Elisabeth Crabtree - Pink Flamingo Hotel 01 - Death by Pink Flamingo (9 page)

“Was the brother c
onvicted?”

“
I’m not sure. Sylvia was convinced it was the brother, but if you ask me, I think it was one of our employees.”

“
Really? Which one?”

She looked over her shoulder
before dropping her voice to a bare whisper. “Blake.”

Lowering my own voice, I said,
“But I thought Blake was just hired yesterday.”

“
He’s done temp work for the hotel in the past. Anytime the gardener went on vacation or got sick, Blake would help out. He was here when the jewelry case went missing. You should have heard him. He talked non-stop about it. He asked a lot of questions, but he was the one that seemed to know the most about the theft. He told me that he suspected Danielle.”

“Why?”

“I don’t think he had a reason other than he absolutely despises her. It’s completely mutual. She hates him too.” She blushed. “But to tell you the truth, I kind of like him. He’s funny and kind of good-looking. Plus, he can be really nice sometimes.” She shook her head as if she couldn’t believe what she was saying. Good sense must have finally won out because she quickly added, “But he’s definitely shady and I think he’s up to no good.”

So, did I.
“Did you see him hanging around here during the party last night?”

Olivia shook her head.
“No, but I was pretty busy.” She looked over my shoulder. “Speaking of busy,” she said as she returned to the front desk and greeted another guest.

Deciding
that it was time to go back to work, I returned to my office and sat down, but try as I might, I couldn’t concentrate. All I could think about was my Uncle Max.
Could Sylvia have been right about Uncle Max’s death? She had been very vocal last night. She practically announced it to everyone who was here that Uncle Max was murdered.

I picked up the letter opener and tapped it against the desk.
Perhaps, the killer decided to kill Sylvia before she could convince anyone else.
I snorted in derision. Shaking my head, I picked up the stack of mail sitting in my inbox.
Why would the killer go after Sylvia? Sylvia was convinced I was the killer. She made that quite clear last night. The killer could have rested easy, knowing Sylvia would do everything in her power to prove I murdered Uncle Max. So, then why kill her?
I thought, ripping open an envelope.

I mindlessly opened each letter, stacking them into piles as I tried to make sense of ever
ything. I was handling everything by rote now. Bills here, brochures there, a letter from the Chamber of Commerce over to the side. I just stacked them in neat piles as my mind raced.

Then, just like the night before, it was the flamingo that caught my attention. Despite the poor quality of the photograph that fell from one of the envelopes I had just opened, the bright pink showed up clearly.

My heart began to beat fast as I looked down at the photograph in my hand. It was a picture of Felix, or rather a picture of me brandishing Felix like a weapon. Jesse stood a foot away, reaching up to take the flamingo out of my hands and right next to my feet was a clear shot of Sylvia lying in the sand.

CHAPTER NINE

Jesse
held up the picture. “Do you think I need a haircut?”

“Oh, that’s funny,” I said, pacing the length of my living room. Part of a suite of rooms had been converted into a living space by Uncle Max years earlier. I had been
a nervous wreck for the last five hours, waiting impatiently for Jesse to reappear, so I could show him the picture. For some reason it didn’t seem to have the same effect on him as it did on me.

Jesse
dropped the picture down on the coffee table. “Anna, calm down. Everything’s going to be okay.”

I stopped and stared down at him dumbfounded. My memory of
Jesse had been one of a handsome, athletic and
intelligent
young man. I knew people could change, especially from adolescence to adult, but could he really not see the significance of this? “Did you hit your head at some point? We’re in serious trouble.”

“I know
that, but freaking out is not going to help.”

“I am not freaking out,” I said with forced calmness, “I’m
simply getting used to pacing around a small room. How big is a jail cell, do you think?”

Jesse
looked around the living space. “Smaller than this. Look, we’re not going to jail. If our mystery pen pal here wanted us to go to jail, he would have sent that picture to the cops.” He gave me a small bitter smile. “No, he wants something else.” He picked up the picture and held it up. “And you’re sure there was nothing else that came with this?”

“I’m sure. I went through every piece of paper on my desk.
There was no note.”

“What about the envelope?”

“It came in one of the hotel’s envelopes. No stamp, so it must not have gone through the mail.”

“Who has access to your office?”

I rubbed my hands down my arms. “Any of the employees, I guess. It’s been unlocked all day.”

“You
probably should stop doing that.”

“
No one had to have access to the office to drop this,” I said, waving my hand toward the picture, “in my mail. They could have just slipped it into the mailbox at any time.” I resumed my pacing. “Who could have been out there last night watching us?”

“You mean besides the murder
er?”

“It could have been Danielle.” I shook my head. “No, not Danielle.”

Jesse’s head snapped up. “Why not her?”

“She would have taken the picture to the police.
Or whipped it out when she was being questioned.”

“Don’t discount her just yet. We don’t know what she’s up to. She could just be tightening the screws.
Playing with us. I wouldn’t put it past her.”

I reached the sliding glass doors and immediately pivoted back around.
“Such a low opinion of your girlfriend.”

“She is not my girlfriend.”

“That’s not what I heard. What did you and Danielle talk about before she decided to have her little Inspector Clouseau moment in the lobby?”

“Mainly about where she was la
st night. She swore she left here at midnight and was at home all night. When I insisted that she wasn’t, she changed her story and said she had been staying at a friend’s house. A male friend’s house. She said she wouldn’t tell me whose house, because she didn’t want me to go beat him up.” He smirked. “Me and my jealous rages, don’t you know.”

I stopped at the small bar that separated the living room from the kitchen.
“Do you think she was telling the truth?”

“Of course not. She was obviously lying.
But I did find out something interesting.”

I leaned back against the bar and crossed my arms.
“What?”

“
I told her that someone’s necklace was stolen last night and she acted shocked. Absolutely shocked. She said that poor Victoria must be so upset and that she should sue you.”

“Unbelievable,” I muttered.

“She then said that the safe in your office is so cheap that anyone could have taken it but more than likely Blake was the thief.”

“That’s funny.”

“What is?”

“Olivia said pretty much the same thing to me earlier
,” I said before quickly filling him in on the thefts that had been occurring at the hotel.

Jesse
’s features twisted into a grimace. “I don’t think Blake’s a jewel thief. Didn’t you say he left before the party? How would he have known about Victoria’s necklace or that it was placed in the safe?”

I pushed myself away from the bar and resumed my pacing.
Jesse did have a good point. Just how would Blake have known? I hadn’t even known until Victoria showed up asking for her necklace.
I stopped in front of Jesse and looked down at him. “As far as I know, only two people knew Victoria’s necklace was in the safe. Victoria and Sylvia. How did Danielle know? Did you—?”

“Ah, see, this is where it gets interesting,” Jesse said. “I never told her it was Victoria’s necklace that was stolen or even where it was stolen from, but somehow, she knew. How much do you want to bet that she knows who killed Sylvia? For all we know, she might have been the one who killed her. I wouldn’t put it past her. She’s got an awful temper and I don’t think she liked Sylvia very much.”

“You could have fooled me,”
I said, pausing by the sliding glass door, “They seemed quite close last night.”

He smiled slightly.
“They bonded in their mutual hatred of you.”

I sank against the glass. “Why
, what did I do?”

“You didn’t do anything,
Anna,” he said gently. “Danielle didn’t need a reason to hate you. She hates everyone, just on general principle, and Sylvia … well, I think Danielle tried to convince her you were responsible for your uncle’s death. I don’t think she had to try very hard. From what I gathered from Danielle, Sylvia expected to inherit the hotel and she was rather put out when she found out she would have to share ownership with you. Danielle’s probably been filling her head with all sorts of stories since Max died.”

“It doesn’t make any sense. I barely knew the woman. I only met her a few times. There has to b
e a reason why Danielle would try to hurt me. I just can’t accept that she’s doing it just for fun.”

Jesse rubbed his hand across his neck. “She does seem to be going out of her way to target you.”

“No kidding.” I turned to the side and glanced out into the night. As I did, my eyes drifted down to the tiled balcony. I turned on the porch light to get a better look before opening the sliding glass door and stepping out. “Jesse, I think you should come out here and see this.”

L
ying next to a couple of potted plants was a bundle. It was about three feet long and wrapped with a couple of Pink Flamingo hotel towels, a pink ribbon and bow.

I felt
Jesse join me on the balcony. He quickly knelt down beside the bundle. “I don’t suppose you left this out here.”

“No, I did not,” I
said, kneeling next to him as he carefully unwrapped the bundle.

We both sucked in our breath at the same time.

Felix was back.

He lay staring up at us. His happy flamingo smile still in place as well as a small note card attached to his neck. The only thing missing were the stakes
Sylvia had attached to his feet.

Jesse
plucked the note card off the flamingo and held it up to his eyes. “Miss me?” he read.

I rubbed my hand across my eyes. “I think it’s time to start freaking out now, don’t you?”

*
* *

I poked my head out the door of my living quarters. Ryan stood at the end of the hallway. Using the back of his knuckles, he rapped against the door to room 220, Sylvia’s room. “Sylvia, are you there? Please let me in.”

I took a second to glance behind me.
Using the towels, Jesse had laid Felix down on the floor being careful not to touch any part of the flamingo. He was now bent over it, examining every inch. For what, I wasn’t sure.

I was just about to whisper that Ryan was down the hall when I heard the soft shuffle of shoes against the carpet. I turned my head, stifling a small surprised yelp
when I discovered Ryan standing just a few inches away. “Hey, Anna, I don’t suppose you’ve seen Sylvia yet?”

I took a step
forward, bumping into his chest, and slamming the door shut behind me. He reached out and gripped my elbows to steady me, surprise clearly etched across his face. Smiling shyly, he took a step back and dropped his hands.

“Nope, not yet.”

His smile fell and a worried look crossed his face. “I was hoping she’d be back by now. It’s almost nine.”

“I don’t know why you’re so concerned. I told you she left for Tallahassee this morning.”

He glanced down the hall. “No, she’s up to something. I just wish she’d show up or call or something.”

I checked my door
handle, making sure that it had locked behind me. Satisfied that it had, I started walking toward the grand staircase. Slowly at first trying to draw Ryan away from the door and from what was behind it. “Well, you can’t do anything till she shows up.”

He began to
nod, then stopped all of sudden and leaned toward my door. His head cocked to the side as if he was straining to hear.

My heart began to beat against my chest as my mind raced
for a way to draw him away from the door. “Have you eaten yet? I haven’t had a thing.” I smiled brightly and ran my hand though my hair, hoping that the power of my raw sex appeal would be enough to entice him away from the door.

“Yeah
, I went out and grabbed a bite when my shift was over.”

I dropped my hand.
Clearly, my raw sex appeal needed some work. In my defense, it has been a rather horrible day.

Ryan
jerked his thumb toward the door. “Is Jesse in there? I want to talk to him.”

“What? Why?”

“I want to see if Danielle’s been in contact with him. We haven’t been able to find her since this afternoon either.”

I shook my head. “He went out. Um, I’m not sure when he’s going to be back.”

“Then who’s in there?”

“I left the
TV on. I’m always forgetting to turn it off.”

“Oh,” he said in disappointment as he finally joined me near the
staircase. Frowning, he glanced over his shoulder.

I chuckled, hoping that the sound didn’t sound forced as I waited for his attention to swing back around.

It worked. His head immediately turned in my direction. A half smile played around his lips as he looked at me questioningly. “What’s so funny?”

“You
are. Look at you so dedicated. You’re not even on the clock now and you’re still here investigating.”

“Investigating?” he asked with a laugh. “I don’t feel like I’m investigating. More like twiddling my thumbs.”

“Well, I’m glad to know that Hatter’s Cove’s finest takes robberies very seriously,” I said as I lightly went down the grand staircase to the lobby, trying to put as much distance between Ryan and my room. “You should get a medal.”

“It’s not that. I’m worried about
Sylvia. This just isn’t like her. Anytime there’s a problem, she calls me.”

I stopped on my way down the stairs and looked at him curiously. “I didn’t know you and she were so close.”

“She practically raised me. Her and my grandma both.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“How did you think I got the job working here that one summer?”

“I just assumed you applied like everyone else,” I
said, leading him across the lobby and to the dining room.

“Nope, good ole fashioned nepotism. Well, I guess it’s not technically nepotism, since we aren’t really
related, but still…” He glanced toward the reception desk as Lizzie, the night manager, checked in an elderly couple. “Things seem to be going well.” He came to a stop in the middle of the lobby. “See, this is what’s worrying me.”

“Things going well
here worries you?”

“No,
” he said with a laugh, “The fact that Sylvia isn’t here to oversee things worries me. It’s just not like her to miss out on the grand reopening.” He lightly touched my elbow. “Did you two have a fight?”

“No of course not
. Why would you think such a thing?” I asked, hoping I didn’t sound at all hysterical.

“It’s okay,
Anna, if you did. I’d understand. Sylvia can be rather difficult at times. I heard a rumor that you and she got into a fight on the lawn.”

I screwed up my face and shook my head. “Don’t be silly.”