have
to be an actress. Be girlish and compliant. Act vulnerable, like you need him.”

“
Vulnerable?
But won’t that just make it worse? If I seem scared, he’ll be sure I know something. And there’s no way he’d have any mercy.”

“Don’t seem scared of
him.
Because yes, that makes you a potential threat to him. Make it seem like you’re scared of something else and that you need
his help.”

“Okay, I better go. I’m going to head back to Danny’s house and I’ll call you from there.”

“Bailey, don’t hang up. Leave your cell phone on, okay, so I can hear what’s going on?”

I agreed and hurriedly said good-bye. Not bothering to slam the door, I raced down the hallway toward the stairs. As I stepped
off the landing above the first floor, I saw that Beck had already started to ascend the stairs. He’d been coming to find
me.

“Everything okay?” he asked. There was a tiny edge to his voice.

“Yeah, I guess,” I said.

He knew for sure that something was up, and I needed a story—to distract him from realizing that what was weighing on me was
him. And I had to use Jack’s advice.

“Actually, there
is
something I have to talk to you about,” I added. “I need your help.”

I kept descending the stairs until I was on the same step as him.

“What is it?” he asked. His voice sounded cold and flat, barely curious.

“Something weird happened in the spa yesterday,” I said, catching my breath. “I should have told you about it earlier, but
there was so much going on.”

I thought I saw him relax the tiniest bit. We descended the last steps of the staircase together and stood face-to-face. There
was only one light on in the lobby and with the tiled floor, it felt like a mausoleum. I launched into my tale about the wrap
and the towel over my face, describing every detail. He listened silently, his face without expression.

“I feel so relieved that I finally told you,” I said when I’d finished. Vulnerable chick, just as Jack had told me.

“Was Eric on duty?” he asked.

“I assume he was, but I didn’t see him. Do you think it could have been him?”

“It’s possible.”