He mostly listened as Emma and the others talked about their favorite parts of Lucerne. “Are you on a tour?” she asked.
“Yes. It’s fifteen-day bus tour that covers most of western Europe. We’re about halfway through.”
“Oh, wow. That sounds great. Where’ve you been so far?”
And off they went.
Jason smiled politely and tried to look engaged in the conversation while keeping an eye on their surroundings. He didn’t see the two men from earlier, but he didn’t trust that they were gone either. If there were only two roads out of here, there could be a whole team at each exit, just waiting to pick off him and Emma.
At the other end of the park, the remaining bars shut down and the area slowly emptied out.
“We should probably head back to our rooms,” one of the women said, reaching for her wife’s hand as she stood. “We’re supposed to be on the bus by seven tomorrow.”
“This one keeps all of us from getting in too much trouble,” a man named Gordon said, gesturing to his friend and getting to his feet. “Sorry we can’t stay and talk more.”
“No problem.” Emma gracefully stood and waited for Jason to do the same. “You okay?” she asked quietly when he winced on the way up.
“Yeah, fine,” he said, rubbing his thigh. Changing positions was always the worst of it. “Old football injury,” he said to the group in general, explaining away his pain and his size in one go.
“Did you play college ball?” PJ asked as the group strolled toward the north end of the park.
“Nah. I peaked in high school. Got my leg broken on a bad hit senior year during the Homecoming game,” he elaborated, telling the story of an old teammate.
“Shit,” another man in the group said. “That sucks.”
“Yeah.” It had for Darren, who’d been counting on a scholarship for college.
They continued to make small talk as the group followed the lakeshore in front of the cultural center and then turned along the Reuss River toward the main part of town. Emma didn’t give any outward signs of her heightened state of alert, but he could feel the tension in her hand, clasped carefully in his own.
He could also feel someone out there watching, waiting, but they were hidden well.
“We’re down this way,” PJ said, pointing south down Pilatusstrasse. “Where are you staying?” he asked.
“We’re at the Hotel Turaco,” Emma said, naming the hotel next to his own.
Somehow, she had just conjured the name of a place on the same street as PJ’s hotel so they could keep walking with the group, without using Jason’s actual hotel, where someone might be watching for him to return.
Smart. If he and Emma peeled off from the other couples now, they might be noticed. This way, they could stay camouflaged in the small crowd.
“Oh, great,” PJ’s wife Amy said. “We’re at the Richter.”
Jason almost laughed. Of course they were. He’d noted its popularity with the tour groups the previous day. Now that he thought about it, if he was going to be that close to Todd, he should find a way to meet up with him. And talk to Byron again.
While PJ chatted with Emma, Amy sidled up to Jason’s right side and fell into step with him as they followed the other four down the tree-lined sidewalk. She made small talk about the weather and their favorite destinations so far. “Florence was incredible. Have you seen the David in person?”
“I haven’t.”
“It’s worth the trip.” She looked him up and down, eyes gleaming under the streetlights. “Though the sights here certainly don’t disappoint.”
He forced a smile, pretending he didn’t notice her overt appraisal, and engaged her in small talk for the remainder of the walk. They reached the Turaco and the other two couples said their goodbyes, confirming their meetup time for the morning bus.
A look passed between Amy and PJ before she asked, “We’ve really enjoyed meeting you two. Would you like to come up to our room for a drink?” The brunette toyed with a unique pendant that hung between her ample breasts.
“Oh.”Oh. Well. Even if he and Emma were exactly who they were pretending to be, Jason had never been into sharing his sexual partners, and he felt fairly confident, despite their brief history, that she wasn’t either. Also, theyweren’twho they were pretending to be, so—
“We enjoyed meeting you too,” Emma jumped in, “but we have an early morning. Have a great time on the rest of your tour.”
They waved goodbye and watched the pair enter the Richter’s lobby before heading up the block toward Hotel Turaco.
