by Elle Dalton
I waited in the hotel lobby until I saw my mom come down for lunch, then I grabbed a key to her room. It would take her at least thirty minutes to eat, plenty of time for me to search her room.
The room was a complete disaster, which surprised me because my mother had always been a neat freak. Growing up, she’d sweep and mop our cottage on a daily basis, even when it was already clean. Her new behavior had to be a consequence of the alcohol.
She had clothes strewn across the bed. I shifted through them to see if there was anything important underneath. There wasn’t, but I did discover that every item of clothing still had a tag on. She had put a small piece of tape on the tags and taped them in a position where they wouldn’t be visible when she was dressed.
The new discovery made my heart ache. Things were even worse than I thought. My mother was clearly planning to return the clothes. The worst part was, they weren’t even the usual high-end designer pieces she preferred to buy. They were still designer, but mid-range, outfits that cost hundreds of dollars instead of thousands. She could no longer afford the mid-range clothing but of course she had to come to Shadow Creek dressed to the nines.
Guilt overcame me. I didn’t feel bad about my return to Shadow Creek. That was a decision I’d always stand by. But I felt terrible that our relationship was so damaged that my mother had financial problems and couldn’t even come to me for help.
I wouldn’t have returned to her agency, but I would have given her money. I had enough to keep both her and me afloat, assuming I didn’t lose the hotel due to lack of business.
Despite how much she hurt me in the past, I decided I would help her out in any way I could. She was too proud to ask for money, but I’d make sure she took some from me. I was still her daughter.
Unless, of course, she was responsible for the crimes. Though it made me sad to think of the sweet, caring mother I once had sitting in a jail cell in an orange jumpsuit, if she truly was a murderer, she’d have to face the consequences. I wouldn’t be able to help her even if I wanted to. Killing Donny would have been especially evil considering she knew him too.
To my relief, I didn’t find any incriminating evidence except more bottles of alcohol at random places in the room, even on the floor next to the toilet. It was clear her drinking was getting out of hand. The mini fridge was cleared out.
I was starting to think Aunt Jolene was right about my mother being innocent. If she couldn’t even keep her room clean or hang up clothes she planned to return to the stores, how effectively could she hide evidence?
The pit in my stomach began to subside as the relief came in waves. I was being insane. My mother was annoying but not murderous. Which meant that I needed to make more of an effort to reach out to her, to offer her my help.
Perhaps it would work out better for the both of us. If I was giving her money, she might let up on begging me to return to New York. What would our relationship even be like if she wasn’t constantly hoping for me to fail? My mind drifted back to old memories once again, of the mother that supported and loved me. Could I get her back?
I was going through the last of her nightstand drawers when I found a photograph of her at some red carpet event, something that wasn’t out of the ordinary. She went to so many red carpet events, so it was no surprise that she wanted to hang on to the good times. But something in the photo made me look closer. She wasn’t alone. She stood next to a tall, distinguished man dressed in a deep green suit, his arm wrapped around her waist.
My mother leaned into him, her head almost resting on his shoulder. She had a smile unlike anything I’d seen on her in years. Whoever the man was, she was dating him. Or, at least, dating him at the time the photo was taken.
And how old was the photo, exactly? I couldn’t tell. It didn’t much matter, it still hit me like a ton of bricks.
I didn’t know she was dating someone. It brought back memories of my father. She used to lean against his shoulder in the exact same way. She smiled like that for him.
It didn’t hurt me that she was moving on from my dad, of course. It had been years since he died. I wanted her to be happy and my father would have wanted the same. What made my heart ache was the fact that she never introduced me to the man in her life. They looked comfortable enough around each other to have been dating for a while.
How had we drifted so far apart? How did our family crumble so completely? If my father could see us, he would be heartbroken.
The sound of footsteps outside in the hallway made me wipe away the tears with the back of my hand and tuck the photo away. I’d left the door open a crack to be able to hear if anyone was coming.
I put everything back in its place and dashed out of the room.
It wasn’t my mother coming down the hall. Karen emerged into view. Her room was on the same floor. She slowed down when she saw me.
“Are you visiting your mom?” she asked.
I hadn’t yet updated her on what I discovered.
Heat flooded my cheeks and I averted my gaze.
“No, actually, my mom isn’t in her room right now…”
“So why were you?” She raised an eyebrow.
“I was just doing a bit of… I was investigating.”
Karen shook her head. “You can’t be serious, Diana? First you suspected me and now you think your mother commited murder? I know you guys are not close, but isn’t that going a bit far? I think you’re going a bit insane.”
I squeezed my eyes shut, then opened them again. “It’s not like that. I had reasons to look in her room.”
Karen folded her arms. “Really? What reasons?”
“Her agency is apparently going under. She’s been abusing alcohol, and she begged me again to go back to New York. I know now that she’s going broke.” I stopped to catch my breath. “I just thought… She’s the only person who has any real motive.”
“Holy hell! She’s totally broke?”
Karen knew that my mother had made a lot of money in the modeling industry.
“I think so. Karen, all her clothes still have tags on them. She clearly plans to return them. But it doesn’t really matter. I mean, of course it matters, but I don’t think it’s relevant when it comes to the murder case. I didn’t find anything in her room.” I buried both my hands in my hair. “Maybe I am going insane.”
“No, I get it. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that. It all makes sense and there’s no reason not to look into all possible leads. But I’m glad you didn’t find anything.”
“Me too.” I lowered myself onto one of the benches placed in the hall. Karen sat next to me.
“Honey, is everything okay with you and Ervin?” She covered my left hand with hers. “You’re not wearing your ring.”
“Oh, yeah, I just forgot to put it on this morning. It’s not part of my daily routine yet, you know?”
“Good to hear. I figured it was nothing. I was just asking because—” She stopped suddenly, as if realizing she’d said too much.
“Because what?”
“It’s nothing. I don’t want to cause any more drama.”
My heart started to thud. “No, seriously, what is it?”
“It’s just stupid rumors around the hotel, people saying they saw Ervin and Chloe talking.”
“I know about that. Nothing is going on between them. Chloe cornered Ervin the other day and begged him to break things off with me.”
Karen gasped. “Tell me you’re joking. You welcome that woman back into the hotel, give her a job, and she turns around and tries to steal your man?”
“Sounds just like Chloe. Your instincts were on point. I shouldn’t have welcomed her back.”
“My instincts are also right when it comes to something else,” Karen said.
“What do you mean?”
“You should also take my word for it when I tell you that Chloe is responsible for the murders.”
I tucked my hands between my knees. “I still need more evidence before I accuse her of murd
er. I’m definitely keeping an eye on her, though. Or, at least, I’m trying to.”
“You shouldn’t be. You just need to get rid of her. She can’t work here anymore. You need to tell her that.”
“I totally agree, and I plan to do just that next time I see her,” I said and leaned into my friend, the way my mother had leaned into the man in the photo.
.
Chapter 11
Now that I was more settled about my mother, I could put my full attention on Chloe.
I went down to the reception area to ask Jordan if he’d seen her anywhere, but he wasn’t there. Nobody was manning the front desk. That wasn’t a huge deal considering we weren’t receiving any new guests, but sometimes the current guests had questions. He should have been available. Maybe he went to the bathroom.
I walked into the kitchen, where our head chef, Elizabeth, was cooking lunch. Servers trickled in and out.
“Have any of you seen Jordan?” I asked.
Elizabeth only shook her head, her eyes focused on the steak she was frying.
“I did,” Sally spoke up. “He was walking down the hall to the spa.”
“To the spa? Why would he go there?”
“He said he had to grab extra linens for a guest.”
“Oh, okay.” I paused. “How about Chloe? Has anyone seen her?” She was the one I had originally been looking for.
“Not today,” Sally replied. “She’s not really back on staff, is she?”
“Why do you ask?”
“Because she’s a crazy person,” Elizabeth said and one of the other servers laughed.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Sally agreed.
Even I couldn’t hold back a smile.
Their reaction to her return confirmed to me that I was making the right decision. She had to go.
Now that I knew Jordan was only on the hunt for linens, I expected to walk back into the lobby and find him returning to the front desk. But the reception area was still empty. I waited five more minutes before making my way toward the spa to see if I could find him in the linen closet. But the linen closet door was shut, so I turned to go back to the lobby.
A sound on the other side of the door caught my attention. I stepped closer, drew in a breath, then reached for the door handle.
The door was not locked after all. One of the staff members did mention once that it was hard to open sometimes without a little force.
When I swung it open, I caught Jordan locked in an embrace with Chloe.
Jordan stepped away from her, his eyes filled with panic.
“Diana, what… what are you doing here?” he asked in a strained voice.
“What am I doing here?” I narrowed my eyes at him, ignoring Chloe for the moment. “Well, Jordan, I went to the reception desk to talk to you and you weren’t there. I asked around to see where you might have gone. I was told you were headed toward the linen closet. I waited for you to return, but when you didn’t, I set out to find you. I never thought—”
“I’m so, so sorry, Diana. It won’t happen again.”
He tried to push past me in the doorway, but I put an arm up.
“Your shirt is still unbuttoned, Jordan. Please fix that before you get back out on the floor to represent the hotel.”
“Y-yes, absolutely.”
He started fiddling with his buttons. It was hard for him to get his shirt closed with trembling fingers.
“Here, let me help you with that,” Chloe said in a low, seductive voice.
Pretending I wasn’t even there, she reached out in front of Jordan, curled her fingers around his neck and then moved them down to the buttons.
Jordan looked just as uncomfortable as I was.
And I didn’t really get it. What was she trying to do, rub it in my face that she’d made out with Jordan? I didn’t care what she did with him. It was Ervin I was dating. Yet, she was acting like she wanted me to be jealous.
“There you go,” she said after taking her time closing the buttons.
Fuming, I stepped out of the way so Jordan could get back to work.
The time had come to deal with Chloe, who was now showing her true colors.
“What are you doing, Chloe? I mean, seriously, what is this all about?”
“I think you saw what it was all about. I really don’t think you want me to explain. Jordan is a handsome guy. I can see why you and your aunt want him to be the first person guests see when they enter the hotel.”
“Why exactly are you going after my fiancé if you like Jordan? If you want to date Jordan, go ahead. I truly don’t care. He can do whatever he wants. Just please leave the romance for after work hours.”
I did find it creepy, though. Chloe was my age and Jordan was in his early twenties. Knowing how manipulative Chloe was, I couldn’t help feeling sorry for Jordan.
“I never went after Ervin. He went after me, remember?”
“We both know you’re lying, Chloe.” I inhaled sharply. “Why did you come back to the hotel? I no longer think it’s because you were desperate to have your job back.”
“I was,” she said, looking away.
“Then why are you behaving like this?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She tossed her hair over her shoulders and pushed past me.
If she thought I was going to let her off the hook that easily, she was so wrong. The scales had fallen from my eyes and I was starting to think Karen might be right about Chloe.
“Did you do it?” I called after her, my voice following her down the hall..
“Do what?” She turned to face me. Even from a distance between us, I saw the smirk on her face.
“Did you kill Donny?”
“What?” She laughed. “Why would I kill anyone?”
“I don’t know, Chloe. Why would anyone commit murder? Maybe it’s because you’re desperate for attention, or because...”
I didn’t know the reason. There was no way for me to get inside Chloe’s manipulative mind.
“I’m no murderer. Why don’t you look at your own inner circle?”
“What does that even mean? Are you implying that you know something about the murders? If you do, why the hell won’t you tell the cops? What kind of person would keep such a terrible secret?”
“Have a great day, Diana.” She gave me a small wave and walked away.
Her behavior caught me off guard. I didn’t realize until I started walking back to the lobby that I’d forgotten to fire her. I made a mental note to go on the search for her later.
I needed to speak to Jordan. Chloe was never going to give me the answers I needed, but maybe he would.
Back at the receptionist desk, Jordan wouldn’t meet my eyes. “We need to talk,” I said to him. “Let’s go to my office.”
He blinked several times, then nodded.
As soon as he shut the door behind us, the apologies started again.
“Diana, I’m so sorry. I really am. I’ve never done anything like that before. Please don’t fire me. I really need this job. Chloe just caught me off guard and—”
“I’m not going to fire you, Jordan. But it better not happen again, not at work. I hope that’s clear.”
His Adam’s apple rose and fell as he swallowed hard. “Yes, absolutely.”
“I do need to ask you something, though. Are you and Chloe dating?”
“Wh...why?” he stuttered.
“Come on, Jordan, you know why I’m asking. You can be honest with me. Your job is safe.”
I didn’t believe Chloe and Jordan were a couple. He was just a pawn in her game. But I hoped the question would get me other answers that I need.
Jordan bit his lip. “No, not exactly. If I can be completely honest, I’ve always had a crush on her, but I didn’t think I was her type until she started flirting with me. But we’re not officially dating or anything.”
“So you don’t spend a lot of your free time together?” I clasped my hands on top of the desk.
“N
o, not really. She kind of just… Well, she wants me when she wants me, and then she disappears when she doesn’t.”
I leaned back in my chair. “I’m not a therapist, but that doesn’t seem healthy.”
Jordan shrugged. “I haven’t dated a lot. I mean, I haven’t dated at all. I don’t really know the proper protocol.”
His confession didn’t surprise me. Even though Jordan was extremely handsome, he always struck me as a shy kid. I hated that Chloe was using him.
“Jordan, you need to be careful with her.”
“Why?”
“Chloe just isn’t stable,” I explained. “She’s not the kind of woman you want your first relationship to be with. She could get you into a whole lot of trouble.”
I didn’t want Jordan to get wrapped up in Chloe’s mess. She could manipulate him so easily. She even manipulated Ervin at one point, and he was far older and wiser than Jordan.
Jordan became a bit defensive. “Well, thanks for the tip, but I think I can make my own decisions.”
“I know you can,” I acquiesced. “I don’t want to force you to do or not do anything. It’s your life. I just want you to be careful. I know Chloe, and I don’t want her to use you.”
Jordan’s face closed up and he puffed out his chest. “I don’t think she’ll do that. I know we’re not official or anything yet, but Chloe really likes me. I can just tell. People say terrible thongs about her, but she’s always been nice to me.”
My heart sank. Jordan was too smitten to see Chloe’s true colors. He refused to see that Chloe was bad news, that she had him wrapped around her finger. He would learn in time but not by me.
I lifted my hands off the table and let them drop again. “If you are happy, Jordan, I won’t stand in your way. You deserve to be happy and I wish you all the best.” I glanced at the door. “I don’t have any more questions. You can get back to work. Thank you for your time.”
“Sure. Thank you for understanding, Diana.”
He stepped out of the room and I dropped my head into my hands.
Chapter 12
I spent the rest of the evening trying to find Chloe, but it was like she had vanished into thin air. She wasn’t at the spa, in her room, in the banquet or dining hall. There was also no sign of her at the bar or in the garden. I felt stupid for not firing her when I had the chance. Now she would probably make it difficult to find her.