“Yes, unfortunately. When I started to close the door and go back downstairs, Sebastian got extremely agitated. I had the impression that he wanted me to hide. I heard voices on the first floor and decided I didn’t dare use the lobby stairs. I didn’t see an emergency exit sign, so I did not know which door would take me to the fire escape.”
“There isn’t one,” Owen said. “The only other way out is the secret passage behind the walls.”
“So much for fire codes. At any rate, all of the doors in the hall were locked, so I had no options. I went back to my room, arranged some pillows on the bed to make it look like someone was asleep, and then I hid in the bathroom. That’s when I saw the dead person.”
“We may have an ID on him.” Owen fished a well-worn wallet out of his coat pocket and handed it to her. “When you went back to grab your go bag, I did a quick search of his clothes. I found this.”
“You probably shouldn’t have taken his wallet. It’s evidence.”
“No shit. We need evidence. A lot of it.”
“Right. Good point. I wasn’t thinking.”
She took the wallet, flipped it open, and rezzed the flashlight on her phone. “According to his driver’s license, his name is Carl Voyle. There’s an address in the Shadow Zone. That’s one of the eight zones of Illusion Town.”
“I know. Anything else?”
“Some comp cards from various Shadow Zone casinos, the kind they give to people who play the slots a lot. Looks like Voyle was a gambler.”
“But you don’t know him? He’s not one of your Aurora Street clients?”
“No,” she said. She examined the photo on the license very closely. “I’m sure I’ve never met him.”
“We need to know more about him. Our to-do list is getting longer. Meanwhile, here’s what we’ve got so far. Kelbrook or his fixer lured you to the hotel with the promise of proof of your innocence in Poole’s death. The waiter at the bar must have been in on it. He doped the sparkling water and probably the snacks. The drug—probably a heavy sedative—must have been timed to kick in shortly after you were back at the hotel and in your room.”
“If they knew where I lived in Illusion Town, why not grab me there?”
“Because Illusion Town has its own rules. The city is run by the wealthy and powerful owners of the big hotel-casinos and clubs. They do not take kindly to outsiders coming in and committing major crimes likekidnapping, extortion, and murder on their territory. If you want that kind of work done, you have to clear it through them, and I doubt they would be willing to do Dunstan Kelbrook any favors. His sort looks down on the people who run that town.”
“In other words, I was right to hide there,” she said, pleased with her strategy.
“Yes. But you made the mistake of allowing yourself to be lured out. Once you were far away from the city, you were vulnerable.”
“Why not grab me on the road? Why make me go back to that awful hotel?”
“Two reasons,” Owen said. “The first, of course, is they believe you to be dangerous.”
“The benefit of being a known psychic vampire, I guess.”
“They wanted to get you into a situation they controlled, a place where they could administer the sedative before they took the risk of kidnapping you.”
“The hotel.”
“We need to find out who owns it and why Kelbrook or his fixer thought it was a good place to stage a kidnapping, not once but twice.”
“So many questions,” she whispered.
“The one we need to answer first is, why are you so important to Kelbrook? Our marriage will force his hand. Once he realizes he can’t send you back to Serenity Gardens or anyplace else without going through me, he’ll change his tactics.”
Marriage. To a man she had just met. Was she acting on emotional impulse or thoughtful intuition? When had it become difficult to know the difference? It shouldn’t even be an issue. This was a matter of survival, not romance. Her future was at stake, not her heart. She was a woman with extremely limited options. The decision to marry Owen was another calculated risk. She was taking a thoughtful approach to an inherently unbalanced situation in which there were no good answers.
So why was she worrying about her heart?Because he’s the most compelling man you have ever met. Face it—you were attracted to him when he came through the doorway of Room 205.
Well, sure. He looked like a real-life hero. Heroes are always attractive. Aren’t they?
She was contemplating the pavement unrolling in front of the car and bracing herself for Owen’s next question when Sebastian chortled and graciously offered her the mirror.
She smiled. “For me? Thank you.”
