Who Glares Wins (Lexi Graves Mysteries) (38 page)

"Were you supposed to be at the hotel tonight?" Lily asked.

"Nuh
-
uh. Just for the day shift."

"Can anyone prove you were there?"

"What's with the cop questions?"

"Think of them as alibi questions," said Lily pointedly, though she took it as a given that I hadn't hurt anyone. She'd known me too long for that.

I thought about it. I hadn't needed to use my key card to move about, and there weren't any security cameras. I'd had the foresight to wipe my fingerprints off the doors and I took a guess that the murderer had already wiped his... or hers. "No," I said, "I don't think so."

"And your car?"

"In the lot. I'm going to claim car trouble
,
so
I left it there
."

"So, maybe you got the bus home?"

"No ticket. Do the buses have cameras?"

"I don't know, I drive everywhere. You jogged? Maybe you're getting fit."

"Maybe."

"How do we explain my car
being
here
,
if anyone asks
?"

"I dropped my gloves earlier while... jogging. We came to look for them?"
It was sketchy
,
and I was pretty sure our sto
ry’
s believability would depend on who asked, but it was a start.

"And stopped to get a pizza on the way home
,
"
Lily suggested.

My stomach grumbled
,
but I felt more sick than hungry. "Okay."

"And before that
,
we hung out at home
,
talking."

"What were we talking about?"

"Boys."

"Typical."

"And completely believable."

"I wish it was believable that we were talking about the rise of women in congress or world affairs."

"Next week," said Lily. "This is feminism, baby. We can talk about whatever we want. I choose to talk about boys tonight."

"What are we saying about boys?"

"Let's go with the safe options. Jord..."

"I thought you were over him?"

Lily gulped. "I'm having a weak moment?"

I looked at her suspiciously. She looked shifty. Again, I wondered what he said to her. "And me?"

"You're talking about your smokin' boyfriend and your boss who wants to have sex with you."

"I'm not saying that to any cop!"

"Fine. I'll be discreet."

I sighed. "Go by Monty's Slices," I told her. "I changed my mind about the hospital. I'm buying
seeing as you’re
alibi-i
ng
."

"Awesome." Then
, with a sideways glance full of concern
. "You sure?"

"Yes
." I wasn't sure about much
,
but
I
did
kn
o
w Monty's Slices had a camera mounted above their counter
.
I thought it couldn't hurt to be caught on it with company
far away from the crime scene
.

Chapter Sixteen

I slunk into work
on the
following
day
with my hair artfully arranged to cover the bump, which had subsided slightl
y during a night of ice-packing
. I was
feverishly waiting for Maddox to turn up
, demanding
to know where I’d been,
and wasn't surprised to find the hotel te
e
ming with police. And, even worse perhaps, the Montgomery Gazette. I could see their star reporter
,
Shayne Winter
,
conferring with a man whom I guessed was the photographer. She saw me,
and
her eyes flashed with recognition a
s
she raced over, sticking the little recording device in my face.

"Go away," I snapped.

"Shayne Winter, Montgomery Gazette. Did you know there was a murder here last night?"

"No!" I lied
,
though my voice came out a bit too high, and not quite shocked enough.

"Really? Are you the only employee who didn't know about it? What kind of assistant manager are you?"

"I'm not the assistant manager, I'm a temp." I tried to sidestep Shayne
,
but she moved faster and blocked my way.

"Rumor has it an employee was shot to death in one of the guest bedrooms. Was it a crime of passion? Was he
servicing
a guest? Was he a thief?"

"I don't know!"

"C'mon. You gotta give me something. This is my last story for the Gazette."

That took me by surprise. "Really?"

"Yeah!
I'm going to be lead reporter for the LA
Observer
."

Figured. Shayne
Winter would fit
perfectly
in La-la
L
and
—from
her
impeccably
manicured nails to her swishy blonde hair. "Good luck with that." I sidesteppe
d again and she matched my move, blocking me.

Her eyes narrowed, like she knew I was trying to evade her. "I want to end on something juicy."

"Try a smoothie."

"Give me something to work with her
e
. There was a stabbing at th
e weirdo convention and now this murder
. Will The Montgomery
ever
recover
from its infamous past
?"

"Absolutely," I said
,
and this time
,
I elbowed my way past, darting into the lobby before she could ask me any more asinine question
s
. Inside, I put on my best confused face, which wasn't hard, and strode over to the concierge desk. "What happened?" I asked.

"There was a murder last night," Marta, the early shift concierge, told me.

"Oh my God!"

She nodded frantically. "That's what I said. The body's gone
,
but everyone is getting questioned."

I had two thoughts about coming into work today
,
and now I was having a third. Last night, leaving the crime scene seemed like a brilliant idea. Now it seemed like a dumb one. Could I have made myself
appear
anymore suspicious? I took a moment to think I should have called Maddox, or Solomon, and told them everything
,
but the urge to hide in Lily’s apartment had overwhelmed every good sense
.
Instead,
last night,
after forcing
down a slice of pizza
,
Lily had tucked me onto her sofa, insisting I didn't go anywhere so she could check on me in the night. She also told me Jord had
actually
asked her on a date
, which was marginally more surprising than the murder
. I fell asleep in a state of surprise and shock.

"
Mr.
Killjoy asked
for
you to go to his office when you got in," Marta said.

I thanked her and showed my pass to the police officer by the employees
’
door. He let me through with a nod
,
and I hurried down the hall to Edward's office. Predictably
,
he was in a state.

"The hotel will be shut down for sure," he said. "No one is going to stay at a hotel where the staff get murdered!"

I shut the door. "I don't think it was random. I think the murder is connected to the saboteur." In fact, I was positiv
e. I'd woken several times, Greg Conlan
's lifeless body on my mind.
On one occasion
,
Lily
was
looming over me, her fingers
at
the pulse on my neck, and I screamed blue murder.
I'd barely gotten any sleep
. I kept
thinking that somehow, someone must have known that I was meeting
Greg in that room
, that he was going to tell me who the saboteur was
,
and
the saboteur had somehow found out,
killing
him before he could tell me. The problem was, proving any of
i
t was going to be difficult.

I had a mystery person, a dead witness
,
and I'd left
a
crime scene. Maddox was going to be furious when he found out.

"And you still don't know who it is?" pressed Edward.

"No, but I'm very close. I can feel it."

"Close isn't going to save the hotel. The board are already sending a team. Guests are transferring to other hotels. We could be closed
as soon as
the end of the week."

"That's not going to happen," I said
.
I ramped up the idea forming in my mind into something more certain. "I've got a witness. Not to the murder, but to other stuff."

I just hoped I was right.

"You don't know who did it though."

"I have a suspect," I said. "I just need a little more time."

"You've got a day," said Killjoy. "I need this closed and fast. I need to show the board I
can
handle this
,
or I won't even be here to pay your bill."

I made a mental note to tell Solomon to send a bill.

"Okay. If you don't need me here today, there's somewhere I need to be." It
came to me
in the night
,
and I was pretty certain I knew where Marissa Widmore was. If I could find her, convince her to come home, I was
certain I would have my witness and my saboteur’s name. Plus
,
now the saboteur had stepped up to murder, it was imperative I got to Marissa first.

"Go," he said a
s
I turned on my heel. "One more thing. A Detective Maddox was looking for you."

I grimaced. "Do you know where he is?"

"No."

"I'll be back later," I promised and hurried out, almost bumping into Louisa. She gasped, stepping sideways and collid
ed
with the wall.

"Sorry!" I hurried past her. "I'm in a hurry!"

"Uh, no problem.
Terrible news, huh? I expect Edward will be fired soon.
"

“He’s very worried,” I said, and Louisa gave a sad shake of her head before turning into her office, where a police officer waited.

I legged it down the corridor, saw the officers stationed at the rear doors
,
and made a snap decision to exit via the front, forcing me to walk around the building to my car. The
fewer
cop questions
,
the better right now. I crossed my fingers that I wouldn't see Maddox and pushed the door open to the lobby a
s I
raced across it.

"Not so fast!" A man slid
over
my way and I crashed into him, putting my hands u
p to his chest to steady myself
. M
y fingers splayed across a very familiar pair of hard pecs
,
and an even more familiar striped blue tie.
Just my luck. Maddox. "Where are you going in such a hurry?" He dropped his voice
and made no move to put any space between us
,
despite the fact I was pretty much groping him
. "What are you even doing here?
Don’t you get Sunday off?
"

"
No. It’s a seven
-
day
-
a
-
week gig.
I have errands to run. For
Mr.
Killjoy."

"I was worried about you." Maddox took my elbow and steered me to an unoccupied corner near the doors. "Someone was killed here last night and your car was still in the lot. You haven't answered any of my calls. I was this close to putting out a BOLO on you."
He squeezed his thumb and forefinger together, leaving a hair’s breadth of space between them.

"I'm fine," I said and shrugged
,
which made me wince as my head gave a half-hearted throb.

"Are you sure? You don't look fine.
You look pale.
"

"I'm fine, really. And a murder? Gosh. That's awful."

"We got an anonymous tip last night. An employee w
as shot
. He was dead when we got here." Maddox ch
ecked his notebook. "A Greg Conlan
. Do you know him?"

"Uh, sure, I guess. We spoke a couple times.
I saw him yesterday.
"

"Any idea what he was doing in the guest rooms?"

"Covering for housekeeping, I think. The rotas were messed up again
and housekeeping didn’t show up
."

"That would explain it."
Maddox didn’t make a note
,
so I figured he already knew that and was testing me.

"I'm sure
Mr.
Killjoy can confirm." I looked hopefully towards the doors.

"Why was your car in the lot all night?"

"The engine wouldn't start," I lied smoothly. "Lily picked me up."

"
Do you want me to get a friend to look at it?
And where were you yesterday evening?"

Sheesh. I was starting to feel like a suspect. "
Thanks, but no.
We got pizza and went home. We ate at Lily's
,
then I went to bed early.
Well, I fell asleep on Lily’s sofa
!
"
My voice peeled off in a squeak and I clamped my mouth shut.

"Do you recall what time you left?
Here, that is. Not Lily’s.
"

"No. I stayed a little while after my shift ended to tie up some stuff."

"I can probably check your time out on the computer system here." Maddox waited.

"Sure." I gulped, bracing for more questions. I wasn't so good with the lying thing, especially not to Maddox, but I had the feeling that if Maddox
knew I'd been anywhere near Greg Conlan
's corpse, he'd
place
me in protective custody
;
and I had a witness to find. "About those errands..."

Maddox lowered his voice. "Is there anything else you need to tell me? Could this have anything to do with the case you're working
on
?"

"I don't know yet." Which wasn't a lie, because I really didn't know for certain, even though I strongly suspected it was.

"If you're withholding information pertinent to the case..." Maddox started.

I interrupted, "I don't think it was random. I think it's connected
,
but I don't know much more than that. Hey
,
you see that blonde woman sneaking up the stairs?"

Maddox turned
just as Shayne dashed past a uniform
, taking
the stairs two at a time
. "What about her?"

"She's a reporter with the Gazette. Shayne Winter."

"Shit!" Maddox called one of the police officers and pointed to the stairs
,
telling him to get rid of
the reporter
He turned back to me, the same finger now directed at my chest. "And if you knew anything else
,
you would tell me?"

"Absolutely," I lied, because much as I adored Maddox
,
the last thing I wanted was to be at the police station or handcuffed to him. Well, not in this mood anyway. I bit my lip, thinking better of it. Someone had been killed. I stepped closer to Maddox. "It wouldn't hurt to look at Sylvia," I told him. "She's
at the
top of
my list
of saboteurs
." I explained
my suspicions
quickly
about Sylvia’s motives and her ability to save the day every time
,
and Maddox nodded.