GAMBLING ON LOVE (Travis Series) (22 page)

She heard the door to the stairwell open
and
then
slam
shut just as the elevator stopped on the twelfth floor
.
Beth waited to see
whether
it would continue up or
head back
down
. A few minutes later, she had her answer when
it started to descend.
 

“Twelfth floor,” she said to Justin
and
then hung up
to
dial Mark.
 

The plan was to converge on the twelfth floor and decide what action to take from there
.
While Beth waited for the elevator to take her up, she dialed the front office and asked
whether
anyone had called maintenance for that floor
.
After confirming the only maintenance call had been for a room on the fifth floor, she asked to be transferred to
Mr. Rodchester
.
The elevator doors opened and she stepped inside
just as
he picked up.
 

“I think we may have your man, Mr. Rodchester
. Could
you please have your security people standing by
?
I’ll call you as soon as we’re sure.”

Beth stuck her head out of the elevator and looked both ways before stepping out
.
Mark must have flown up the stairs because he was already at the other end talking to Justin
.
As soon as Mark saw her, he hurried down the hall to join her.
 

“Justin’s not sure which room he’s in because the hall was empty by the time he got up here
.
So what’s the plan?”

“If he hadn’t seen me on the fifth floor already
,
I could stall him
when he comes out
by
saying
I need something fixed in my room
.
As it is, I guess you’ll have to do it.
”
She opened her purse
,
retrieved
the keys to her room
and
handed them to Mark
.
“Go with him to my room and don’t let him out of your sight for a minute
.
In the meantime, I’ll call security and have
them
go to my room so they can detain and search him there
.
I don’t want to give him any opportunity to get rid of the stolen goods before security arrives.”

Beth tucked herself on the far side of the ice maker while Mark lingered around the pop machine
.
She’d called Justin to let him know what they were doing and asked him to take the stairs
down
to her floor and wait for her call
.
Once Mark and the maintenance man where inside her room, Justin would wait outside for Beth and the security people in case Mark needed help before they got there.

Fifteen minutes later, their man slipped out of a room not two doors away from where Mark was standing
.
“Hey, mister,” he called
.
“My cousin’s room has a leaky showerhead
.
Do you think you could follow me to her room and get it fixed before she
comes
back?”

“You’re supposed to go through the front office,” the man said as he pressed the elevator button.

“I know, but that will take time
.
My cousin
,
Lizzie
,
is ornery as hell and has a real nasty temper
.
She asked me to take care of it this morning and I forgot
.
If it’s not fixed by the time she finishes her tennis lessons, my goose is cooked.”

“I’m really not supposed to
…
”

“Maybe you’ve seen her,” Mark said
.
“
She
was wearing this bright green eyesore of a skirt today, long red hair, mouth that never stops running.”

The maintenance man laughed
.
“I think I did notice her earlier today
.
So she’s got a redhead’s temper, eh?”

“You have no idea,” Mark
said with a dramatic
sigh
.
The elevator doors opened and Mark stepped in alongside the man
.
“So what do you say, mister
…
”
The elevator doors closed and the man’s reply was lost to her
.

Beth hurried to the elevator and pressed the button
.
She was confident Mark would
coax
the man to her room but keeping him there could prove to be a problem
because
the leaky showerhead was completely fictitious
.
It didn’t take long for the elevator to return
. A
few minutes
later,
she was headed down the hall to her room where Justin was hovering outside.

“Where the hell is security
?”
she
said barely above a whisper.

“I’m sure they’ll be here in a few
…
”
Justin stopped and nodded toward the elevators
.
“There they are now.”

Beth turned and was relieved to find three security guards making their way to
wards
her
.
She introduced herself and Justin
and
advised the
men
that Mark was inside with the suspect
.
One of the guards tapped on the door
,
which was opened almost immediately by Mark
.
Behind him, the maintenance man looked thoroughly irritated but his expression faltered when he spied the security guards.

“He couldn’t find a leak
.”
Mark grinned as he stepped back and let them all in.

Beth saw the startled look on the man’s face
, followed by a
furtive glance at his toolbox
.
She moved to stand in front of it while the security guards told him why they were there, although it was pretty obvious he’d figured it out
.
When he was
asked to empty his pockets
, Beth spoke up.

“I don’t think that will be necessary
;
the items are in his toolbox.”
 

She smiled with satisfaction at the shocked look the suspect gave her because
it
confirmed what she’d said. At least, that’s what Beth thought until
she opened the box
,
pulled out all the tools
,
and
stared in dismay at the empty bottom
.
She couldn’t have been wrong
;
she just couldn’t
.
Beth glanced back a
t
the maintenance man’s
eyes trained nervously on the box
.
Mark
stood
behind her
,
peering into the empty space with a grimace.
 

With renewed determination, Beth plucked a
flat
-
head
screwdriver from the floor
.
After carefully
ey
ing
the bottom
, she wedged the screwdriver in one corner where the paint was completely chipped off and pried upwards. It took a couple of attempts, but it finally popped, revealing a false bottom. Beth lifted it out and then stood back to allow the security guard a glimpse of what she’d uncovered.

He turned to the other guards
.
“Take him to the office and call the police
.
Mr. Judd, you’re being detained for suspicion of theft.
”
He told the other guards he
would
follow them shortly
and
then turned to Beth and held out his hand
.
“Miss Sweeney, you have no idea how happy we are you caught him
.
We’ve been sending men up and down the halls throughout the hotel for months and never could
catch
him
.
I’m sure Mr. Rodchester will be elated at the news.”

“If you don’t mind taking the toolbox with the jewels in it, I’ll go with you to meet with Mr. Rodchester and wait for the police.
”
She looked at Mark
.
“You’ll have to come with us to give a statement.”
 

Justin had entered the room after they’d taken Mr. Judd away and Beth smiled warmly at him
.
“I’m sorry you didn’t get to do the take-down
.
Even so
,
we couldn’t have done it without your help.
If you
can afford to take
a few days
off to
relax and enjoy the view by the pool
, I’m willing to pick up the tab for a room
.”
 

Justin’s spirits lifted considerably
.
“Thanks
,
Beth
.
I’ll just run down to one of the shops and pick up some swimming trunks
.
You
can stop by the pool before you leave
and drop off the card key
.”
 

The three of them left to tie up the loose ends
,
which included giving both verbal and written statements, and a brief meeting with Mr. Rodchester. He was
immensely pleased with their work
, but
Beth still felt guilty for not catching it first
; a sentiment she relayed to
Mark as they walked to the pool to meet Justin.

“We caught him, Beth, and you have another satisfied customer so quit sweating the small stuff.”
 

She nodded thoughtfully and decided maybe he was right, but
made a solemn promise to herself to
work doubly hard on the next case
so
she didn
’
t mess anything up for lack of attention to detail.
 

Changing the subject, Beth asked,
“Are
you
going to take advantage of the room and amenities Mr. Rodchester offered you?”

Mark grinned
.
“I wasn’t going to at first, but I think Justin needs some healthy competition down by the pool.”

“It’s one huge competition between you two,” she laughed
.
“I don’t suppose you’re going to rub it in that you got to be the take-down man on this one?”

Mark looked at her with wide-eyed innocence
.
“Now, would I do something like that?”

Beth shot him a sideways glance and shook her head
.
“You know he’ll get even with you on the next case.”

“And I’ll return the favor on the one after that
.
Justin’s a good guy,” Mark said earnestly
.
“It keep
s
us both on our toes and working hard.”

A
s
they approached the pool,
Beth noted two young women engaged in a game of shameless flirtation even as
Justin extracted himself
and ambled over to greet them.

B
eth handed him the cardkey to his room.
“You can stay until Sunday if you like
,” Beth said as she handed him the card key. “M
eals will be picked up by the hotel, as well as any facility charges you rack up.”
 

Mark was gazing past Justin at the two ladies he’d just left
.
“Hey, blondie is
my
groupie,” he complained.

“Not anymore,” Justin winked at Beth, “not since I told her about your unfortunate accident.”

“What accident
?”
Mark
’s eyes
narrowed.

“You
know,
the one that left you
…
incapable of fulfilling
blondie’s
wildest fantasies.”

Beth tried to stifle her laughter with little success while Mark fumed,
muttering a few
very colorful oaths under his breath
.
Taking that
a
s her exit cue, she waved good-bye and left
them to work it out on their own
.
It was just
shy
of two o’clock
; plenty of time to grab a taxi back to the
office and get a few hours in before Sam got off work.