“I’m sorry, sir,” Francisca said.“I can’t give out room numbers.”
“No, I know her room number.I need to use your phone.”
“There’s a guest phone in the lobby.”
“It doesn’t work.”Jem grinned and said, “Even my husband couldn’t get it to work, and he’s the one in charge of all the remote controls in our house.Right, babe?”
Tean blinked behind his glasses.“Uh, right—”
“So, if I could use your phone?”
Francisca hesitated.On the one hand, she probably wasn’t supposed to let them use the phone at the front desk.On the other, she was tired and frustrated and didn’t want to be here, and—not that Jem wanted to give himself a big head—she was also seriously outclassed.
“Step over here,” she said.
At one of the check-in stations near the end of the desk, she turned a phone around to face them.“You dial the room directly,” she said.And with a smile for Tean, she added, “I’m sure your husband can help you if you have any trouble.”
“What’s all this about that woman’s car?”Tean asked as Francisca walked away.
“Oh, that was bullshit.Did you notice how she smiled at you?”Jem asked.“Maybe this vibe of yours doesn’t only work on vulnerable young gay men.”
“Excuse me?”
“She might have wanted a little spanking herself.”
“I don’t— She doesn’t—” And then, in a burst: “I don’t even know what half our remotes do!”
“I know, babe.That’s my job.”He lifted the receiver from the phone and said, “Here we go.”
The first call went to the chalet, and it rang several times before a nerdy voice said, “Hello?”And then, immediately after, “This isn’t my chalet.”
“Let me think,” Jem said.Mop Top.“Aiden, right?”
Silence.And then, “Who is this?”
“This is Vaughan Larsen with hotel security.I was wondering if you could provide a description of the two men from your party who are missing.Uh, let me see here.Quinn—hold on, I know I wrote it down here.”
“Quinn Parry and Beckett Wooley.Why?”
“Well, we’re looking for them,” Jem said.“Unless you know where they are.”
“No, I don’t.”
“Maybe you don’t want me to find them, then.”
“No!I mean, I don’t care.I mean Iwantyou to find them because they probably did this!”
“Did what?”Jem asked, and he lowered his voice in his best attempt at how cops did it.
Aiden made a noise like a terrified sheep.
“Enough,” Tean whispered.
With a grin for the doc, Jem said, “The descriptions?”
“Quinn is a White male in his late twenties.Beckett is a White male in his mid-twenties.”
Jem waited.“Anything else?”
