“Only because that cheap bastard refuses to give me a divorce. Who are you?”
“My name is Detective Nicholas Anthony, and this is—”
A hotel employee with a walkie-talkie clipped to his belt rushed down the hall to the suite. “Gentlemen,” he said, breathless when he arrived, “unless you have Mr. Toscano’s permission to be in here, I really must ask you all to— Oh.” He paused abruptly in the doorway. “Mrs. Toscano, I apologize. I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Where is Kevin Bacon?” she demanded.
“I assume he’s withMr.Toscano.”
“And where ishe?”
“Is he not here?” the man asked, clearly confused.
“No, he is not!” she snapped. “When you see him, you tell him I’m going to kill him if there is one single hair out of place on Kevin Bacon’s head.”
The man pressed back against the wall, his toes narrowly avoiding her heels as she burst through the door. She stormed back toward the elevators, her cell phone already pressed to her ear.
A trash bag rustled in the silence that followed.
A throat cleared. “Sir, what are you doing?” The men’s voices became faint as if they’d moved toward the living room. Vero and I snuck closer to listen. “You can’t be in here. As you can see, Mr. Toscano is not on the premises. I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
“Were you aware the door to this suite was propped open?” Nick asked.
“Er… no. I was not aware of that, but that has no bearing on the fact that—”
“Are you the hotel manager?” Garrett asked.
“No, sir, I’m the butler assigned to our VIP suites. Who, may I ask, are you?”
“I’m Special Agent Garrett Stokes with the FBI.”
“Oh, I see,” the butler said, clearly taken aback. “I hope there isn’t a problem?”
“Not at all. We just wanted a word with Mr. Toscano. Any idea where we can find him?”
“I… I really don’t know. He was here all evening, entertaining guests. There was quite a crowd in attendance.” The butler lowered his voice. “He did ask me to invite two lady friends to join him. Perhaps he left to escort them home beforeMrs.Toscano arrived.”
“Or someone told him we were coming, and he didn’t want to be here when we showed up,” Nick said quietly.
“Thank you for your time,” Garrett said. Vero and I ducked backinto the stairwell as Nick and Garrett exited the suite. “Want to take the stairs?” Garrett asked.
“Elevator,” Nick said, limping the opposite way.
I peered through the crack, watching them go. The butler emerged, his nose wrinkled against the smell. He pulled the walkie-talkie from his waistband and plucked the crushed beer can from the hinge with a disgusted frown. “Have housekeeping send their best crew to suite 1702,” he said in a low voice. “Mr. Toscano has stepped out, and I want the entire suite cleaned before he gets back.”
CHAPTER 23
Vero and I filled the bathtub with ice, pulled the curtain around Marco and Louis, and closed the bathroom door.
“What now?” Vero cast a begrudged look over her shoulder at Cam. He reclined against the headboard, his stocking feet crossed at the ankles, his boots kicked haphazardly to the floor. His laptop rested on his thighs, and Kevin Bacon was curled under his arm.
“This room sucks,” he grumbled.
“It’s free,” I pointed out. And no one was looking for it, which was arguably its best feature.
“It doesn’t exactly inspire brilliance,” he said, rubbing his heavy eyelids.
I switched off the lamp on his nightstand. “You can be brilliant in the morning.”
