by Joan Rylen
“Dry sauna for me,” Kate said. “My sinuses will thank me.”
Suri led them out of the room and to the right, through a door with a sign stating, “Shhh. Treatments in progress.” The ladies lounge was a few steps down the hall, and they went inside.
“This is where your massage therapist or aesthetician will pick you up, should you schedule any treatments. However, you are free to use the lounge at any time.”
The sharp scent of burning wood drew Vivian’s attention to a crackling fireplace on the far wall. She imagined herself in an overstuffed chaise, pampered skin wrapped in a cushy robe and snuggled under one of the cozy blankets that adorned each ottoman. She didn’t feel like leaving, but Suri opened the door, leading them farther down the hall.
Lucy pointed toward an exit door. “Does this lead up to the fitness area?”
“No, it leads out to the west side of the hotel,” Suri said, pushing open a large, wooden door with an iron scroll handle.
Warmth and humidity enveloped them within seconds.
The cavernous, underground grotto was the most impressive part of the spa. A waterfall cascaded from the rock wall, splashing into a hot tub large enough for 50 people. Candlelight flickered from wall sconces. Four lounge chairs beckoned at water’s edge, behind which a table offered a tray of rolled washcloths covered in ice, topped with sliced cucumbers. A beverage station filled with ice water sweated in the humidity.
Lucy flicked a melting ice cube off a cucumber slice and stuck it into her mouth.
“Those are for the bags under your eyes, Lucy!” Vivian said, “not for your stomach!”
“I’m hungry and need a snack,” Lucy replied. “I’ve had a stressful day, what with the flying-down-the-mountain, near-death, brakes-failing, we-almost-died-two-hours-ago drama.”
Suri looked at Lucy with wide eyes. “Is there anything I can get you?”
“Yes,” Wendy answered for her. “Back to the bar.”
“It would be my pleasure.”
Everyone’s new favorite words.
18
THE girls golf clapped after the elevator doors closed in the spa.
“It would be her pleasure,” Kate said. “I love that!”
“I know,” Vivian said. “It’s so much better than just plain ol’ ‘thank you.’ ”
“I vote we just head back up to the room, hit the cooler and get Wonkita a snack,” Wendy said. “After all this, I’m ready to see our room.”
Lucy’s nickname, Wonkita, started in high school, compliments of the otherwise all-male drum line.
Vivian smacked the 8 button, where they got off.
Kate slid the card into the reader and pushed the door open.
“Damn, it smells good in here,” Vivian said. “What is that?”
“Lavender and juniper, maybe?” Wendy said, tossing her purse on the nightstand.
“It is caressing my nasal passages,” Kate said, sniffing the air.
“Are we in a Danielle Steele novel?” Lucy asked. “Caressing your nasal passages? Really?”
Vivian inhaled deeply. “Whatever it is, it is definitely caressing my nasal passages.” She walked past the two queen beds and built-in armoire hiding the TV and pushed back the curtains at the sliding glass door. “Holy fuckbuckets. Would you look at this view?”
“Kodak moment,” Lucy yelled, scrambling for her camera.
Kate slid the door open. “I see myself enjoying coffee out here every morning.”
“And we should definitely call for room service,” Wendy said. “It would be their pleasure!”
“The sky is so blue!” Kate said, stepping outside. “It’s not this blue at home.”
“That’s because you live in the big city,” Lucy said. “Pollution.”
Vivian sat down and took a deep breath. The few clouds cast fleeting shadows on the mountain, which was still patchy with snow. The muddy ski runs zig-zagged through the trees with their early bits of color. She heard a giggle from below and saw a couple frolicking in the pool. The image of Rick and the SPS popped into her head. She looked away and took a sip of her wine. Get a room!
Lucy came back inside and heaved Vivian’s large orange suitcase onto the bed. She balanced her camera on top, set the timer and ran into place. “Suck it in, girls!” Click!
They set to unpacking. This was the kind of place where you wanted to empty the luggage and never leave.
“We’ll have to go find the bellman downstairs and tip him,” Kate said, unzipping her bag. He had delivered their luggage and backseat bar to the room while they were on their tour.
By the time they were finished, the drawers bulged and the armoire cabinets barely shut, but all their shit fit.
Wendy set up the bar on the built-in chest of drawers and cracked open a bottle of wine. She poured a bit for everyone but Kate, who stuck with sparkling water, and they toasted to “the majesty of the mountains.”
Lucy’s snack run in Boulder a couple of days ago was coming in handy now as she got out the grapes, Parmigiano-Reggiano, asiago and Colby jack cheeses and cracked pepper water crackers. The girls took their munchies and wine out on the balcony.
Vivian snubbed all that and brought out her insisted-upon Easy Cheese and Ritz Crackers, which Wonkita was extremely embarrassed to purchase.
“I still can’t believe you made me buy that,” Lucy said, indicating the can of cheese.
“Don’t knock it,” Vivian answered. “Look at the cute things I can make on my crackers.” She held up a squirty cheese smiley face.
“Gross,” Wendy said. “Do you even know what’s in that stuff?”
Vivian shoved the entire smiley cracker in her mouth and shrugged. “Roo rares.”
The cracker gone, Vivian said, “Now this is the life. I need to wake up to this view every morning. My oak trees aren’t bad, but the neighbor’s fence is.”
“I hear ya,” Wendy said. “The refineries aren’t exactly a scenic overlook, either. Smokestacks spewing fire and god knows what else.”
“You can see a refinery from your house?” Lucy asked.
“I can see two. Both from my front windows.”
“Take a deep breath and revel in this while you can,” Kate said.
She did.
They enjoyed their snackage, the wine and the view. The couple they dubbed the newlyweds had moved and were mackin’ down in one of the hot tubs nestled between the aspens.
“FIFTY PERCENT CHANCE!” Vivian screamed out, but there was no stopping those two.
“Vivian!” Kate said.
“It’s true. Look at the statistics.”
In the hot tub next door, four women in their 30s woo-hooed the couple.
“Look, they’re here on a girls’ trip like us,” Lucy said.
“Mmm mmm mmm, what do we have here?” Vivian asked, standing up and looking over toward the fire pit. “Check out that fine specimen.”
The girls followed her gaze and saw a trim man wearing sunglasses, white oxford shirt and dark slacks.
“Cute,” Wendy said, pouring a little more wine.
“I guess he’s getting a tour, too,” Kate said.
He was with Matt, the host, who pointed at chalets on either side of The Ridge.
“Is he taking notes?” Wendy asked, peering over the railing. “Oh my god, I think he is.”
“I’m all about details, but that’s going a little far,” Lucy said.
“Maybe he’s gay and getting Matt’s number,” Vivian said.
“Shut up, Matt isn’t gay!” Lucy said.
“How do you know?”
“I know.”
Lucy reached for a cracker, missed and instead knocked the entire packet off the railing. It landed directly in front of Slacks and Matt.
Slacks looked up to their balcony as the girls hastily retreated into their room.
“Did he see us?” Kate squealed.
Vivian stepped back out on the balcony and peeked over the railing. Slacks had moved on and the
crackers were gone. “Now that’s service! Let’s drop something else!”
“No!” yelled Kate and Lucy at the same time.
“What’s he doing now?” Wendy asked.
Vivian peeked again. “He’s getting something out of his pants.”
“This is getting good!” Lucy said.
“Wait, wait. It’s just his phone.”
Vivian’s ringtone, which she had dubbed “wannabe porno music,” went off.
“What a coincidence,” Lucy said. “He’s calling someone and your phone is ringing.”
Vivian looked at her phone but didn’t recognize the number. She hit receive.
“Hello?”
“Is this Vivian Taylor?” a deep voice asked.
“Yes, that’s me.”
“Ms. Taylor, this is Agent Wade Nelson with the Denver FBI field office.”
19
I’M here at the hotel and need you to meet me in the lobby as soon as possible. I was told you have some evidence. Please bring that with you.”
“I’ll be right down,” Vivian said and hung up the phone.
She turned to the girls. “That was the FBI guy. He wants to meet me in the lobby and to bring the envelope and picture.”
Wendy grabbed her purse. “Let’s go!”
“This is so exciting. An FBI agent! And he’s cute!” Lucy said.
“If he’s anything like Agent Tucker, it’ll be all business. They know their stuff.”
“Still…,” Kate said.
“In the books I read they’re always tall, dark and handsome,” Wendy said. “Unfortunately, often they turn out to be the bad guys.”
“Let’s not keep him waiting,” Lucy said, heading to the door. “Maybe he’s only a bad boy in a good way.”
They joked about “bad” qualities down the hall and into the elevator. Vivian started singing “Bad” by Michael Jackson. The girls chimed in and were really getting going when the elevator doors opened.
There stood the gorgeous guy they’d been spying on from their balcony. He was 6 feet tall, athletic build, mid- to late 30s with some serious, dark green eyes. Standing next to him was a tall woman in her mid-40s, dark brown hair, fit, wearing trim black slacks and a cotton-candy-pink blouse.
Vivian stepped out of the elevator first. He glanced at the necklace before looking her in the eye. He stuck out his hand.
“Ms. Taylor, I’m Agent Wade Nelson, and this is Agent Gloria Cervantes.”
Vivian shook both their hands. “Hi, thanks for coming. These are my friends, Wendy Schreiber, Kate Troutman and Lucy McGuire.”
Kate couldn’t help but correct. “Actually, I got married last year, and I just changed my last name to Jameson.”
“Nice to meet you all. Let’s have a seat,” Nelson said, and glanced at the bumblebee pendant again before gesturing toward the great room. Vivian, self-conscious, touched it.
He sat down in an oversized chair, with Cervantes opposite. The girls lined up on an adjacent couch.
“Agent Tucker gave us some background,” Cervantes said, “but let’s get the facts straight. Please start from the beginning, how you met Craig to now.”
Vivian gave the lowdown in detail, from meeting at a gas station up to the picture and brake incident. “I thought he cared about me, but if so, why did he try to kill me? Kill us? He’s obviously not the person I thought he was.”
“People often aren’t,” Nelson replied. “May I see the picture?”
Vivian reached into her purse and pulled out the plastic grocery bag containing the envelope from the Yellow Aspen Hotel. “Here you go.”
Nelson snapped on a pair of latex gloves before handling the envelope. He studied the picture. “And you’re sure this was taken last night in Aspen?” He handed the picture to Cervantes, who had put on reading glasses as well as gloves.
“Yes, absolutely. The only time I was by myself last night was late on my walk of shhh… uh, my walk back to the hotel. After...”
Nelson raised his eyebrows. Cervantes coughed.
“Do I have to explain?”
“I get the gist,” Cervantes said, “but we need to know who, when and where.”
Vivian sighed. It was a part of the night she’d rather not remember. She divulged all. Well, almost all. The FBI didn’t need every gory detail.
“Did you see anyone at all on your walk back to the hotel?” Cervantes asked.
“No. I heard a noise near a trash can and thought I was about to be bear food, so I hauled ass outta there. I didn’t stop to look around.”
“Do you think Eric could have followed you?” Nelson asked.
“I doubt it. He was snoring by the time I walked out the door.” Vivian was starting to get irritated. She knew who took the damned photo, and she wanted him caught.
Nelson put his hands up in defense. “Just covering all the bases, Ms. Taylor. We’ll run this for prints and see what turns up.”
“Thank you. Are y’all going to check out the car? Because you may find evidence that indicates Craig was involved.”
“We did a quick search for listening and tracking devices and didn’t see anything,” Wendy said. “But we’re not the experts so we certainly could have missed something.”
“I’ve already requested the car be pulled from the valet,” Cervantes said. “We’ll look for devices, check out the brakes and look for fingerprints, but I doubt we’ll find any useful prints because of the repair. We will also conduct a thorough inspection of the hotel and grounds before returning to Denver tonight.”
Nelson pointed to the bumblebee on Vivian’s chest. “Where did you get that?”
Vivian touched the pendant. “Craig gave it to me for our three-month anniversary. It’s the mascot of the school Audrey will attend next year. I keep waiting for it to turn my neck green and some of the rhinestones to fall out.”
“Call me if Craig contacts you again or if you see anything suspicious.” Nelson stood and handed each of the girls his card but paused when he got to Wendy. She had to tug twice to get the card from his grip.
“Do you have any questions?” Cervantes asked.
Nelson fidgeted with the buttons on his shirt cuffs. “I’ve provided security a picture of Craig that they are distributing to all staff.”
“Thank you both so much,” Vivian said, getting up. “I really appreciate y’all coming up here from Denver.”
Vivian shook their hands, then the agents turned and walked out of the great room. The girls remained.
“My first experience with the FBI and I’m tellin’ ya, my heart is going ninety to nothin’,” Wendy said. “And I don’t think it’s because of the case.”
“He is officially hot.” Kate fanned herself. “Do you think they’re more than FBI partners?”
A man wearing a starched white shirt, jeans and a crisp brown apron appeared. “Ladies, can I get you anything?”
“Do y’all serve pitchers of margaritas?” Vivian asked as she sat down in the chair Nelson vacated.
“I’m sorry, we don’t. However, we do serve individual margaritas.”
“Oh my god!” Lucy yelled.
“What?” the girls asked in unison.
“It’s Cinco de Mayo!”
“Holy shit,” Wendy said. “You scared me. I thought you saw Craig or something.”
Vivian shook her head and told the perplexed waiter, “Give us four, please.” After he walked off, she said, “I’ll buy this round since it’s my ex-dumbass-boyfriend who’s causing all this mess. I’m really sorry, y’all. We seriously could have been killed.”
“It’s not your fault, Viv,” Lucy said, putting her feet up on the large wooden table in front of them. “You couldn’t have known he was going to turn into a stalker-gone-wild.”
“I know, but still. I wonder if I missed any signs.”
“Quit thinking that way,” Wendy said.
“Yeah, it’s not going to do any good,” Kate added.
The server arrived with the margarit
as. “Anything else right now?” he asked.
“You wouldn’t happen to have a twelve-gauge, would ya?” Wendy asked.
“Excuse me?”
“Just kiddin’,” she said with a grin.
She leaned forward and held up her margarita in toast. “We’re smart. We’re resourceful. Who the hell needs a gun?”
Clink!
20
AFTER a few sips, Kate pushed her margarita away. “I can’t drink this. I feel sick.”
Vivian put hers down, too, and looked at Kate. “Are you pregnant? Oh my god, you’re pregnant, aren’t you?”
Kate hesitated. “Maybe. I am for sure not feeling right.”
“We’ve got to get you a pregnancy test,” Vivian said. “Instant gratification!”
Lucy and Wendy hopped off the couch, margaritas in hand, and headed toward the gift shop to see if The Ridge supplied pregnancy tests.
The waiter reappeared and looked at Kate’s practically untouched drink. “Is something wrong with your margarita?”
“No, I’m just not feeling very well. Can I get some sparking water instead, please?”
“Of course.” He reached down to take away her margarita, but Vivian stopped him.
“Hold your horses there. I’m sure that will be consumed, no problem.”
He smiled and walked away.
Lucy and Wendy reappeared. “Negative on the pregnancy test,” Wendy said. “However, we stopped by the front desk and Trey said he could get one, but it would be a few hours.”
“The front-desk guy is getting me a pregnancy test?” Kate asked.
“Yep! It’s his pleasure!” Lucy said.
The waiter brought Kate’s water and Vivian paid the tab.
“Hey, preggers, you feel like you can handle goin’ to the grotto?” Vivian asked.
“I might not be,” Kate said and took a sip of water, “but yes, I can lounge around and throw a cold washcloth over my face. Sounds perfect.”
Trey wasn’t at the front desk as they walked by, but Kate blushed anyway. Once in the room, they got ready for their initial grotto experience.
“Those margaritas were great,” Wendy said, covering up her hot pink bikini with a plush, white Ridge robe. “Let’s get another round in the grotto.”