The rooms in the hotel were all named after gem stones.
Back in her grandmother’s time, there had allegedly been a jewel thief who hid his plunder in the hotel before disappearing.
And as if that wasn’t enough, it had all happened on the same night that a multiple homicide at the hotel shook the little mountain town below.
Hemlock House had become a bit of a sensation after that.
And whether the rumors about the jewels he left behind were true or not, it was definitely good publicity for a hotel trying to make everyone forget it was the site of more than one murder.
For a couple of years, the place had been hopping with treasure hunters. But no one had ever found anything.
At this point, the world had moved on. And it was the general consensus that there probably had never been any hidden jewels in the first place.
But the cute room names stuck.
Which was good, because before that, they had very unsurprisingly been named after trees.
“The two smaller trunks go in Onyx,” Hailey explained. “He booked both rooms.”
That tracked. With all this stuff, their mystery guest would need the extra space.
Hailey used the skeleton key to open the Onyx Room and they half-dragged the trunk inside.
Dru moved to throw open the curtains in the darkened room, but Hailey put a hand on her arm.
“No, he wants it like this,” she said. “Specifically requested that the curtains be drawn at all times.”
“Weird,” Dru said. Maybe her guess about photography had been correct after all. If he were developing film, he would want darkness.
They carried up the second trunk in silence, both of them panting lightly by the time they finished. Dru could feel the beads of sweat forming on her cheeks as she pushed her disobedient hair out of her face for the tenth time. Hailey didn’t have a hair out of place, and the exertion seemed to have no effect on her, except to give her already radiant skin an extra glow.
Of course.
The third, and largest trunk was so heavy Dru nearly dropped her end.
“Holy crap,” Hailey said.
“What’s in this, a body?” Dru laughed.
“Too heavy to be a body,” Hailey noted, rolling her eyes. “Why does this stuff have to come on my shift? Zander should be here. He’s always trying to show off those muscles, especially when you’re around.”
Hailey shot her a wink and Dru furrowed her brow. That wasn’t true, was it? Dru was notoriously bad about picking up on that kind of thing, but still, she would have noticed if Zander was into her.
Probably.
She decided that her friend was most likely just messing with her, and turned her attention back to the task at hand.
“In fairness, he’s going to have to get it all back down,” Dru pointed out.
Zander had the morning shift at the front desk, so all check-outs were on his time slot. Hardly anyone came or went on Dru’s overnight shift. It was a small benefit.
After a short rest, and a mutual assurance that they were both empowered goddesses who could never be thwarted by something so mundane as luggage, Dru and Hailey wrangled the massive trunk up the stairs and deposited it in the center of the Sapphire Suite’s huge bedroom.
The curtains were drawn here too, hiding the incredible view of the snowy mountains.
“This room is wasted on him,” Hailey declared, eyeing the curtains.
“Can’t argue with that logic,” Dru said. “But more importantly, I believe snacks were promised upon completion of our little task?”
Hailey laughed. “Come on, I’ll get your snacks.”
They headed back down the stairs, and Dru settled in behind the desk in the foyer while Hailey headed for the hallway, and the vending machine.
Dru glanced over at the massive grandfather clock before remembering the time didn’t really matter. Being up all night had its perks. One of which was that she could indulge in all the caffeine she wanted.
Hailey returned, arms laden with cans and crinkly bags.
“Nice,” Dru said, grabbing a Diet Dr. Pepper and a bag of salt & vinegar chips as Hailey dumped the rest of the feast on the desk. She knew all of Dru’s favorites. Just like Dru knew that Hailey would much prefer an iced soy peppermint mocha with a double shot of espresso, but that wasn’t exactly the kind of thing you could get from a vending machine at the top of a mountain.
Dru made a mental note to pick one up for her next time she went down into Willow Ridge for supplies.
“How was the beginning of your shift?” Dru asked, opening the soda and taking a sip.
“Boring,” Hailey said. “Except for Agate.”
“Who’s in Agate?” Dru asked.
“Gorgeous guy,” Hailey said, her eyes shining at the memory. “Tall, Asian, amazing hair, tight jeans. And his name, get this, is Tyler Park. Sounds like a movie star, right?”
“Nice,” Dru said. “Who was he with?”
“He was alone,” Hailey said, waggling her eyebrows. “Hey, if he calls down for anything tonight on your shift, let me get it?”
“Wow, he must be hot,” Dru laughed. “Until what time?”
“Until one,” Hailey decided. “A girl needs her beauty sleep.”
Dru smiled. Hailey did not need beauty sleep. Hailey would be downright dangerous if she were any more beautiful.
“Noted,” Dru said.
The front door flew open, letting in a draft of unwelcome cold air, followed by an even less welcome Howie Pembroke.
“Hey girls,” Howie said in his nasally voice, wiping the snow from his smooth dark hair and smiling a little too widely at Hailey.
“Good evening, Mr. Pembroke,” Dru and Hailey replied in unison, like they were addressing a substitute teacher. He always insisted that they call him Howie, which was precisely why they didn’t.
Howie Pembroke wasn’t much older than Dru, but he managed the hotel. It had been in his family for generations, since before the jewel-thief murders. His grandfather’s old army uniform, complete with medals and an antique revolver that looked older than just about anything in the hotel, hung in the sitting room beneath the giant, taxidermized moose head that was known affectionately as Mr. Moosehead.
People around here really were terrible at naming things once they ran out of trees.
“Are we prepared for our guests?” he asked, with the usual manufactured enthusiasm.
“Sure are,” Hailey replied brightly. “We just lugged all the trunks up to Sapphire and Onyx.”
“Nice work,” Howie said with another slick smile, as if he hadn’t been watching from out front and waiting for them to finish before coming in so he wouldn’t have to help.
Classic Howie.
“Well, I just wanted to check in,” he said. “I thought we talked about that black nail polish before, Hailey.”
Dru glanced down at Hailey’s nails. They were so dark and glossy that it defied logic. Souls could be lost in them.
“These are navy blue,” Hailey said, blinking innocently at him.
“Let’s go with clear or pink polish from here on in, shall we?” Howie suggested with a smug smile.
“Sure thing, Mr. Pembroke,” Hailey said so smoothly that Dru felt certain it was actually a murder threat.
“You’re still on, right?” Howie asked Hailey.