wrinkle at the Miramar, and I knew I needed to put in a call to the police department. That thought made my heartbeat pick up the pace. At least I had that to look forward to, I told myself with a smile. And maybe I’d get to hand Emmy’s letter directly to Detective Baird.
I was deep in a world of my own, picturing Detective Baird cracking the case wide open because of the letter, and me the proud recipient of a commendation – and a kiss from the grateful detective – when the door behind me slowly opened. As I turned around to see who it was, the room was suddenly plunged into darkness. The door slammed shut and I could hear the sound of footsteps pounding down the corridor.
As I groped my way blindly across the office, feeling for the light switch, I had an awful thought: this was not an accident. Someone – maybe even the Miramar Murderer – had known I was in there. Why follow me? Was it to do with Emmy’s letter? Anyway, if the message they’d tried to deliver was to keep my nose out, it had been received, very loud and very clear.
I all but fell into my chair behind the concierge’s desk, the copies I’d just made sliding from my grasp and spilling across the floor. Ellie took one look at me and came around the desk to hug me, her hair a perfumed curtain over my face. I told her what had just happened, speaking through jaws that felt like they’d been wired shut. In a word, I was stunned. Not since Edmond had locked me in a closet, leaving me to scream and cry and pound on the door for five minutes before Aunt Amie had come to my rescue, had I felt like this. My stomach was in knots and the idea of even touching a cookie, much less eating one, made me feel like losing my cookies, in a manner of speaking.
I leaned into Ellie’s embrace, willing my tense muscles and nerves to relax. Apparently Edmond’s idea of a childhood joke had messed with my psyche a bit more than I’d realized.
‘I think,’ I began, looking up at Ellie, ‘we need to call Detective Baird now. As in RIGHT NOW. I am not going to have something like that happen again, to me or to anyone else. Not to mention that next time it might be sayonara for yours truly.’ I shuddered. That was definitely not on my job description.
‘What I want to know is who had the bright idea to do that in the first place?’ Ellie’s question echoed my sentiments exactly. Who would even know that I had an inkling of what might be going on at the Miramar?
I opened the top desk drawer, fishing around until I found the card that Detective Baird had handed me that first night. I’d only kept it because I thought he was a cutie, and not because I intended to use it. That went to show how little I could predict the future.
I stopped short, my fingers frozen in mid-search. Predicting the future might just be the way to go with this one, and I just happened to have my own human crystal ball sitting right next to me. It couldn’t hurt, and it might even help. Detective Baird, dimpled smile and all, would just have to wait a bit longer.
Chapter Thirteen
I sat back in my desk chair, eyeing my cousin. She must have had her radar going full force because she looked up at me, her own eyes narrowing in suspicion.
‘Nope, AJ. Uh uh. No how, no way. I don’t want to know anything else.’ Ellie spoke adamantly, her hair flying around her shoulders as she shook her head.
‘Aw, come on, cuz,’ I cajoled, using the sweet voice that made my father melt and got me whatever I wanted (not that I’m proud of this or anything). ‘You know you like messing with those cards. Tell me what you saw when you did that reading earlier. Or maybe do another little reading, just for me? Who knows? You might even solve this whole mess!’
Ellie loves flattery. Being known as the one who caught a killer would ice the cake for her. I could already visualize her trying to negotiate a TV show.
‘Oh, all right,’ she said, feigning disgust. ‘But just this one time,
I was deep in a world of my own, picturing Detective Baird cracking the case wide open because of the letter, and me the proud recipient of a commendation – and a kiss from the grateful detective – when the door behind me slowly opened. As I turned around to see who it was, the room was suddenly plunged into darkness. The door slammed shut and I could hear the sound of footsteps pounding down the corridor.
As I groped my way blindly across the office, feeling for the light switch, I had an awful thought: this was not an accident. Someone – maybe even the Miramar Murderer – had known I was in there. Why follow me? Was it to do with Emmy’s letter? Anyway, if the message they’d tried to deliver was to keep my nose out, it had been received, very loud and very clear.
I all but fell into my chair behind the concierge’s desk, the copies I’d just made sliding from my grasp and spilling across the floor. Ellie took one look at me and came around the desk to hug me, her hair a perfumed curtain over my face. I told her what had just happened, speaking through jaws that felt like they’d been wired shut. In a word, I was stunned. Not since Edmond had locked me in a closet, leaving me to scream and cry and pound on the door for five minutes before Aunt Amie had come to my rescue, had I felt like this. My stomach was in knots and the idea of even touching a cookie, much less eating one, made me feel like losing my cookies, in a manner of speaking.
I leaned into Ellie’s embrace, willing my tense muscles and nerves to relax. Apparently Edmond’s idea of a childhood joke had messed with my psyche a bit more than I’d realized.
‘I think,’ I began, looking up at Ellie, ‘we need to call Detective Baird now. As in RIGHT NOW. I am not going to have something like that happen again, to me or to anyone else. Not to mention that next time it might be sayonara for yours truly.’ I shuddered. That was definitely not on my job description.
‘What I want to know is who had the bright idea to do that in the first place?’ Ellie’s question echoed my sentiments exactly. Who would even know that I had an inkling of what might be going on at the Miramar?
I opened the top desk drawer, fishing around until I found the card that Detective Baird had handed me that first night. I’d only kept it because I thought he was a cutie, and not because I intended to use it. That went to show how little I could predict the future.
I stopped short, my fingers frozen in mid-search. Predicting the future might just be the way to go with this one, and I just happened to have my own human crystal ball sitting right next to me. It couldn’t hurt, and it might even help. Detective Baird, dimpled smile and all, would just have to wait a bit longer.
Chapter Thirteen
I sat back in my desk chair, eyeing my cousin. She must have had her radar going full force because she looked up at me, her own eyes narrowing in suspicion.
‘Nope, AJ. Uh uh. No how, no way. I don’t want to know anything else.’ Ellie spoke adamantly, her hair flying around her shoulders as she shook her head.
‘Aw, come on, cuz,’ I cajoled, using the sweet voice that made my father melt and got me whatever I wanted (not that I’m proud of this or anything). ‘You know you like messing with those cards. Tell me what you saw when you did that reading earlier. Or maybe do another little reading, just for me? Who knows? You might even solve this whole mess!’
Ellie loves flattery. Being known as the one who caught a killer would ice the cake for her. I could already visualize her trying to negotiate a TV show.
‘Oh, all right,’ she said, feigning disgust. ‘But just this one time,
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