Someone said something on the other end of the line, and there came the sound of the phone being transferred, and then in the distance Aiden said, “He was trying to intimidate me!”
Mckell’s voice came on the call a moment later.“Mr.Larsen?You’re looking for Quinn and Beckett?”
“That’s right,” Jem said.“Go ahead.”
There was a pause.Maybe she’d recognized his voice.Maybe she wondered why he was lying.But then she said, “Quinn has brown hair and brown eyes.He’s about six feet tall.He’s athletic.Beckett has blond hair and blue eyes.He’s short.Not very short, I guess, but not tall.And he’s thin.”
“All right,” Jem said.“If you hear from them, call my office immediately.”
He ended the call before she could respond.
“What?”Tean asked.“Something wrong?”
“No.No, I don’t think so.I just—” But Jem shrugged and picked up the phone again.Instead of dialing a room, though, he studied the buttons.There were lots of them, and they all had a little label next to them telling you what they were for.One said THEATER.One said THE FJALL CLUB.One said AFTERSKI.On and on like that.
He started at the top.On the other end of the call, a young man said, “Einherjar, this is Robby.”
“Robby, this is Vaughan Larsen,” Jem said.“I’m looking for two young men.I’m going to describe them to you, and I’d like you to let me know if you’ve seen them last night or today.”He repeated the descriptions of Quinn and Beckett and then waited.
“I don’t think so,” Robby said.“Let me ask Sariah.”A moment later, he was back.“No, sir.You know we usually get an older crowd—”
“Give me a call if you see them,” Jem said and disconnected.
Tean was staring at him.
“What?”Jem said.“We can’t run around the lodge all day.”
“You’re so smart.”
“I’m using a phone,” Jem said.“They can train monkeys to do it.”
“Jem, you’re brilliant.”
“Let’s wait until we actually find them.”
The next call was to the spa, and then to the ski rental, and then to the observation deck.They hadn’t seen two men like that.Or they had, but did one of them have red hair instead?Or it might have been one of them, but they definitely didn’t see both.
And then the guy in the fitness center said, “That’s who I called about.”
Jem was mostly on autopilot, halfway to saying,Thanks anyway, but he caught himself in time.“What was that?”
“Those two guys.They’re the ones I called about.”
“We’ve got a lot going on today.What’s going on?”
“The tile glazing in shower three.”
Jem opened his mouth to say,What?And then it landed.“Oh.Right.”
“It’s that app.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s what someone told me.That’s why it’s always shower three.”
“Got it.Listen, I’m going to send a couple of guys down.If those two try to leave, stop them.”
“But Mr.Larsen—”
