I paused and gave Daniel a hard look. “What’s this got to do with the hotel?”
“What if I told you that Raymond Darke comes into the Cascadia every Tuesday night at seven? He has no luggage. He just goes upstairs for a few minutes, then comes back down and leaves without anyone realizing who he really is or why he’s there.”
“I’d say that sounds... sensational.”
“As in good?”
“As in tabloid fodder.”
“But what if it’s true?” Daniel’s face was open and honest. He seemed to believe what he was saying. Excitement flashed behind his dark eyes.
“That would be a national headline. Every magazine and newspaper in the country would jump at a chance to investigate Darke’s identity if it were true.”
“It is.”
“How do you know it’s Raymond Darke?”
He shoved both hands into his pockets and gave me a slow shrug. “I have my methods. And I can prove it to you. I’ve been trying to figure out why he comes to the hotel for a couple of weeks now. But if you’re interested, maybe we can team up.”
“Team up?”
“Just as friends,” he cautioned. “Less than friends—coworkers.”
What did he mean by that? My emotions were all over the place. A real mystery in the hotel? Involving a famous writer? It was almost too good to be true.
“Forget everything I said before. There’s no need to talk about what happened between us,” he said. “You were right. We’ll leave the past in the past, as you suggested. Onward and upward.”
“Um...” I didn’t know what to say. Shouldn’t I be happier about this? It’s what I told him I wanted. I should be relieved.
He was doing that walking-backward thing again, heading outside and leaving me at the market entrance. “Just think about it. If you want to know more, hit me up at work tonight. Maybe we can investigate together and figure out what he’s doing at the hotel every week. Maybe it’s something nefarious and scintillating,” he said, waggling his brows comically.
Before I could answer, a female Oscar Wilde stepped to my side. “Nefarious and scintillating? My favorite subjects.”
Daniel blinked.
“Uh, this is my aunt Mona,” I said.
“The aunt who’s not an aunt?” Daniel said.
“More like fairy godmother,” Aunt Mona said, extending a gloved hand. “Ramona Rivera. You can call me Mona. And you are...?”
“Daniel Aoki,” he said, shaking her hand vigorously. “I work with Birdie at the Cascadia.”
“Oh,yes,” she said, practically purring. “I’ve heard about you.”
If there were an all-powerful being that ruled the universe, it would have surely heard my desperate prayer to please, oh please, have mercy and strike me down. I needed a natural disaster and pronto—earthquake, tornado, tsunami. Anything.
Unfortunately, no one answered my prayers. I was still standing and deeply mortified.
Daniel, however, was elated by this revelation. I mean, he completelylit up. Just for one lightning flash of a second. Then he almost looked embarrassed. Then... nothing. He scratched his chin absently and darted a glance at me under the cover of dark lashes.
Right. I got snippy with him about telling Joseph at work about us. Guess I told someone too. Yikes. Was he mad? I couldn’t tell.
He told Mona, “I really dig your entire Mad Hatter look.”
She primped her green hair, pleased. “Why, thank you. I created it myself.”
“Well,” I said, overloud, squelching any further conversation. “We’d better be on our way.”
