Elisabeth Crabtree - Pink Flamingo Hotel 01 - Death by Pink Flamingo (7 page)

He stuck his hands into his pockets and glanced over at the door.
“Looking for Danielle. I called her cell phone about three o’clock last night and she said she had gotten a room here.”

I shook my head.
“Danielle went home a little before midnight.”

His gaze flew back to mine.
“No, I was waiting for her, and she never returned home. She said she was here.”

I lifted my hands up. “Sorry, but
it appears your girlfriend lied to you.”

“She’s not my girlfriend. Well, not really,” he amended softly. “Are you absolutely positive she wasn’t here last night?”

“No, not really,” I admitted. “It’s possible she came back and Sylvia gave her a room to stay in.” I turned to the computer and checked the guest log. “If Sylvia did give Danielle a room, she definitely would have made some record of it. She was nothing if not organized, meticulous and rule-oriented.” Finding no mention of Danielle’s name, I leaned back in my chair and shook my head. “It’s just as possible that Danielle didn’t even bother asking and just helped herself to a room key.”

Jesse
walked to the door and peered out. A look of irritation crossed his face. “She’s standing by the front door talking to Blake.” He looked back at me and raised his eyebrows. “I guess now is as good a time to find out where she was, don’t you think?” He didn’t bother waiting for my response as he strode out the door.

CHAPTER SEVEN

Olivia frowned. “It’s just so strange.”

I glanced away from
Jesse and Danielle, who were standing next to a potted palm tree whispering to one another. “What is?”

“
Sylvia taking off and now that necklace is missing. It’s just not like Sylvia to leave like that.” Her blue eyes narrowed slightly and she leaned over and whispered, “It’s just like when your Uncle—” She straightened suddenly and smiled as a couple with three children in tow walked up to the desk. “Hello, welcome to the Pink Flamingo …” she said as she began the necessary steps of checking them in.

As interested as I was in whatever she had to say about Uncle
Max, I figured it would have to wait. I stepped away from the desk while she worked and drew closer to Jesse and Danielle, curious as to what they were saying to one another.

Whatever it was, it
wasn’t good. Danielle had her arms crossed in front of her and her lips were pursed together. She seemed to shrink in on herself the more Jesse said to her. She glanced over her shoulder, her eyes wide and frightened as she looked around.

I drew close enough to overhear Danielle say something about how lonely she had been last night when
I noticed Krista walking through the front door. With barely a hello, she strolled up to me and said, “Victoria just called me. She said something about her necklace is missing.”

I watched in irritation as Danielle gave me a dirty look before taking
Jesse’s arm and dragging him to the other side of the room.

“How could she lose it
already? Her father is going to be furious.” Krista pushed her blonde bangs away from her forehead in irritation. “I spent days trying to find the perfect gift for her father to give her and she loses it in less than twenty-four hours. I swear she does these things on purpose.”

“It wasn’t her fault, Krista. We think someone stole it out of our safe last night.”

“Oh, so it’s your fault.”

Taking Krista’s elbow, I led her to the dining room.
“And it’s so good seeing you again. Victoria is in the dining room talking to the police right now. Why don’t you go join them?”

“
Really?” Danielle shrieked from across the room. “Is that really what you think, Jesse?”

All eyes turned toward Danielle as she tossed her hair over her shoulder and balled her fists on her hips. “Well, wh
y don’t we ask her?”

I froze as a trickle of dread crept up my spine
. With any luck, I wouldn’t be the
her
she was referring to.

Danielle jammed her finger into
Jesse’s chest. “I’m sure Anna knows where Sylvia is.”

I should have realized last night that my luck had not only
run out, but was apparently laughing at me somewhere.

Danielle
spun on her heel and strode up to me. The naked fear that had covered her face only moments before had been replaced by raw fury. I stole a glance at Jesse, wondering what he had said to get her so riled up.

“What did you do with her
, Anna?” she asked.

“I beg your pardon?”
My heart caught in my throat as I noticed the police had chosen just that moment to arrive. Or at least one police officer. Ryan Taylor was standing at the front door. Catching sight of me, he smiled and waved his hand.

I weakly waved back.

“Sylvia,” Danielle answered with a sneer. “You did something to her and that’s why she’s not here. She doesn’t have any friends in Tallahassee. She doesn’t have any friends. Why don’t you admit that you killed her last night?” She looked up and around the lobby. “You must have hidden her body someplace.”

I looked nervously around as the lobby began to fill with people, suddenly very interested in what Danielle was saying. Luke and
Victoria had left the dining room the moment Danielle had begun her little tirade and were now standing next to Ryan, watching. A group of out-of-towners stopped to gawk on their way to the beach and hovered nearby. The dining room, which had up until then, been relatively noisy was suddenly quiet as diners strained to hear. Even my employees had stopped what they were doing to stare at Danielle and me.

Krista
took a step closer to me and shook her head disapprovingly as she whispered into my ear, “This is not the way to run a successful business, Anna.”

“
Well, I didn’t exactly plan this, you know,” I snapped before turning to Danielle. “Danielle, let’s go into my office and talk privately.”

Danielle, oblivious to the attention she was receiving, s
napped her fingers. “I know. I bet you hid her body upstairs on the fourth floor.” Everyone’s gaze immediately turned toward the ceiling. “You could bury a body in that shag carpeting and never find them again. Hmm. That’s why you don’t want to rent those rooms out. It’s a perfect place to hide a corpse.”

Horrified, I
dropped my gaze from the ceiling to the two police detectives standing nearby, hanging on every word.

Danielle must have caught my
expression, because she looked over her shoulder. She turned back around with an evil little grin. Pointing at me, she raised her voice even louder as she announced to the whole room, “I saw her kill Sylvia last night. I saw Anna Hart strangle the poor woman with her bare hands in the garden.” Clearly proud of herself, she crossed her arms once again and raised her chin. When the two detectives didn’t rush forward, she flipped her hand in my direction. “Take her away.”

I turned
panicked eyes toward Jesse as Luke and Ryan began to slowly advance toward me.

“You couldn’t have seen her kill anyone, Danielle,”
Jesse said. “You just told me that you left the hotel at midnight last night and were staying at a friend’s house. Remember?”

Danielle’s chin came down a few notches. “I …
well, I lied to you.”

“Really
?” he asked as he came to stand next to me. “And why would you do something like that?”

“Because I …
because … I just didn’t want you to know where I was.”

Jesse
wrapped his arm around my waist. “You’re lying, Danielle. Why don’t you admit that you’re angry with me? Angry that I ended our relationship. Angry that I’m now with Anna. You’re just trying to get back at her for something I did. Just admit it.”

Danielle’s eyes narrowed. “Look, I know what I saw.
I was here last night—”

“Well, if
that’s true and you were here, and you saw someone being murdered, then why didn’t you call the police?”

Danielle hesitated
. “Well, I just didn’t … It was dark. I didn’t know she had been murdered. I didn’t piece it all together until Sylvia didn’t show up this morning. That’s when things began to click,” she said snapping her fingers near her ear.

“Oh
, so it was dark.” Jesse tilted his head to the side and regarded Danielle quizzically. “Dark enough that you couldn’t tell that Sylvia was being murdered, but light enough to know that Anna was strangling her with her bare hands?” He looked at Luke. “Strange, isn’t it?”

The corner of Luke’s mouth went up for a second as he approached
. “I think we’ll handle this from this point.”

Jesse
and I nodded automatically as Luke and Ryan led Danielle to the empty sunroom near the front door.

I
had just started to breathe a little freer when Luke suddenly turned around and pointed a finger at both of us. “Stay right here. We’re going to need to talk to you two.”

Nodding, I watched as Danielle was ushered into the room. As soon as the door closed behind the detectives,
I gripped Jesse’s hand, which had settled on my hip. “What happened?” I hissed.

“I
asked her about the necklace and then I made the mistake of telling her that you and I were together last night. She didn’t take the news well.”

“No kidding.”
I plastered a smile on my face as Victoria ran forward with a to-go box in one hand.

She
enveloped me in a one armed hug. “Oh, Anna, that was so horrible.” She pulled away. “I just can’t believe what I just saw.”

“Neither can I,” Krista said with an irritated shake of her head. “You should have fired her the moment she started screeching.
Gabriel would have had her out the door in seconds. Honestly, Anna, we need to talk. I think you’re in over your head.”

“Nonsense,”
Victoria said quickly. “What should Anna have done? Tackle her to the floor the moment she opened her mouth?”

I watched as the young couple
that Olivia had been checking in picked up their bags and ushered their children out the front door. While the out-of-towners, who had been on their way to the beach, made a U-turn and headed straight for the elevator. “It couldn’t have been any worse than what did happen.”

“You are going to fire her, aren’t you?” Krista asked.

“She’s in there talking to the police right now,” I replied, much more calmly than I thought I would. “Should I interrupt them?”

Krista must have thought I was serious because she immediately shook her head. “No, I would wait until they
leave. You don’t need another scene,” she said as a guest, who had been standing in line waiting to check in, turned around and walked out.

“This is ridiculous. You didn’t kill Sylvia and as soon as she shows up, everyone will realize that.” Victoria took a deep breath before giving me a lopsided grin. “Well, look at the bright side. The press isn’t here this time.” She glanced at her watch and frowned. “I’m sorry, I’ve got to go back to work.
I only have ten minutes to meet a client across town.”

“I thought you were having lunch here,” I said.

She shrugged. “The mystery of the missing necklace took up too much time. Besides, I think my lunch date is a bit busy right now. Don’t worry, Anna, Luke’s pretty smart. He’s not going to fall for Danielle’s lies. Besides, you have me. I’ll put in a good word for you.”

“Thanks,” I said giving her a hug.

“I have my cell phone,” she said. “If anything happens, give me a call.”

“Me too,” Krista said.
Her expression softened as she reached out to give me a hug. “Victoria is right. No one’s going to believe Danielle. It was obvious she was lying, but if anything happens, call me and I’ll call Gabriel’s lawyer. We’ll have you out by the end of the day. We might be able to turn this around to your benefit.”

Victoria
shrugged. “You know what they say, any publicity is good publicity.”

“That’s not always
true, but …” Krista’s expression turned crafty. “You could come out ahead on all this. Let me do some thinking. When they release you from jail, we’ll talk.”

“Hmm, s
omething to look forward to.” I waved as they both walked out of the hotel. Leaning closer to Jesse, I whispered, “Gabriel Carrera’s lawyer is probably too expensive. I guess I could call the lawyer that handled Uncle Max’s will.”

“You’re not going to need a lawyer,”
Jesse said. He dropped his hand from around my waist and took a step away from me.

“Where are you going?”

He nodded toward Luke Casey, who had just opened the door to the sunroom. The detective leaned back against the doorjamb and stared right at us with a curious expression on his face. “I’m not going to wait for Casey to come to me. Might as well get this over with now.”

I grabbed
Jesse’s wrist and held on tight. “Are you sure that’s a good idea? The last time you went to talk to someone, she accused me of murder.”

“Okay, I’ll admit it didn’t exactly go the way I had
planned, but don’t worry, I’ll fix this.” When I didn’t look reassured, he patted my hand. “Relax. I have it all under control.”

I reluctantly dropped my hand and watched as he approached Luke. They both stood a few feet apa
rt, Luke leaning casually against the doorjamb. Jesse, hands in pockets, stood a few feet away. Close, but not too close to the detective.

I didn’t part
icularly like how Luke kept glancing my way as Jesse spoke. I watched as his brows drew together and he shook his head at whatever Jesse was saying. I caught myself digging my fingernails into the palm of my hands and consciously tried to relax.

It’s okay,
I thought to myself.
Jesse’s my friend
.
We grew up together. I trust him
. He glanced my way and smiled reassuringly as Luke leaned back and said something to Ryan in the room behind him.
I have no choice but to trust him
, I thought, as I lifted the corners of my mouth in what I hoped was an expression of pure carefree innocence and not one of abject terror.

Jesse’s
eyebrows drew down in confusion as he looked at me. Apparently, carefree innocence wasn’t working for me today. Shaking his head, he turned back as Ryan joined them outside of the sunroom.