by Jim Heskett
“So even if we pull those threads, they probably don’t lead to anything but a clueless company who doesn’t know their stuff is being used for bad ends?”
He took a few seconds to parse her sentence, then nodded. “Yeah, that just about sums it up. AVP is not a priority. I’ll keep it on the back-burner, just in case.”
Serena sat across from Harry in the chair reserved for clients. She drew an expensive-looking knife and started cleaning her fingernails with it. “Okay, so what’s next?”
“Wait. I have an idea.”
Harry configured the settings on his virtual private network, and then dove into the muck of the deep web. An idea so big and bold and simple jumped up inside his head with such insistence, he couldn’t believe he hadn’t thought of it yet.
A few clicks later, he landed on the forum where people had been talking about getting sick from vapes. A place where no one used real names and kept most personal details close to the chest.
“What are you doing?” Serena asked.
“Trying to put the cheese on the trap.”
She tilted her head, puzzled.
“One second,” Harry said as he finished typing. He turned the screen around so she could read his forum post.
“What’s ‘liqnic’?”
“It’s regional teen slang for vaping. Liquid nicotine. I looked it up.”
Harry turned the laptop back around and read over his post. He had hoped to ensnare someone to sell him black market vapes as an entry point into finding a connection to NDCS.
A message near the top said eighteen people were currently viewing this forum, so he expected a reply back any second now.
A moment later, a reply appeared under his post. It simply read:
Nice try, narc.
“Oh,” Harry said, “maybe my slang wasn’t as current as I thought.”
Serena rounded the desk to read along with him. “Can you make a new profile and try again?”
“No, this forum doesn’t work that way. That was my shot.”
“Yeah, you blew it.”
“Okay, okay, no need to rub it in.”
She snorted a laugh. “So, what’s our next move?”
Harry stood and grabbed his car keys from the desk. “I have another idea.”
Harry and Serena parked in the lot at the Motorway Lodge. They could have walked here from the office, but Harry wanted his car nearby. After the unexpected run-in with Phil Dugan on the street yesterday, Harry never wanted to be stuck without immediate transportation again. Lesson learned.
In fact, if he never saw Phil Dugan again, Harry would be perfectly fine with that outcome. He pulled the keys out of the ignition, and Serena held up a finger to make him pause. “What’s the game plan?”
“I only have one promising suspect on the list right now, and that’s Ginnifer Applewhite. She’s here for the AA conference. She has a motive—although it’s weak—a criminal record, and there’s just something about her that doesn’t sit right.”
“And the plan?”
“I plan to go in there and ask for her room number, and then we’ll find her and interview her. Even if she’s not involved, she could at least potentially shed some light on the conference and point us to other interesting people. At least, that’s what I’m hoping.”
“Do we need her room number? I mean, we should probably be able to find her wandering around the conference at some point today, right?”
Harry tilted his head back and forth. “That’s true, but I’d rather knock on her door and walk straight into her room. No chance for her to escape and turn this into a hide-and-seek game around Eureka Springs.”
Serena turned up her palms. “Okay. I can see your point. Is this something you would do without me?”
“No way. I’m a lot older and wiser today than I was yesterday. No more running headfirst into danger without my shield nearby. I promise.”
“Good answer.”
They left the car and had almost entered the office when Serena paused and grabbed Harry by the shoulder. She shuffled him away from the front doors. “Wait. Let me handle this one.”
Harry looked inside to see a young man of about twenty standing behind the lodge’s reception desk. At first, he didn’t understand, then he watched his bodyguard shake her hand through her hair to give it a little volume and her plan came into focus.
Serena was wearing a button-down shirt, and she unbuttoned the top two, revealing a sharp V from her collarbone to where her gold crucifix necklace hung. Harry knew it was enough skin to draw attention because he felt his cheeks flush hard as soon as she started undoing the buttons. She slipped off the necklace and slid it into her pocket.
While there was no denying Serena’s attractiveness, Harry had never considered her “seductive.” She was a little too gruff for that. But as she messed up her hair and pinched her cheeks to bring out a natural rouge, Harry recalled why she’d been such an effective undercover agent for so many years. When she was done, she seemed like a whole other person. The kind of person who could attract the attention of anyone and everyone in a room. Harry had heard Serena fart before, which had permanently altered their relationship. But this woman turned sizzling hot when she made the conscious choice to affect that personality.
Harry caught himself staring at her and averted his eyes as quickly as he could.
She frowned at him and then waved a hand at the outfit that had become revealing and sexy with only a couple of minor changes. “I’m going to assume you will delete this from your memory banks as soon as we’re done here.”
“I’ll do my best.”
“Fair enough.”
She drew a slip of paper from her pocket and scribbled Motorway Lodge. Below that: Room ABC. Then she tore the paper in half so only motor and room were visible. Harry wasn’t sure he understood the plan, but he had no problem letting her run with it.
“Let’s get some answers,” she cooed.
Inside the building, Serena donned a plastic smile larger than Harry had ever seen her wear in real life as she sashayed across the lobby. Harry hung back, pretending to browse the racks of activity brochures near the continental breakfast station.
“Hey,” Serena said, and the young man beamed at her. In an instant, he’d gone from apathetically glancing at the screen in front of him to giving this new arrival his full attention. Harry almost chuckled out loud; this guy never had a chance.
“Morning ma’am. Are you a current guest or you need a room?”
Harry pushed through the inner door to take a look at the conference area. It was strangely devoid of people. Maybe they were on a break? It made it less likely Ginnifer would be hanging around somewhere, though. Catching her in her room felt like the element needed to make sure he had the upper hand during questioning.
Harry returned to the lobby room as Serena frowned, sticking out her lower lip a tad. “I’m looking for my friend Ginny. She’s not answering her phone and the stupid paper with her room number ripped in my purse. Like, I was going to grab it and I was like, wait a second, half of this thing is just gone!”
She pushed half of the torn paper toward the guy, who stared at it with uncertainty in his eyes. The charm effect seemed to be wearing off a little. Either way, Harry knew she had to bring this home fast.
“Please?” she said, curling up the corner of her lip at the young man ten years her junior.
He broke. “Okay, sure, I can help you. I’m not really supposed to dig around, but…”
The kid peeked behind him, squinting down an unseen hallway. “The coast is clear. What’s her name?”
“Ginnifer Applewhite.”
The young man’s fingers tapped on the keyboard for a few seconds, then he shook his head. “Not a guest at the hotel. Not now, not in the last few days.”
Harry turned toward the action, confused. As far as Harry knew, Ginnifer had no local contacts, no one to let her couch surf during the conference. She had to be staying at this hotel.
> “It’s with a G,” Serena said.
“Sorry, ma’am, I tried that. There’s no one with that name staying here.”
“But she’s registered for the AA conference, right?”
He shrugged. “We don’t actually track that. The AA people have their own registration system that’s separate from us. We just do the rooms and the meeting space. Have you tried looking for her at the Sunrise?”
She looked at Harry and he shrugged his confusion.
“Hey,” the young man said to Serena, “I get off work at 4. I don’t know if you are…”
She shook her head. “You’re a little young for me.”
As his eyes fell in disappointment, Harry and Serena shuffled out the door. As Harry opened the door, something occurred to him. He recalled seeing Ms. Applewhite in the lobby of the Sunrise Hotel and Spa within the last couple days. He sent a text message on his phone as they slid back into the car.
“What do you think?” she asked.
“I think she’s not staying here, which is weird. This is where the conference is, so it would be the only affordable place to stay in town. The only one with a special conference rate.”
Harry’s phone dinged and Serena leaned over. “What was that?” she asked.
“I had an idea,” he said as his eyes scanned the incoming message. “You know I play D&D with the manager at the Sunrise, right? My friend Neva?”
“Sure.”
“I texted her to ask if there’s a Ginnifer Applewhite staying at the hotel. She said no, but there is a G. Appleweiss at the Sunrise.”
Serena stared at the dashboard for a few seconds. “That’s odd.”
Harry started his car. “Sure is. Let’s go find out why.”
28
Whether the woman’s last name was Applewhite or Appleweiss, Harry needed to speak with Ginnifer. Several things didn’t add up about this woman. He didn’t know if she had killed Lukas Maslow, but Harry couldn’t shake the feeling that this woman had information about it.
Or maybe she had killed him. She had the priors to qualify for it. Either way, Harry knew he had to tread as lightly as possible with her.
He didn’t like doing laundry, but he liked how he felt when it was done, so he treated this the same way. Get it over with.
He and Serena parked outside the Sunrise Hotel on the hill overlooking Eureka Springs. The grand hotel stood like an evil dragon’s castle towering over foggy hill country. The vassals below could only stare at the grandeur of the draconic noble’s domicile.
“You okay?” Serena asked.
“Yeah, I’m good. Just distracted.”
“What are you thinking about?”
He chuckled. “Honestly? Dungeons & Dragons.”
“Huh?”
“When I’m stressed out or confused, my brain goes to D&D to make sense of things. Like, if I can add a fantasy layer over the real world, it helps me contextualize the big picture.”
He was prepared to continue his explanation until it made sense to both of them, but she gave a subtle shake of the head and he decided to halt. Explaining how his brain worked was not one of Harry Boukadakis’ strengths.
“How do you want to gameplan?” she asked.
Harry considered this for a second. It was odd to hear Serena asking for orders or guidance. He supposed this was natural, since he was technically her employer and therefore was supposed to give her orders. But after years of working alongside each other, it certainly felt weird to be the one in charge.
“Well, you’re apparently pretty skilled at talking to hotel front desk staff…”
She nodded. “I minored in it in college.”
Serena had said the line with such a straight face that it took Harry a few seconds to realize she’d been kidding. Harry could count on two hands the number of times Serena had ever said anything ironically or with a flair of comedy. Maybe this was her way of handling excess stress.
“Ahh. Money well spent. Anyway, while you do that, I’ll poke around. It’s better if I run into Ginny organically—or, at least, if it appears that way. So I’ll stroll around and do my best to accidentally find her.”
She eyed him. “Isn’t that the opposite of your strategy at the Motorway?”
“Yeah. You assume that I’m not making this up as I go along, which would not be correct.”
“Understood.”
“We can cover more ground this way. At least, in theory.”
She sighed. “Are you sure we should split up? After last night, I’m hesitant to leave you exposed.”
“I’ll be okay. This is one of the most ‘public’ places in Eureka Springs, and I have my phone. I promise not to wander off too far.”
“I’m okay with that. If I don’t hear from you, meet back here in fifteen?”
“Works for me.”
Serena dipped her head one time and then fled the car. She pulled her hair back and tucked it into her shirt, then affected the posture of a withdrawn person: head down, shoulders turned inward, shuffling feet on the ground. Harry marveled at the complete 180 from uber-sexy Serena at the Motorway. Her talent for simple disguise made her one of the best in the espionage game. And that level of talent had likely produced sky-high internal expectations, which is why she seemed so frustrated and disappointed with herself these last few days.
He hadn’t ever considered using kid gloves to deal with Serena, but he supposed it was necessary here.
“Part of being a boss, I guess,” he muttered to the windshield. If they survived the next few days, he would buy her a gift certificate or something. Maybe take her out to a nice dinner to show his appreciation.
Harry waited a few seconds. His heart pumped at a steady clip, but he didn’t know why.
He left and strolled into the hotel’s grand entrance. Harry felt a brief moment of agoraphobia, as he usually did here, since the inside of this expansive room somehow felt more open than the outside. Huge ceiling with gargantuan wooden beams buttressing everything. A couple of them even had bird nests, bringing a little outside chirping into the inside world.
While Serena chatted with someone at the front desk, Harry strolled over toward the restaurant and pretended to peruse the menu. He tossed glances into the dining hall, combing for Ginnifer. No luck. He wasn’t even sure how to best approach her once he found her.
He wandered past the restaurant, toward the open courtyard garden. And when he turned around to survey the lobby again, he saw two noteworthy things. First, his friend Neva standing nearby, speaking with someone. Nothing strange about that, since she worked here. But then, Harry got a gander at the person on the other end of her conversation. Phil Dugan, Harry’s former mentor and a grade A asshole. But not only him, there were two other suited investigators standing next to him. Fortunately for Harry, the three of them were facing away.
Harry recognized one of the other two as being an investigator from the Dugan agency, which meant this was a business-related visit to the Sunrise Hotel. And after the terrifying meeting with Phil in the street the other day, Harry did not want a repeat performance.
In his perfect hindsight, he realized the smart move would’ve been to call Neva first and make sure Phil had no meetings scheduled at the hotel today. But, too little, too late.
He caught her flashing strained eyes at him over Phil’s shoulder. It didn’t take much detective work for Harry to understand her intent. She was throwing an insistent get out of here gaze at him. She probably had no advance warning about their visit, or she would’ve alerted him. Harry didn’t have to worry about trusting Neva (which he did), because she would be in just as much trouble as him if the truth about their under-the-table PI gigs came to light.
For a second, the idea occurred to Harry that perhaps Phil had sent those two goons to his house last night. It didn’t seem too far out of character for a Dugan to set up something like that. But Harry didn’t know for sure. The two hillbilly invaders had known about the cameras at the cabin, which probably meant th
ey had nothing to do with Phil.
If Phil were somehow involved with this vape sickness thing, this would officially be the most complicated spiderweb Harry had ever wandered into. But he doubted it. As gross and mean as Phil Dugan was, he wouldn’t stoop to murder. Probably.
Harry knew he had to go. He knew staying only invited danger. Also, his feet seemed to be frozen to the expensive hardwood floors here. Part of his brain screamed run omg why are you still here Boukadakis! But another part of him demanded he storm over to Phil and tell that jerk to shove his hotel job monopoly where the sun don’t shine.
But Harry couldn’t do that. No way. While the anticipation of seeing the anger and surprise on Phil’s face was a tempting reward, Harry didn’t dare. Phil alone was a menace, but with two of his employees by his side? Harry might not walk away from that one.
He spun and exited the building, out to the courtyard, where a koi pond and peaceful gardens of flowers awaited. His stomach pulsed in pain, the days-old baseball bat wound there reinvigorated by all this sudden action. Harry listened to the repetitive clinking of a group of hotel guests playing horseshoes off to the side. Muted conversations blended, rising and falling like tides. Adrenaline dissipated throughout Harry as he listened to himself breathe.
A text appeared on his phone from Neva:
What are you doing here? Phil will FLIP OUT if he sees you!
“I know,” Harry mumbled to himself as he shoved his phone back in his pocket. He checked the other exits from the courtyard. Aside from returning to the lobby, he could enter the restaurant from here, or the final door leading back to the elevators. Harry tried to spy through the windows to see if Neva and the Dugan boys had moved.
They were currently strolling east, but Harry couldn’t estimate their destination.
He saw Phil’s smug face and adrenaline resurged. Harry felt a mix of fear and anger like he’d never felt before. Those two sensations swirled around inside his head, and the way they complemented each other added confusion to his emotional cocktail. Harry’s mother used to say, “If you don’t know what to do, do nothing.”