Miles
The pictures I found of this man don’t do him justice. Every emotion is written on his face, and the faint freckles over his nose are more pronounced from the harsh flush of red. A mix of defiance and terror. The latter is winning out. Unsurprising.
“A-about what?” Matthew asks, gaze darting between us. The light blue is almost fluorescent in the dark lighting of the room. Fascinating.
“Who let you in here?” The door wasn’t locked, because no one would dare come in here when Xavier had made it explicitly clear the room was off-limits. No staff would have directed him anywhere near here.
“There was a man, in a suit. I thought he worked here?” Matthew visibly swallows. “I asked if he’d seen someone of Hunter’s description, and he took me here and said it was fine to come in.”
Did he, now? Without another word, I turn and approach the laptop where Xavier was watching us. Easy enough to find the recordings and the right corridor that leads to this room.
“Matthew, I’m very sorry for getting you involved in this,” Hunter says. He sounds more composed than I would have given him credit for, after the way Xavier and I worked him over.
“It’s okay.” The words waver, not quite a truth, not quite a lie.
“There.” Paused at the very moment that Matthew approaches the man. An unfortunately familiar man. I curse under my breath, fingers itching to hunt him down and hang him off the nearest set of stairs.
“Lester Clarence,” Xavier murmurs, stepping up behind me and looking over my shoulder. “What the hell is he doing in my hotel?”
Nothing good.
“Who is that?” Hunter asks. “Another acquaintance?” He raises an eyebrow at us in not-so-subtle judgement.
“In a manner of speaking. Miles, lock the hotel down. If he’s still here, I want him found.”
If we find him, he won’t be leaving this building alive. He and his boss are done being thorns in our sides. This time they made it personal, and there’s no surviving that insult.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, I make the appropriate phone calls, first to the manager on call in the restaurant and then in the hotel. They’re paid excessively well for their discretion and don’t ask any questions.
“What is going on?” Matthew mutters under his breath.
He goes to stand, and I place a hand on his shoulder, squeezing lightly and keeping him in place.
When he looks up at me with his big blue eyes, I shake my head subtly.
He won’t be moving from that spot until we give the say-so.
He slumps into the seat and nervously wrings his hands.
Hunter grasps Xavier’s elbow, halting him. “Instead of being vague, why don’t you answer the question? I keep getting dragged into your mess, and I want to know why.”
“You are my mess, darling.”
“Xavier.”
Matthew watches them like he’s at a tennis match, going back and forth between them, unable to settle on one. I understand the indecision. They’re both aesthetically pleasing, in different ways. Together they’re a masterpiece.
“He’s Roger’s pet. Does his dirty work.”
“And this Roger has a grudge against you, why?”
Xavier shrugs. He dislodges Hunter’s hand and takes it in his own, lifting the back to his lips.
Their eyes meet as the kiss lingers. The heat between them is unmistakeable, even after already having satiated themselves.
In all the years that I’ve known them, that spark has never gone out, not for a single second.
“Everyone wants to be me.”
“And the real reason?” Hunter asks, unimpressed.
“That is the real reason, whether you want to believe it or not. He took offense at decisions that I made that cut into his profit, and I showed him the door. He’s never forgiven me for it.”
A nice way of saying that while Xavier was cleaning up his father’s mess, Roger preferred to keep certain aspects of the business going, and Xavier told him to get out, or he could share the same fate as Xavier’s father.
It was enough of a threat to make Roger tuck tail and run.
He’s never been quite this bold in his attempts to undermine Xavier, however.
“This happens a lot, then?” There’s a hint of worry in Hunter’s gaze. He slips his hand from Xavier’s and wraps it around the side of Xavier’s neck. “If he’s so dangerous, why haven’t you gotten rid of him?”
Matthew flinches under my hold. He looks up at me again, looking for answers. He won’t get any here. He’s not part of this world, only stuck in it.
“He’s an annoyance. Unimportant.” Xavier mimics Hunter’s hold, both of them clinging to the other. “Until now. He dies for this.”
Matthew slowly puts his hand up, glancing back at me once more. I raise an eyebrow at the classroom tactic. “Yes, Matthew?”
Hunter drops his hand from Xavier and takes a step backwards. Xavier studies Matthew curiously and leans back against the bar, crossing his arms over his chest.
“Um… is that really—I mean—there are so many steps before ‘murder’ becomes the option, right? Like that’s Option Z. Or option ZZZ. Way, way to the right.” At our blank looks, he says, “Uh, that’s a spreadsheet reference.” He shakes his head. “Never mind. Carry on.”
“Matthew, I’m very sorry that you were—”
“It’s fine,” he interrupts Hunter, like he doesn’t want to hear the rest of the sentence. Ignorance is not bliss in this instance; it’s how people die. Eyes wide open is the only way to step forward in this world.
Hunter frowns. “No, it isn’t. I need to explain.”
My phone buzzes, and I check the message. No one is in the building that isn’t supposed to be. There is a… mess of sorts on the third floor. I’ve blocked it off, but you’ll want to see this.
“That will have to wait.” Matthew has to be supervised until we decide what to do with him. Do I trust Hunter not to take off with him? Not my decision to make. “There’s something upstairs requiring our attention.”
Xavier pushes off the bar and spreads his arms, the rings on his thumb and middle finger glinting from the low light above. “Then by all means, we shouldn’t keep anyone waiting.”
“What about Lester?” Hunter asks. “This could be a trap.”
“He’s not here.” A pity, I’d like to see what his blood looks like on the carpet. “It seems like he left us a gift.”
“There’s a lot of that going around at the moment,” Hunter says dryly. “It’s not likely to be a gift card or a new watch.”
“I doubt it.” I’d be checking that watch for explosives. “Xavier, stay here with Matthew. Hunter, with me.”
“Who put you in charge?” Hunter mutters, though he does follow me out of the room, with a single glance behind himself to the teacher watching our departure.
Of all the things I’m expecting to find, a body in the middle of the hallway isn’t one of them.
By the uniform, it’s one of the hotel staff.
There’s an untouched room service cart, complete with a meal for two and chilled wine.
He didn’t make it to his destination. He’s sprawled over the floor, blood underneath him from the multiple stab wounds.
Quick and precise. No finesse. Clearly Lester’s handiwork. He never did have vision.
A folded card is on the man’s chest, like a name placard, with the hotel logo on the front. A message, then. Charming.
“Extravagant gift,” Hunter remarks. “Usually, I just get people a box of Favourites and a gift card for a massage.” He crouches beside the body, looking it over before plucking up the folded card and flipping it open. His eyes darken as he reads, a snarl forming on his lips. “For Xavier.”
He holds it out to me and then continues checking over the body.
There’s one sentence written in the card.
Nice place you have here, Xavier.
Taking a deep breath, I deposit the card in my pocket. “Anything else?”
“Doesn’t look like it. Do you know this man?”
“No.” It’s not my area to know every staff employed in Xavier’s businesses.
I’ll need to find out in order to make reparations.
Taking a snap of the man’s face, I send it to Adam.
I don’t trust anyone but those two with this information or with handling this.
It’s too close to Xavier, and no one else has earned that level of trust. Not when it comes to Xavier’s life. Or Hunter’s.
“Wrong place, wrong time rather than targeted,” Hunter murmurs. I don’t reply; it doesn’t sound like he’s speaking to me. “Says a lot about the kind of man we’re dealing with.” He fishes out his own phone. “I’m calling Six and Spencer.”
“We don’t need their help.” Too many hands in the pot only thickens the soup and turns it into slop.
“I’m not asking. I’m involved in this now, and that means my men are getting brought in.”
“Fine.” It’s not worth arguing over. If Xavier wants to protest, then I’ll sit on that hill. Until then, I don’t care. “Tell them to speak to Adam and Theodore.”
Hunter nods sharply and then stands with his phone pressed to his ear.
He moves further down the hall, out of earshot.
The hotel manager arrives as he’s speaking, and I tell him to keep the corridor clear, no exceptions.
We’ll have it cleaned in the next hour, and if the police need to be involved, we’ll deal with it.
“Are there people booked in here?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Tell them they aren’t to leave their rooms, and if they comply for the next two hours, they’ll be completely reimbursed the nights they’re booked, with two extra free nights of their choosing as well as any room service on the house.”
He nods and looks at the body, not a lot of colour remaining in his face. But he says, “Yes, sir,” a second time and leaves to do my bidding. I make a mental note to give him a raise and a substantial bonus for the year.
Hunter returns to my side. “Who was that?”
“Hotel manager. Are you done looking?”
“Not a lot else to see, is there? Your hotel could use better entertainment.”
“Put it in the suggestion box.”