Authors: Maddie Cochere
As Darby and I made our way to the elevator, I saw Dudley leaning against the wall. He had on a ridiculous plaid suit today. He certainly wasn’t being inconspicuous. He had a view of the front door, the front desk, and part of the walkway leading to the elevators. He was obviously watching again, but he didn’t make eye contact as we passed.
Safely in the room, I kicked off my shoes and plopped facedown onto the bed. Darby sat down besi
de me and asked, “You think the
bullet was meant for you, don’t you
?
”
I rolled over and
nodded my head
. I was absolutely drained, and tears started to slide down the sides of my cheeks. “Yes, and you know it,” I told him. “I think they planned the
accidental-shooting-while-cleaning
story ahead of time, and the guy had one shot to pull
it off and then stick with the
story no matter what the outcome. If I hadn’t tripped when I did, he would have made
the
shot.” I rolled back over onto the pillow and mumb
led, “I
can’t believe
this is happening.”
There was nothing Darby could say to make this better. If only I hadn’t opened that door.
It
had been the distracting thought all day long –
if only I hadn’t opened that door
.
“Susan, honey, I’m
sorry,” he said while rubbing my back with one hand. “It’s obvious you need to stay out of open areas. I think working during the day the rest of this week will be helpful. You’ll
at least
be out of harm’s way
at the offices
.”
I rolled back over and sat up in a cross-legged position on the bed. I nodded my head
again
in agreement. He handed a tissue to me, and I blew my nose.
“Do you want me to order room service? Are you hungry?” he asked.
“No,” I told him. “I
want to stay here and rest. I’ll be fine. Maybe I can find a movie on television
to
distract me; plus, I want to go over some of my notes for work.”
He nodded his head, smiled at me, and headed off to the bathroom. After taking a shower and changing for the evening, he asked again, “Are you sure you’ll be ok here by yourself?”
He was standing by his bed
,
and he looked adorable. He was wearing a light brown pair of jeans
with a
gray pullover shirt
left
open at the neck. A long, brown
,
sweater scarf
had been looped around his neck
and was hanging in front
under a beautiful chocolate brown leather jacket. The leather was soft and enabled him to p
ush the sleeves up
. It was a great look, and I wondered how he
would keep
the girls
away
all night long. Then again, maybe he wasn’t going where
the girls were
. I smiled
and said, “I’m fine. You go ahead and have fun.”
He walked over, kissed me on the nose, and left the room.
I turned the television on. A rerun of
Two and a Half Men
was on. I didn’t have the strength to turn the channel. I lie back on the pillows and closed my eyes.
Several hours later, I was awakened to my phone ringing. I struggled to shake off the fuzzy feeling while searching in my purse for my phone. It was Mick.
“Mick, hi,” I said softly.
“Susan, sweetheart,
are you
ok
?” he asked with concern.
“I am,” I said as I emitted a happy sigh at the sound of his voice. “I was n
apping, and the phone woke me
.” I leaned back and rested my head on the pillows again.
“I’m sorry I woke you, bu
t I must say, your voice is
sexy right now, and I like it. Talk to me some more,” he said with a laugh.
I had to laugh with him. My voice was always a little deeper when I firs
t woke up. “I can tell you
I miss you desperately, and Friday seems so far away. Are you still on track to be here then?” I asked.
“I miss you, too, Susan
,” he said
.
“
And yes, I’ll be there early Friday evening
,
about 7:00
,
I think.”
“Good, I can’t wait. I bought a new dress for when we go out Saturday night. You’ll love it,” I said
playfully
.
“I’m sure I will,” he said with obvious enjoyment at my teasing. “Are your mom and dad having fun?”
he asked.
“They’re having a blast, and we’re all winning money,” I told him. I still didn’t want to tell him exactly how much I had won until I could see him. I hesitated for a moment and decided I
really
should fill him in
at least a
little bit about what had happened. “We went to a magic show tonight, and the magician pulled me up on stage. He put me in a box, and I fell through a trapdoor.”
He laughed and said, “I always wondered if there were trapdoors in the floor for those kinds of tricks. Now I know. Was it fun?”
“Not really,” I told him. “But Mick, something happened after I fell through the floor. There
wasn’t anyone
around, so I opened a door. It led outside, and I think I saw someone who had just beaten a man with a crowbar. The man on the ground was either unconscious or dead. I shut the door right away, but I’m worried about what I saw.”
“Susan, listen to me,” Mick said intently. “I mean this. Please don’t get involved in anything while you’re there. If you think you’re in danger, or someone approaches you about what you might have seen, please go to the police right away, ok?”
“I will, Mick
,” I said. “
I won’t get involved. I only
wanted to tell you because it was upsetting, and I’m worried about it.”
“Sweetheart, I love you
, and I don’t ever want to have to go through almost losing you again. Never. You take care of yourself until I get there, and then I’ll take care of you. I promise.” The passion in his voice warmed me clear through, and I would have given anything to have him with me right then.
“Ok,” I told him. “I will gladly put myself into your hands
when you get here
.” He chuckled at the comment. “Did you and Alex have fun skiing?” I asked.
“We sure did,” he said, and he proceeded to tell me abo
ut their trip. We hung up roughly thirty
minutes later. I was feeling much better - and I was starving. Once again, I had made it through another day with almost no food at all.
I looked over the room service menu, but nothing appealed to me. I wanted another Reuben sandwich from Wolfgang Puck. I slipped on my shoes and decided to run down to ask the bartender in the restaurant to round up another one for me. I knew I was supposed to wait for Darby or my mom or dad, but I felt so much better after talking with Mick, and a quick trip downstairs would surely be ok.
I looked out into the hallway;
no one was around
. I walked to the elevator and pushed the down button.
T
he doors opened,
and
I gasped
as I
nearly fell down
taking a few quick steps backward
. A disturbed Carl stepped out of the elevator toward me.
“Susan,” he said dryly, “just the person I wanted to see.” He took another step toward me, and I backed up a couple more steps toward my room.
I
quickly scanned
the hallway, but it was still empty. The fear on my face was evident,
and I was angry
I had let him catch me off-guard. “What do you want, Carl?” I tried to snap at him.
“I hear you dodged a bullet today,” he said without emotion.
I had to stifle a gasp. He was essent
ially admitting he was behind the shot
taken at me
today
. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I told him.
“Susan, I’m going to cut right to the chase with you
,” he said
.
“
You didn’t
see anything yesterday. You might
think you did, but you didn’t. The jani
tor was helping us
take some things out to the dumps
ters, and he had a seizure. We drove
him
to the hospital, and he’s
fine. Do you understand me?”
I
was confused. Was he telling
the truth? Was he telling
the story he wanted
me
to tell if I was asked about it by
anyone? Was he telling me
I would be
left alone if I pretended
I didn’t see anything? I felt as though a small window
had opened
for me to get out of this.
I tried to sound confident as I told him, “It was dark outside, Carl, and the door was only open for a few seconds. You’re right. I don’t know what I saw, so I didn’t tell anyone about it. Thank you for clearing
it
up for me.”
He reached out and grabbed my elbow. It was a huge effort not to recoil. “Just so long as we understand each other, Susan,” he said.
I
nodded my head and
said in a small voice, “We do.”
He let go of my arm, seemed to be pleased
with himself
, and said, “How about a nightcap? Join me for a drink?”
I could only hope he wouldn’t make a scene when I declined. “
Not tonight,” I said. “I’m
not feeling well, and I’ve been in my room all evening. I was going to run down to tell my parents g
oodnight, but I think I’ll
give them a call instead.”
He
stared
at me, and I could see he was giving thought as to how to handle the moment. “Another time then,” he said. “Goodnight.” He turned to push the button for the elevator.
“Goodnight,” I said.
I rushed to my room and let myself in. I leaned against the door and realized my heart
was
pounding against my chest. It was hard to breathe
, and my legs felt rubbery
. I didn’t know if
I should feel relief
that I
may
no longer be in danger, or
terror
at knowing what the man was capabl
e of. The
gun
was fired with intent to kill, and I
was more certain than ever
the man outside the door had been murdered.
**
“You look really pretty, honey. Do you need a ride back to the hotel tonight?”
Dad and I were
sitting at a table
in front of Starbucks, and he was making sure I was ready for
my big
day. Darby was still asleep when I left the room, so I had gently knocked on my parents’ door to see if they were up. Dad was,
and
he slipped out with me to have breakfast before the driver from Slimmers came to pick me up.
“Nope,” I told him. “The driver will take me back and forth all week, so I don’t have to worry about
transportation
.”
We were
having coffee and breakfast sandwiches while w
e shared the local newspaper. I
finished the sports section and was delighted to
see the Blue Ball Blades
won both of their games over the weekend. I
was able
to talk with Dell for a minute yesterday, and he had four tickets set aside for us for tonight’s game. We were planning a late dinner atop the Stratosphere afterward, and Dell would be joining us.
I passed the sports section to Dad, and he passed the local section to me. Two pages
in
, a
shudder ran
the length of my body, and my stomach did a cartwheel. The headline
Slain Janitor Found in Desert
was screaming at me. I couldn’t contain the shocked “
oh no
” which
passed my lips for Dad to hear.
“What is it, Susan?” he asked.
It was obvious
I was upset, and there was no p
ulling it back. “Dad,
a janitor
was recently
killed. They found him in the desert.”
“That’s horrible, honey,
” he said, “
but why would
it
upset you
?”
“His wife
filed a missing person’s report,
” I said, “
and they identified his body through dental records.” I continued to scan the article becoming more horrified with each passing sentence. “His body
was placed on
railroad tracks which is why they had to use dental records.” I looked at my dad with wide eyes and said, “Dad, his name was Gilbert Torres, and he was a janitor at Slimmers Corporate Offices.”