“Who are you?” She shook her head. “I’m a little concerned about your mental state.”

  “Oh right, you should be. I have detachment issues and border on obsessive compulsive disorder. But hey, we all have our things, right?”

  “Right.” She smiled. “As I was saying, I need to move on to the next room.”

  “Sure, sure. But could I ask you a few questions about your bedbug situation first.”

  “My bedbug situation?” She blinked.

  “Well, not yours personally, although if you work here, it’s very likely you could bring them home with you, I was referring to the resort’s bedbug situation.”

  “Okay.” She sighed. “But I only have a few minutes.”

  7

  Eddy checked the first floor, but found nothing suspicious. The supply closets were filled with towels, little shampoos, conditioners and other toiletries for the guests. The rest of the floor was guest rooms and there weren’t any guests in the hallways. He took the stairs down to the ground floor and walked up them to the third floor. Even though it left him winded, he assumed that the elevators would have cameras. If someone wanted to move a body, they would likely use the stairs. However, by the time he reached the landing of the third floor he hadn’t found any sign of foul play. The stairs were dusty, as if they were rarely used, which meant if someone had pulled a body up them, there would be quite a noticeable streak along the wood. Instead things seemed undisturbed, but for the footprints he left behind.

  When Eddy emerged on the third floor he found that there were a few people in the hallway. Two women, and two men. One of the men was dressed in a very fine suit with a suit jacket that draped more like a cape than a jacket. Both women were young, and dressed in short skirts with tight shirts that barely did the job of covering them. The other man was so large he nearly hid both women from view as he stepped in front of them. The tension in his broad shoulders and sharp expression on his face made Eddy think he was accustomed to intimidating others.

  “Boss, we’re stuck here, there’s no way out.”

  “There has to be a way. Get a helicopter.”

  “Helicopters don’t fly in a blizzard, honey.” One of the women leaned on the boss’ arm. “We’ll just have to find a way to get nice and cozy here.”

  “Sure baby, we can have...” The other woman leaned on his other arm.

  “Enough.” He brushed them both off. “I don’t want to stay in this hovel. If I say I want a helicopter, I’m going to get a helicopter.”

  “Boss, there’s nowhere to land it. The weather forecast is predicting three feet of snow.” The thick man shook his head. “We’re stuck.”

  “Great.” The boss sighed.

  “All right, go and demand that anyone in rooms near mine get moved. I don’t want anyone in my business. Understand, Vinnie?”

  “No problem, Boss, I’ll get right on it.”

  “Take care of our little problem first, hmm?” He locked eyes with Vinnie. “You need to find him.”

  “Yes, I understand.” Vinnie opened one of the doors in the hallway for his boss and waited until all three were inside. Then he turned to walk down the hallway. He stopped short when he saw Eddy. “What are you looking at?” He scowled.

  “Nothing, just on my way to my room.” Eddy hurried past him. He knew better than to take the bait of a man that size. There was no way he could physically compete with him.

  As Eddy continued down the hallway he zeroed in on the two supply closets. When he reached the first one, he tried the doorknob but it was locked. He wiggled the knob a few times but the lock didn’t budge. Was it possible that the body was hidden inside? Why else would a simple supply closet be locked? He pulled out his pocket knife and opened the blade. Just as he was about to attempt to pick the lock, he heard footsteps approaching down the hall. He stepped away from the door when he saw it was a staff member. With a nod, he ducked into a short hallway and pretended to be purchasing something from a vending machine. As he perused the options he heard a key slide into the lock. Then the door swung open. He held his breath, though he wasn’t quite sure what he expected. Maybe a scream, when the body was discovered? Maybe some kind of guilty utterance? All he heard was the shuffle of boxes, followed by the sound of a key in a lock. As he heard the footsteps fade into the distance, he realized there was no body in that closet.

  He moved along down the hallway to the next closet. When he tried the knob, it turned with ease. He found several shelves of towels inside. There was nowhere to hide a body. With a sigh of frustration he closed the door and continued down the hallway. As he neared the end of it he noticed a sign over one of the doors that indicated stairs. With one quick glance over his shoulder, he opened the door to the stairway. A light flickered above the cement stairs. The walls were bare except for a sign that demanded only authorized personnel should proceed. He ignored the sign and made his way up the stairs. At the landing there was another door, with another sign. He pushed in the long handle on the door, and it opened about an inch, then stopped. He pushed harder, and the door swung open a little further, just enough for him to peer through it.

  Cold air blasted him in the face accompanied by snow that swirled so forcefully it began to spill onto the landing. The snow was up to his knees, and essentially blocked the doorway. He shoved his whole body weight against the door, and managed to get it open a few more inches. However, there was no way he could fit through it. Neither could he possibly fit a dead body through it. It occurred to him that if the murderer was quick enough he might have gotten the body outside, and if he did, the snow would have covered it in no time. But that seemed like a huge risk. If someone wanted to hide a body, they wouldn’t normally choose to toss it in the snow. Snow melted, eventually. He pulled the door shut and shivered. As he rubbed his hands together to warm them, he wondered if the killer planned to move the body out of the resort, but was surprised by the blizzard. In panic the killer might have been desperate for a place to hide it, which meant he wasn’t likely to take it up to the third floor, or the roof. The most likely place he would have hidden it was on the ground floor, in the dining area. But the bar was so crowded at the time of the body’s disappearance, would the killer risk being caught? He headed back down to the ground floor. In the hall that led to the bar, he ran into Walt, who was deep in conversation with a housekeeper.

  “But what I’m asking is, how can you guarantee that you’re bedbug free if you don’t run daily checks on all of the rooms?”

  “We run monthly checks on a handful of rooms, and there haven’t been any reports of bedbugs, sir.”

  “But that doesn’t mean they’re not there. It just means you haven’t found them. That’s not a guarantee that there aren’t any.”

  “Have you found any bedbugs in your room, sir?” She smiled.

  “Well, no. Not yet. But I’m still looking.”

  “Careful, Walt, or you might just find what you’re looking for.” Eddy paused beside him. “Instead of what we’re actually looking for.”

  “Oh Eddy, right yes. This is Belinda. She was just telling me about how often the rooms are checked. Now, what if a guest has gone missing? Is there any procedure in place for that?”

  “Well, we don’t track our guests. People can come and go as they please, unless there is a blizzard of course.” She laughed, though her laughter faded when she noticed Eddy’s grim expression. “However, if someone is reported as missing then the resort will go into lockdown while the person is searched for. In those cases, it’s usually a child or an elderly impaired person that triggers a lockdown. We’re not in the business of hunting down angry spouses.”

  “So, you won’t look for someone unless they’re vulnerable?”

  “Honestly, at that point it’s the police’s decision. If they feel there is reason to search then of course we will comply with their requests. Is someone you know missing? Could they be outside? I hope not.”

  “But the police can’t get here.” Eddy frowned. “They’re snowed out, just like we’re snowed in.”

  “Wait a minute, is this about that false claim of a body?” She looked between the two men. “I thought that was just a prank.”

  “It was no prank. I saw the body, and I know that someone has been killed.”

  “Oh no!” She gasped and covered her mouth. Then a light giggle escaped her hand. “How was that? I’m trying to get a role in the murder mystery. I’ve been working on my horrified reaction.”

  “This is not a joke.” Eddy hissed his words through clenched teeth.

  “Oh, you’re serious?” She shook her head. “Listen, this happens from time to time during these murder mysteries. People underestimate how real it’s going to look. They don’t think there’s going to be blood, or a weapon. They assume there will be some kind of overly dramatic death scene. But that’s not how it works. Some people have even called the police, thinking that a real murder has been committed. You’re not alone in being shocked by all of this. But it is just acting. Some of the actors have a little competition to see who can be the most realistic victim. They take turns you know. Try not to worry, about that, or the bedbugs.” She smiled at Walt, then rolled her cart into the next room. Eddy stared after her. He felt the urge to convince her that he was telling the truth, but he knew that it wouldn’t make any real difference.

  “Sorry Eddy, if it helps any, she didn’t believe me about the bedbugs either.”

  “Yes Walt, that does help, a little.” He sighed. “Have you seen or heard from Jo?”

  “No, she said she was turning her phone off so that she wouldn’t risk drawing attention to herself.”

  “I think the killer would have hidden the body somewhere nearby. I don’t think he would have risked taking it upstairs.”

  “Walt! Eddy!” Samantha ran down the hall towards them.

  “So much for not drawing attention.” Eddy grimaced. “Sam, what is it? Are you okay?”

  “Yes!” She tried to catch her breath. “But I just overheard something that might have to do with our victim.”

  “What is it?”

  “Someone, a very angry someone, is looking for a man. She’s hired someone to find him, but the man is missing.”

  “No names?”

  “No, I’m sorry, but I know what room she is in.”

  “Then we can’t know for sure if it’s our victim, Howard.” Walt shrugged.

  “No we can’t, but if the man she’s looking for is missing, and our body is missing, I think we can for the moment assume that they might be one and the same.”

  “And if she’s angry enough to hire someone to find him, she might just be angry enough to kill him.” Eddy patted her on the back. “Great job, Sam. Let’s hope it can lead us somewhere.”

  “If we can find out what her name is, that is.” Samantha frowned. “I’m not sure that will be so easy, since the security around here is pretty tight.”

  “We can just do things the old-fashioned way.” Eddy grinned. “When I would work a stakeout and we wanted to make sure that the suspect was actually in the room, we would place a fake call from the front desk, and ask for confirmation of their name so that we could send up a complimentary treat. People are always willing to give up information for a treat.”

  “Oh, what a great idea! I can call the main line and ask to be connected to her room. Then I can pretend to be the front desk.”

  “Good, see what you can find out, and take Walt with you, make sure you’re both out of sight when you make the call. I’m going to see if I can catch up with Jo.”

  “Okay, I’ll make it from my room. What about the rest of the search? I didn’t finish the second floor,” Samantha said.

  “Don’t worry about that, we can do it later. If the body is anywhere in this building, I’m getting more and more certain that it’s going to be in the separate wing on the ground floor, in the area by the dining hall. I’m going to take a good look around. Anything suspicious, I’m going to check it out.” Eddy looked back at his friends. “Good luck, guys.”

  “Let’s go, Samantha.” Walt led her back down the hallway towards the stairs. Eddy headed towards the dining hall.

  8

  Breaking into the bar had been easy. It was a simple lock to pick, and Jo had been careful to point the surveillance camera on the door away before she began to pick it. When she entered the bar, it was empty and the lights were dim. Casually she looked around the areas she hadn’t noticed earlier, such as the supply closets and the bathrooms. However, there was nothing to be found. She went through a door behind the bar that led to a large storage space for both the bar and the kitchen, which connected to the space through another door. She had begun her search of the large space when she heard the sound of something hard being kicked across the floor. It had made her stomach sink. There was no question that someone kicked it. It slid, it didn’t drop. When the object stopped in front of her she recognized it as a rolling pin. Several more objects crashed or slammed in quick succession, followed by a booming voice.

  “I don’t want to hear any of your excuses! I don’t want to be told what you can’t do!”

  Jo could hear the tremble in the man’s voice and realized just how angry he was. Violently, angry. She hadn’t wanted to risk opening the door to the bar as it might let in light, or make a sound. Instead she had climbed into the open cabinet of a rolling cart, and pulled the door closed behind her. Jo crouched down in the cabinet and held her breath. Squashed into a squatting position, she pressed her hands against the metal sides of the cabinet to keep her hands from shaking. As the voice continued to carry through the open space, it seemed even louder in the small cabinet. “I’ve warned the three of you, if you don’t find him and handle this, I’m going to handle you. You got us into this mess, and you’re going to get us out.”

  “We couldn’t have expected the blizzard. You can’t blame us for that.” A thin whiny voice responded. Another loud crash followed his words, followed by a cry of pain.

  “Anyone else want to argue with me? We have to get out of this. No excuses, only solutions.” She heard heavy footsteps draw close to the cabinet. With every step her heart shuddered. Would he notice her breathing? Would he open the cabinet for some reason? Finally, the footsteps continued past. She heard the door to the bar open and close. She breathed a sigh of relief. Then, to her surprise, the cart lurched. It rolled forward. The door to the bar opened again, and the cart rolled forward.

  “He didn’t have to break his nose.”

  “Carlisle does whatever he wants to do. You know that. Jamie knew better than to question him.”

  “But he was right. We couldn’t have expected the snow, could we? It’s not like we control the weather.”

  “That’s not the point. The point is that no matter what happens, we need to be able to fix it. So you either do that, you fix it, or you stop complaining. If you’re going to keep on complaining, then you’ll end up dead.”

  “Great. If the pay wasn’t so good, I’d quit.”

  “There’s no quitting.”

  “I know.” He grunted. “All right, what did they order?”

  “A bottle of rum, two glasses, and a bottle of soda.”

  “Great. I’ll get the rum and the glasses, you get the soda.”

  Jo could hardly draw a breath as she realized they might open the door to the cabinet to put the items inside. She grabbed the inside edge of the door and held on to it as tight as she could. Right after she did, one of the men tried to open it. The cabinet door almost jerked out from under her fingertips, but she clung on as tight as she could. These two men worked for a man who considered death to be the only way out of his employment, she didn’t want to be caught eavesdropping.”

  “Barney, what’s the hold up?”

  “This stupid thing won’t open.” Barney tugged at the door again.

  “Kick it.”

  “I’m not going to kick it, what’s that going to do, Kent? It’ll just get it even more stuck.”

  “Whatever, just put the stuff on top. Solutions, right?”

  “Solutions.” Barney stopped tugging on the door. Jo relaxed a little, but not much. She couldn’t, as the muscles in her legs trembled from being stuck in the same position for so long. Even though she wanted to believe that she was as limber as she once was, her muscles begged to differ. The cart began to roll again. She wondered if she shoved the door open and rolled out would that create enough of a diversion for her to escape unharmed. She didn’t really want to risk it and find out. The cart stopped. She heard the sound of the elevator doors. She knew if they got on the elevator, she would really have no way out.

  “What the heck is in this thing? It’s heavy.” One of the men grunted as he tried to roll the cart onto the elevator.

  “I don’t know. Like I said, the door is stuck. I’m going to check in with Jamie.”

  “All right, I’ll take care of this.”

  Jo saw the door start to move. She grabbed it just in time. Then the entire door shook. The strike of the man’s foot against the door made her ears ring.

  “Hey, what’s all of the commotion about?”

  Jo’s eyes widened at the familiar voice. Eddy, it was Eddy.

  “Just trying to get this door open, it’s stuck. Sorry to disturb you.”

  “Here, let me give you a hand.” Eddy walked over to him. The cabinet on the cart looked big enough to hide a body, if it was contorted into a pretzel. A cart would be the easiest way to transport a body throughout the resort as well.

  “No, that’s all right, I can handle it.”

  “Well, kicking it isn’t going to work. I saw someone from the maintenance staff down the hall. Why don’t you go see if he has something to force it open? I’ll stay with the cart so no one steals your stuff.”

  “I don’t know.” He frowned.

  “Okay, you can just keep kicking it.” Eddy shrugged.