Elisabeth Crabtree - Pink Flamingo Hotel 01 - Death by Pink Flamingo (6 page)

“I thought you’d be happy.” She glanced down at her watch. “He should be here any minute.
Hey, what’s this?” she asked peering over the wastebasket. She reached in and pulled out the brochures Sylvia had thrown away. The same ones that I had picked up and placed in the brochure rack before I went to bed.
She must have come back in here after I went to bed and threw them away again. Stubborn woman,
I thought with a shake of my head before quickly admonishing myself for thinking ill of the dead.

“Why did you throw these out? You against preserving the boardwalk or something?”

“
Sylvia threw them away.” I took the brochures from her and laid them on my desk.

“Sounds like her.
Can you get me my birthday present? I want Luke to see it.”

I shook my head in confusion.
“I gave you your present last night.”

“No, not that. I’m talking about the necklace my dad gave me.”

“I don’t have it.”

“
Yes, you do. I asked Sylvia to put it in the safe last night. The latch broke while I was dancing with Jesse.”

“
Jesse?” I blurted out a bit louder than I intended. Being reminded of my missing partner in crime made me feel a bit queasy. I glanced out the window wondering where he was and why he hadn’t reappeared today. I had expected him to show up sometime this morning and fill me in on what he did with Sylvia, but so far, he had kept his distance. “Why were you dancing with him?”

“Don’t get jealous,” she teased.

“I’m not jealous. Just curious.”

“I wanted to see where he’s been all this time,” she said studying her fingernails.

I waited patiently for her to continue, but when it appeared that she was going to draw the suspense out as long as possible, I finally caved. “And what did he say?”

Victoria
dropped her hand. “After he left here, he moved to California to stay with his aunt. He got a degree in engineering or something or other,” she said waving her hand around, clearly uninterested in that part of his life. She leaned forward excitedly. “Here’s the important part. He’s not married and he was asking a lot of questions about you.”

“Such as?”

“Oh, the usual. What’s your status? Are you seeing anyone? What have you been up to since high school? You know, basically, your entire life history from the moment he left until last night.”

“And what did you say?”

Victoria leaned back. “I played it cool.”

I crossed my arms. If I knew my friend and I did, I was reasonably certain she did nothing of the sort. In fact, I was
positive Jesse learned enough about me in a few minutes conversation with Victoria to write my biography. My friend, at heart, was an incurable romantic. “How cool?”

She studied her fingernails again. “I told him
the basics and that you weren’t seeing anyone.”

I leaned my head back.
“And?”

She dropped her hand.
“And that we were very upset when he left and he should have said good-bye or at the very least written a note.” Her brown eyes flashed angrily. “The nerve of him, thinking he could waltz back into our lives. I told him off.” She changed expressions and smiled happily. “I also said that we were the forgiving type and you were free next Saturday.”

“Did you find out what he’s doing back here
or why he left?”

“No, he was really evasive about it all.”

My eyebrows lifted. “And you still made a date with him for me?”

She looked at me as though I was crazy
. “It’s Jesse, not some stranger I met online. We grew up with him.”

“It’s been a long time,
Victoria. He could have changed for the worse, for all we know.”

Victoria
tilted her head to the side. “You know something I don’t?”

I shook my head, wondering how I was going to be able to keep
Sylvia’s death a secret for much longer.
On the bright side, there was no way this day could possibly get any worse.
Feeling more exhausted than I’ve ever felt in my life, I wearily stood up, walked to the hidden wall safe behind the desk and entered the combination. The door popped open.
Oops, spoke too soon.

“Well, don’t worry,”
Victoria said from behind me. “I’m sure Jesse hasn’t become a deranged maniac since he was last in town … Anna, what’s wrong?”

My
heartbeat began to race as I felt along the interior of the safe.

The empty safe.

“Are you sure Sylvia put it in here?”

Victoria
stood up. “Absolutely. I watched her do it.” She peered into the safe. “Maybe she stole it.”

I snorted.
“Sylvia? Don’t be silly.” I couldn’t imagine Sylvia stealing Victoria’s necklace. The woman had been a stickler for rules. It would have gone against her entire fiber of being to do something illegal. “Sylvia may be a lot of things but a jewel thief wasn—isn’t one of them.”

Victoria
lightly stamped her foot. “Oh, I can’t believe it’s gone. Do you have another safe that I don’t know about?”

“
No, I’m so sorry, Victoria. I don’t know what happened.”

She lightly patted my arm.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure Dad has it insured. Besides, Sylvia probably just moved it somewhere.” She glanced back at the safe. “For some reason. Why don’t you give her a call?”

“Yeah
… I’ll do that.”

“Wait a second.”
Victoria’s eyes lit up. “You know what?”

“What?” I asked, suddenly worried as to what my best friend had in mind.

“Actually, this sounds like a case for our new detective!”

I slammed the door to the safe shut a bit har
der than I intended. “Oh good. That’s just what I was thinking.”

CHAPTER SIX

“Diamonds as big as cabbages.” Victoria leaned across the reception desk and smiled up at Detective Luke Casey as she described her missing necklace. She leaned closer and examined his eyes. “Hey, you know, I have a sapphire necklace that’s the exact same color as your eyes. Such a beautiful color.”

Ignoring the compl
iment, Luke gave her a wry grin. “Cabbages, huh? That sounds like it would be rather difficult to wear.” He glanced down at his notebook. “I don’t suppose you have a picture?” he asked in amusement.

“Sorry.”
Victoria scrunched up her nose as she laid her chin on her palm. “Krista might. She was dad’s official photographer last night.”

I tapped my finge
rs impatiently against the desk, the urge to confess growing stronger with each passing second.
It was a robbery gone wrong. That had to be the explanation.
Someone—a stranger more than likely—tried to rob the hotel and Sylvia caught them in the act. Surely, Luke would see that I wasn’t involved.
I bit my lip.
Yeah, he’d believe me, right up until I explained why I didn’t call the police when I found Sylvia’s body
, I thought, as the urge to confess passed by just as quickly as it had come.

Luke walked around the desk and entered the office.
I followed him to the door and watched as he looked in and around the safe. “Did you hear or see anything strange last night, Anna?”

“Strange?” I squeaked out. Clearing my throat, I shoo
k my head. “No, not really.”

“You’re
Max Hart’s niece, correct?”

“Yes.”

“Did your uncle talk to you about the hotel while you were attending graduate school?”

“
Um, no, not really.”

Luke frowned.
“He didn’t talk to you at all?”

“
Well, yes of course, we talked but it was mostly about what I was learning and how I was. That’s all. Why?”

“And you’re positive you didn’t hear anything last night?” Luke asked, ignoring my question.

All of the sudden, someone wrapped their arm around my waist. I turned my head to find Jesse standing next to me. A very tired and exhausted looking Jesse. He leaned down and kissed me. “Hi, sweetheart, miss me?”

My mouth fell open as
Jesse turned from me to Detective Casey. He reached out and introduced himself, shaking hands with the detective. “I don’t think we would have heard anything over that storm last night. I tossed and turned all night long.” Jesse patted my hip. “Anna slept like a baby.”

I caught
Victoria’s surprised expression over Jesse’s shoulder and wondered if I looked nearly as shocked as she did. Jesse pressed his fingers into my side and looked at me meaningfully. I swallowed hard. “Right. I … didn’t hear anything.”

Luke
looked at me strangely for a few uncomfortable seconds before turning back to the safe. “There doesn’t appear to be any damage to the safe.”

Jesse
swung his gaze from me to the safe. “You were robbed?”

“
Victoria’s birthday present was stolen last night,” I said.

“Maybe not,”
Victoria said. “Sylvia may have moved it. We still haven’t asked her about it yet.”

Luke,
who had finished inspecting the safe, came around the desk. “I’ll need the address she’s staying at in Tallahassee.”

Jesse’s eyebrows
rose. “Tallahassee?”

“I don’t know it actually.
Sylvia and I weren’t close.” I placed my fingers over Jesse’s which were now digging into my hip.

“Do you have a phone number
I could call?” Luke asked.

I shook my head helplessly.

Luke looked at me suspiciously. “Do you know her friends’ names?”

“
I’m sorry, but I’m afraid not. She just said she needed some time away and was going to Tallahassee. I really don’t know any more than that.”

“
Okay … Well, don’t worry,” Luke said. “We’ll find her.”

The
incessant ringing of the bell at the front desk caught my attention. I turned around and noticed Blake, my former gardener, standing at the desk wearing a skimpy, light blue bathing suit and a floppy straw hat. He looked at me and grinned. “Hey there. Can I get some service, please?”

I reluctantly stepped away from
Jesse and walked toward the desk. “Hello, Blake. I’m sorry about yesterday. I’ll pay you for whatever work you did.”

“
Oh, no,” he said waving his hand, “don’t worry about paying me. It’s not money that I want.” He folded his arms on top of the desk and leaned forward. “Not money at all.”

I licked my lips, wondering what he meant
and was just about to ask when he added, “Besides, I didn’t get a chance to do much before Sylvia fired me.” He looked up. “Oh wait, that’s right I quit, didn’t I? Where is Sylvia, by the way? I wanted to at least thank her for giving me a chance yesterday. Good woman. Salt of the earth. Know what I mean?”

I was
partly afraid that I did.
“What do you want, Blake?” I asked suspiciously.

“Oh,
I just need some towels.”

My eyebrows knitted together.
“Towels?”

“I just rented room
110.” He turned to watch as Danielle walked down the stairs and disappeared around the corner. “Seems like the maid forgot to put some towels in the room.”

I glanced at Olivia who was hanging back wat
ching our exchange. “Danielle and I put towels in every room yesterday,” she said quickly.

Blake
laid his chin on his folded arms. “Well, they’ve run off. So, has the shower curtain.”

I glanced at
Jesse as Olivia looked on in bewilderment.

“Is there a problem?” Detective Casey asked from somewhere behind me.

“No. No problem.” I said quickly before turning to Olivia. “Could you get Blake some new towels and a shower curtain?”

Blake
started to turn when Jesse chose that moment to speak up. “Don’t you live in town, Blake?”

“Just evicted. Need a place to stay for a week or two.
So, I thought,” he said spreading his arms wide, “the Flamingo. If anyone deserves my business, it’s the Pink Flamingo. If anyone needs me, I’m going to be at the beach.” He patted his flat stomach. “Need to get some rays. Later, all.”

I watched him stroll out the doors, wondering as he went what had happened to the towels and shower curtain in room
110—I had a feeling that I knew but the thought made me slightly nauseous—when the sound of a cell phone softly vibrating behind me caught my attention.

Luke brought out his phone and held it to his ear. “
Hey, Ryan. Can you come to the Flamingo?” he asked as he walked away with Victoria trailing behind him. She pivoted around, glanced from Jesse to me and then mouthed,
I want details,
before following Luke into the dining room.

I turned on
Jesse, dragging him to the office and shutting the door. “Where have you been?”

“Taking care of things.
” He raked his hand through his sandy blond hair, pushing it back out of his eyes. “Why on earth did you tell the cops that Sylvia went to Tallahassee? That was a bad idea, Anna.”

“Well, I’m
sorry, but this is the first time I’ve ever tried to cover up a murder.”

He glanced over at the open safe. “
What’s been happening over here?”

“I’ve be
en slowly going out of my mind, that’s what’s been happening. We made a terrible mistake, Jesse. We should have called the police. I think we should go out there and tell Luke what happened,” I said as I quickly shared my suspicion that Sylvia died in a robbery.

“
He’d arrest you and me both. Even if you had called the police last night, you still would have gotten arrested for murder. They would have just said that you stole the necklace.”

“You do
realize that her murderer is going to go free. Whoever killed her will never face justice now.”

“I’ve got
news for you, sweetheart. Whoever it was who killed her wasn’t going to face justice whether we left her body there or not.” He held out his hand. My broken watch dangled between his fingers. “I found this next to her body. It has your name engraved on the back.”

My mouth fell open as I glanced at the watch.
“But—it broke yesterday afternoon and I threw it away. Sylvia picked it up out of the trash.” I pointed to the door. “Ask Olivia if you don’t believe me. She was there. She must have seen Sylvia pick it up.”
Didn’t she
? I thought, frantically trying to remember whether the girl had been paying any attention or not.

“
Even if Sylvia did pick it up, why would she still be carrying it around in the middle of the night? Face it, Anna, the killer did everything they could to implicate you.” He tapped the watch with his finger. “Look at the time. It stopped at 4:45. That’s pretty close to the time I came upon you and the body last night.”

“Yeah,
but it stopped at 4:45 in the afternoon, not last night.”

“There’s no a
.m. or p.m. on the watch face.” He thrust the watch back into his pocket. “The cops would just say it broke during the struggle.”

I laid my head in my hands.
He was right, of course. Someone clearly wanted me to pay for Sylvia’s death. But who?
“What did you do with the body?”

“I buried it near the old pier. No one ever goes out that way anymore. I wanted to take her out to sea but …”

I dropped my hands and reluctantly asked, “But what?”

“I just didn’t think it was a good idea.
By the time I got her close to the beach, the sun was coming up. It was just too dangerous. There was too big of a risk of being seen.”

“Did you take the towels and shower curtain out of room 110?”

He nodded
, causing his hair falling across his eyes. He raked it back into place. “I needed something to carry the body in.”

I groaned.
“Jesse, the shower curtains and towels are monogramed with the hotel’s name.”

He made a face.
“I didn’t leave it with the body. I just borrowed it for a few hours.”

“
Borrowed? You can keep it. I don’t want it back.”

He
wrapped his hands around my waist. “Would you relax?”

I laid my palms against his chest and pushed
him back. “Relax? You must be joking. Oh, by the way, what was all that out there?”

“What?”

“You kissed me,” I hissed.

“Oh, that,” he said with a
chuckle. “I had to make it convincing. Look, you needed an alibi and I just gave you one.”

“If anyone finds out you moved the body, you’re not going to be much of an alibi, pal.”

He grabbed my hand and held on tight. “No one’s going to find out. You need to trust me, Anna.”

“
Why should I trust you? I don’t know you anymore, Jesse. I have no idea where you’ve been or what you’ve been doing. You’re practically a stranger to me now.”

“Anna,” he said chidingly.

“Where did you go? Why did you leave?”

Jesse frowned. “I … I was just a kid. I had to go. I didn’t have much choice …” He pursed his lips together. “What difference does it make now?”

“A lot to me,” I said sadly. “I have no idea who you are. Where you live. What you do for a living.”

He lifted an eyebrow.
“Oh, haven’t you heard? I’m a professional jewel thief.”

“Very funny.”

“
I’m the same person you grew up with, just taller and with more money.” He brushed my hair off my shoulder. “We used to be close at one time or have you forgotten?”

“Past tense,
Jesse.” I took a step back and crossed my arms. “Ancient history or have you forgotten?”

“
Hey, I’d think you’d be a little bit grateful. I wouldn’t stick my neck out for just anyone. If had been anyone else out there last night, I would have gone straight to the police.”

“Why didn’t you? We haven’t seen each other in years.
”

His face softened.
“I know you, Anna. You couldn’t kill anyone.”

I sank down in
to the chair behind my desk. “You seemed pretty convinced for a few minutes last night.”

“I was in shock,” he said with a shrug. “
The more I thought about it, the more I realized that you were telling me the truth.”

I fingered the letter opener
lying near the computer. “What were you doing out there so late last night?”