Читать книгу Snow Blind - Cassie Miles, Cassie Miles - Страница 10

Chapter Four

Three hours later Brady drove Sasha back to the corporate condo. His shift was over, and there didn’t seem to be anything more he could do at the hotel. He’d tracked the evidence to a dead end, leaving the matter of the assault-slash-murder unsolved and the hotel staff irritated.

The logical thing would have been for him to drive home to his cabin behind the horse barn on Dooley’s ranch, yank off his boots and go to bed. But he was reluctant to leave Sasha. Halfway through his investigation, it had occurred to him that she might be in danger. If she had, in fact, witnessed a murder, the killer might come after her next.

When he parked his SUV in front of her building, she turned to him with the grin that came so naturally to her. “Thanks for the ride.”

“Hold on, I’ll walk you in.”

“That’s not necessary.”

He hoped she was right and he was overreacting to the possibility of a threat. “Not a problem.”

A porch light shone outside the door to the condo entrance, and a glass panel beside the door gave a view inside. Nothing appeared to be out of the ordinary. When she unlocked the outer door, he followed her inside. She hit the button on the elevator and the doors swooshed open. The interior of the elevator was extra large to accommodate skis and other winter sports equipment.

As she boarded, Sasha said, “I should apologize. I think I got you in trouble.”

The sheriff had been none too pleased when Brady had asked for a couple of men to fingerprint and process the suite on the sixth floor. It hadn’t helped that the room was clean. They’d found nothing to corroborate Sasha’s story.

“Not everybody was ticked off,” he said. “Grant Jacobson was real pleased with the way things turned out.”

Jacobson had used the incident as a learning tool to train his newly hired staff. Investigating a possible homicide also gave him an edge in talking to Reinhardt about the importance of security at a top-rated hotel. His budget had been tripled.

“Jacobson is intense,” she said as she got off the elevator at the third floor. “What’s his story?”

“He’s former military, Marine Corps.” He was a man to be respected. “Did you notice his limp? He lost his left leg above the knee in Afghanistan.”

Her blue eyes opened wider. “I didn’t know.”

“According to his staff, he snowboards and skis. One of the reasons he took this job at Gateway was the availability of winter sports.”

“I’m just glad he’s on our team.”

When she reached toward the lock on the condo door, he took the key from her. “I’ll open it. I should go first.”

“Why?”

“In case there’s someone inside.”

She took a step back, allowing his words to sink in. “You think someone might have broken into the condo and might be waiting for me.”

“I don’t want to alarm you.” He kept his voice low and calm. “But you’re a witness to a possible murder.”

“And he might want me out of the way.”

She was a loose end. An efficient killer would come back for her. Brady drew his weapon before opening the door. “Wait here until I check the place out.”

As soon as he entered, he hit the light switch. At first glance, the condo appeared to be empty, but he wasn’t taking any chances. This possible killer had already outsmarted him once tonight.

Quickly, he went from room to room, taking a look in the corners and the bathrooms and the closets. The only bedroom that was occupied was the first one on the right, where Sasha had unpacked her suitcase. It smelled like ripe peaches, a sweet fresh fragrance that reminded him of her and got under his skin. The only other room that had been used was the hot tub, where a damp towel hung from a rack by the door.

“All clear,” he said as returned to where she was standing.

“Good. I’ve had more than enough excitement for one night.” She peeled off her parka and hung it on a peg by the door. In her white sweater and red jeans, she reminded him of a pretty Christmas package waiting to be unwrapped. “Are you hungry?” she asked.

“I had some Chinese.”

“Me, too. I felt guilty eating it and thinking that this might have been the last meal for the black-haired woman.”

In the restaurant kitchen at the hotel, it hadn’t taken long for them to locate the off-the-menu Chinese food. A cooking station had been set up near the rear exit with fried rice, gluten-free noodles and organic stir-fry veggies available to anyone who came by and scooped a serving into a carryout box.

“That was our best clue,” he said.

“How do you figure? None of the kitchen staff remembered who had stopped by and loaded up on free food.”

“And that’s the clue. The killer was nobody remarkable. He was somebody the staff had seen before.”

“And what does that prove?”

“It’s likely this is an inside job.”

“Somebody who works at the hotel?” she asked.

“Or somebody who has been around this week. A workman. A consultant.”

“It’s a long list of possible suspects.”

He’d gathered a lot of information tonight but hadn’t had a chance to put things together or draw conclusions. Tomorrow when he wrote his report, there’d be time enough to figure things out. He followed her to the kitchen, where she opened the door to the fridge and peeked inside.

She looked up at him. “There’s nothing in there but condiments and champagne.”

“Try the freezer,” he said. “Some of these condos stock up on gourmet frozen deliveries when they’re expecting guests.”

“I’m not hungry enough for a full meal.” She moved to the cabinets above the countertops. “Maybe just a cup of tea. Would you like some?”

His boots were pointed toward the exit. He should go home. He’d delivered her safely and done all that could be expected. “I ought to call it a day.”

She held up a little box of herbal tea bags. “I can make you a cup in just a minute.”

“Good night, Sasha.”

“Wait.” With the tea box clutched in both hands like a precious artifact, she took a step toward him. “Please don’t go.”

The pleading tone in her voice stopped him in his tracks. He saw tension reflected in her baby-blue eyes, and the upturned corners of her mouth pulled tight. Until now she’d managed to hold her emotions in check. Not that she lacked passion. Her moods flitted across her face with all the subtlety of a neon billboard. This was different, darker. “What is it?”

Her brave attempt at a smile failed. “I don’t want to be alone. Tea?”

“Sure.” How could he refuse? He shucked off his dark blue uniform jacket and sat on a stool at the kitchen counter. “I hope I didn’t scare you when I did a room-to-room search in here.”

“I’m glad you did.” Looking away from him, she continued as though talking to herself. “I’d told myself that I didn’t have anything to worry about, but I couldn’t help thinking about what it meant to be a witness. That guy could come after me. But I know I’m safe here. All the doors and windows are locked. This is a secure building.”

“It’s okay to be scared.”

Still holding the tea, she rested her elbows on the opposite side of the counter and leaned toward him. “When I’m worried, it helps to talk about it. Do you mind?”

“Starting from the beginning?”

“We don’t have to go that far back,” she said. “I’ve already decided that I’ll never drink champagne again.”

He remembered her flushed cheeks and bright eyes when he first came to the condo. “Were you drunk earlier?”

“No, but I was silly and unprofessional. If I hadn’t had a glass or two—” she winced “—or maybe three, I might not have picked up the binoculars and looked into the hotel. I wouldn’t have seen anything.”

“Is that what you’d want?”

“Not knowing would be easier. If I hadn’t seen the attack, I could have watched TV and gone to bed and had pleasant dreams.” When she looked down at the tea box in her hand, her blond hair fell forward, hiding her expression. “I have no regrets. I’m glad I saw. That man can’t get away with murder.”

He reached across the counter to comfort her. He clasped her hand in his, rubbing the delicate skin of her palm with his thumb. In a casual way, they’d been in physical contact all night as he guided her through the hotel and bumped against her in the elevator. But this touch felt significant.

Her gaze lifted to meet his eyes, and he felt an instant, deep connection to her. At that moment, she became more than a witness. His instinct was to pull her into his arms and cradle her against his chest until her fears went away.

No way could that happen.

She’d blamed the champagne for making her behave in a less-than-professional manner. What was his excuse? He knew better than to get personal with a witness, especially someone who was only passing through Arcadia. Reining in his instincts, he released her hand and sat back on his stool. “What did you want to talk about?”

“I’m not sure when it started,” she said, “but I’ve been having that weird feeling you get when someone is watching. You know how it is? The hairs on the back of your neck stand up and you see things in your peripheral vision.”

“When did the feeling start?”

“Not when we first arrived at the hotel. Not when we were going through the rooms. It was after we saw Reinhardt and I swallowed my tongue.” Her voice broke. “Talk about being in trouble. I’m up to my armpits. I don’t know how I’m going to find the nerve to show up for that meeting tomorrow.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Oh, but I did. It’s my job to facilitate the discussion and make things easier for the investors. Instead, I created a big fat problem.” A tear slipped over her lower lashes and slid down her cheek. “I’m going to get fired for sure.”

He wanted to wipe away her tears and tell her that everything was going to be all right, but he wasn’t a liar. He was a cop, and the proper procedure for answering a 911 call didn’t include cozying up to the witness.

Circling the counter, he rifled loudly through the cabinets until he located a stainless-steel teakettle, which he filled with water and placed on the burner. When he faced her again, she had regained her composure.

“Okay,” he said, “skip ahead to the time when you felt like you were being watched.”

She thought for a moment. “When we were at the front desk, finding out how the key cards for the hotel rooms worked, I started to take my parka off. I shivered. Then I felt the prickling up and down my arms. It was like a warning. I looked around, but I didn’t notice anybody watching me.”

The front desk was located in the wide-open atrium area where dozens of people came and went. Plus there was a balcony overlooking the marble pond and the statue of the huntress. They could have easily been spotted. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I didn’t want to interrupt. It seemed like we were making some progress. The key cards were a pretty good clue.”

Using the computerized system, they’d learned that key cards had been made for the suite on the sixth floor. The key had been activated prior to the time when she saw the couple having dinner, indicating that someone could have been in the room. “If the security cameras in the hallway had been operational, we’d have this all wrapped up.”

“Do you think he was planning to kill her from the start?” She bit her lower lip. “That the murder was premeditated?”

“I don’t know.”

“I think it was,” she said. “It took some planning for him to get her alone in that room without anybody knowing.”

Premeditation made sense to Brady. The slick way the body had been whisked away without leaving a trace seemed to indicate foresight. For the sake of argument, he took a different view. “He might have just wanted a free night at a classy hotel, eating free food and enjoying the view.”

“When I was first watching them, I thought they were a couple. They weren’t talking much, and I thought it was one of those comfortable silences between people who have been together for a long time.”

“Like a husband and wife?”

“Not really.” She shook her head. “The woman was all dolled up, and that made me think they were on a date. Her fancy gold necklace isn’t the kind of thing a wife would wear.”

“Why not?”

“It’s too formal. I think she wanted to impress him with her outfit, and he was doing the same by taking her to the expensive suite.” As she chatted, she began to relax. “If he was trying to impress her, he wasn’t planning to hurt her.”

“And his attack wasn’t premeditated.” He found a couple of striped mugs in the cabinet above the sink, and she popped a tea bag in each. “Is that your theory?”

“That’s one theory,” she said. “But it leaves a lot of details unexplained. I saw him pick her up in his arms. He must have gotten blood on his clothes. How could he risk walking through the hall like that?”

The teakettle whistled, and Brady poured the boiling water over the tea bags. He had a couple of theories of his own. “When the forensic guys went over the room, they didn’t find a single drop of blood. Not even when they used luminol and blue light. He was tidy. He could have covered the blood with a jacket and slipped on a pair of gloves.”

She nodded. “And he could get rid of those clothes when he left the hotel.”

Brady didn’t often handle complicated investigations, and he appreciated the chance to discuss the possible scenarios. He probably shouldn’t be having this talk with her, but there wasn’t anybody else. Due to the lack of evidence, the sheriff was going to tell him to forget about this investigation. Jacobson might be inclined to throw around a few ideas, but his plate was full with getting the hotel security up and running.

Brady sweetened his tea with sugar and took a sip. The orange-scented brew tickled his nostrils. “His real problem was disposing of the body. If he carried her any distance, there would have been a trail of blood drops.”

When she lifted the mug to her lips, her hand was trembling so much that she set it down again.

“Sasha, are you all right?”

“It’s okay.” She lifted her chin. “Keep talking.”

Her struggle to control her fear was obvious. He didn’t want to make this any harder for her. “Maybe we should go and sit by the fireplace.”

“I said I was fine.” Her voice was stronger. “You were talking about a blood trail.”

“If he’d planned the murder,” he said, “he could have arranged to have one of those carts that housekeeping uses to haul the dirty sheets.”

“That doesn’t seem likely. How could he explain having a maid’s cart standing by?”

“It’s hard to imagine that he wrapped her up in a sheet or a comforter and didn’t leave a single drop of blood. What if he ran into someone in the hallway?”

“But he didn’t have to go far,” she said, “only down the hall to the elevator. That goes all the way down to the underground parking.”

Brady preferred the idea of the maid’s cart. “He could have been working with someone else.”

A shudder went through her, and she turned away from him, trying to hide the fear that she’d denied feeling a moment ago. “Would there be a lot of blood?”

He didn’t want to feed her imagination. “There’s no way of knowing. This is all speculation.”

“The red blood stood out against her white clothing. It happened so fast. One minute she was fine. And the next...”

Witnessing the attack had been hard on Sasha, more traumatic than he’d realized. And he was probably making it worse by talking about it. He set down his tea and lightly touched her back above the shoulder blade. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

She spun around and buried her face against his chest. Her arms wrapped around him, and she held on tight, anchoring herself. Tremors shook her slender body. Though she wasn’t sobbing, her breath came in tortured gasps.

“I’m sorry, Brady, really sorry. I don’t want to fall apart.”

“It’s okay.”

“I can’t forget, can’t get that image out of my head.”

Her soft, warm body molded against him as he continued to hold her gently. He wished he could reach into her mind and pluck out the painful images she’d witnessed, but there was no chance of wiping out those memories. All he could do was protect her.