“Okay. It should be easy enough.” Depending on the set up they have, I won’t even need to contact one of my pro friends. Sure enough, I’m in the Bellamy systems pretty quick. But— “There’s no one by any of those names staying there.”
To my surprise, Alessandro gives a slight smile. “Can you see who’s booked the penthouse suite?”
I check. “The name is missing.”
“Can you see how long the suite has been booked?”
“That, Icando.” A few scrolls later, I have the answer. “Whoever has been in the suite has been there for almost a week.”
“A week? You’re certain? It wasn’t booked by one person, then another?”
I shake my head. “The last six days, the penthouse has been booked to one person.” I watch him mull that over. “Does this have something to do with your father’s murder?”
“I hope not.”
It’s not the answer I expected from him. Taking a chance, I push further. “Who is she? This woman?”
With a sigh, Alessandro checks his watch again and stands upright from the side of the desk he’s been leaning against. “My mother. My mother, who told me herself that she arrived in Los Angeles only yesterday, or maybe the day before, but certainly not six days ago.”
His mother? I thought his mother wasdead. But I choke back all my questions and cast around for other explanations. “Maybe she had it booked, but only arrived yesterday? She might have been held up—”
“No.” Alessandro runs a hand over his face, his thumb unconsciously caressing his scar. “That’s not how she operates. Which means that she was here, in the city, when my father was murdered.”
I’m catching on now. “And she didn’t tell you.”
He nods slowly, his eyes on mine. “And she didn’t tell me.”
“Which means—”
“I don’t know what it means,” he says brusquely. “Check yourCute Crimscontacts,topolino. See if they’ve pulled themselves away from their bad porn long enough to get back to you.”
“You don’t have to be a jerk about it,” I mutter, but I sign into the site, finding, as usual, a busy inbox. “Um,” I say, wondering if I should ask again. Do I really want to know the answer? I guess knowing is better thannotknowing. “You didn’t go through my private DMs or anything, did you?”
I can’t look at him. I’ll shrivel and die if I do.
“Any new information?” he asks. That’s not an answer.
Oh, God. That’s the second time he’s avoided the question. I think that means hemusthave looked through my messages.
I scroll through my inbox, checking messages that might have something interesting in them. “Are you timing me?” I ask nervously, as he glances at his watch again.
He blinks at me. “I have somewhere to be.”
“Oh. Okay. Well…there’s nothing here that would help. Guts didn’t know Lina Lamond’s name, Flakjack is still insisting it’s the Espositos, and Pepperoni_lover has nothing new.”
“Alright. Then it’s time for me to leave.”
Alessandro opens the door to the security room and we exit, while the three guards who usually sit in there file back in and take up their seats. “Off you go,” Alessandro says to me, nodding down the hallway. “You should know your way by now.”
I feel my mouth drop open. “You’re not—you’re not—”
“I see no reason to keep you locked up and bored. You see, if you behave, you get rewarded. Feel free to wander. Stay away from any room that has guards or a locked door. And don’t try to use any electronic equipment you might stumble across. Do we have a deal?”
I stare at him, trying to see if it’s a trick. “You’re finally trusting me?”
“I don’t trust anyone, I told you that before. But I don’t think you’d be foolish enough to try to leave the grounds, would you? Besides, I know that the guards and staff here at Redwood Manor will obey my orders. They won’t try to stop you unless you’re doing something you shouldn’t be.”
I still can’t speak.
