“Point taken,” she said. “Come in. Sorry I haven’t showered or anything.”
“I woke you,” Channing said. “Forgive me.”
“I needed to get up anyway,” she said. “And I have a surprise for you.”
“You do?” he asked.
She grabbed Brian’s phone from her desk and woke it.
“You unlocked it,” Channing breathed. “How did you work out the code?”
“I didn’t,” she said.
“You hacked into it?” he asked.
“I wish,” she said. “I, uh, did something a little crazy.”
Channing sat in her desk chair, setting his flashlight on the desk, as if he was ready to settle in for a good story.
And it hit her that she had a pretty good story.
But she didn’t like thinking about the tunnel leading to her room, let alone telling someone about it. It almost felt like talking about it out loud would make it more real, and more likely that others would find out about its existence.
Someone already knows…
“What did you do?” Channing asked.
“Well, I saw that it also responds to facial recognition,” she said. “And his body was right in the basement.”
“My God, that’s clever,” Channing said. “But please tell me you didn’t go into the basement by yourself.”
“I didn’t know who else to trust,” she admitted.
“Next time, wait for me,” he said.
“I was afraid the face would be all… that it might not work if I waited much longer,” she told him, trying to keep the gruesome image at bay. “And you were asleep.”
“Next time, wake me,” he said firmly. “Did you find anything on it?”
She shook her head.
“By the time I got back. I was too tired. Why don’t you have a look at it now? I need to shower and get dressed.”
He was already poking the screen and scrolling.
She grabbed some clothes and headed into the bathroom.
The water was freezing. Without the boiler running, there was nothing to heat it. Under other circumstances, she might have just skipped it. But after her trip through the catacombs, she felt like she needed ten showers to even begin to get clean.
Dru showered as quickly as possible, her whole body shuddering with the cold by the time she got out.
She was shaking too hard to dress, so instead she wrapped herself in a giant fluffy bathrobe, and hoped her hair would dry before it formed into icicles.
Back in her room, Channing hadn’t moved from the spot where she’d left him.
“Find anything?” she asked, climbing back into bed and wrapping blankets around herself so she could try to thaw out while they talked.
“I think he was here for the treasure,” Channing said, looking up at her with wide eyes.
“Really?” Dru asked.
It didn’t feel right. Brian Thompson gave off an air of having money, not the kind of guy who had to go on a goose chase for rumored lost treasure. And he didn’t seem like the amateur historian type either.
“There are tons of messages back and forth with a woman,” Channing said. “She must be the girlfriend. He writes to her constantly.”
“Poor girlfriend,” Dru said, thinking of the body in the basement.
“Maybe she dodged a bullet,” Channing said.
Dru thought of the night Brian had pinned her to the wall and tried to touch her.
“Right,” she agreed.
“But he’s also got several email messages here to a guy called Conner, who he calls Cuz in some of the emails,” Channing explained. “Brian keeps telling this Connor that he hasn’t found what he’s looking for yet.”
“So he was here for the treasure,” Dru said. “I guess a lot of people come here for that. It’s a fun idea.”
“It feels like he isn’t just here to look,” Channing told her. “He expected to actually find it. He was relying on it.”
“What do you mean?” Dru asked.
“When I go back further in these messages with Conner, I see him saying he’s tired of not having money. He’s unhappy, he doesn’t like this lifestyle, that kind of thing.”
“He didn’t look like he was hurting for anything,” Dru said thoughtfully.
“Everyone wants more than they have,” Channing said dismissively. “But you’re right, we shouldn’t be surprised that anyone visiting this hotel is interested in treasure. But there’s something else that is much more concerning.”
“What?” Dru asked, forgetting how cold she was and leaning forward.
“When he signs the messages to Conner, he signs them with a different name,” Channing told her.
“What name?” Dru asked.
“Nicky,” Channing said.
There was another loud knock on the door.
“Grand Central Station,” Dru said, sliding out from under the warm blankets and back into the frigid room to get the door.
Channing opened his mouth to say something, most likely to repeat his earlier warning about not blindly opening doors for murderers, but he was too late. The door was already open before she had time to consider.
And Viktor stood in the threshold.
His wide shoulders took up most of the frame as he stared down at her hungrily.
Dru stood before him, her shivering ceased as the heat between them threatened to combust her.
He could be a monster…
But whatever he was, she was drawn to him, pierced by his pale blue eyes and ready to submit to whatever hunger inspired his expression.
“Oh, hello there,” Channing said brightly.
Viktor blinked and looked up, his eyes moving back and forth between Channing and Dru.
Belatedly, Dru realized what it must look like.
“Hugh came by just now to see if I had unlocked Brian’s phone,” Dru said quickly. “We’re discussing the case.”
“Good to see you, Hugh,” Viktor said, in a tone that made it clear it was not, in fact, good to see him at all.
“I’m going to bring this downstairs with me,” Channing said. “It’s dreadfully dim in the dining room, so I can turn down the brightness and not waste batteries while I read some more about our late friend.”
“See you down there,” Dru said.
Viktor merely nodded in Channing’s direction, not taking his eyes off Dru.
She suddenly remembered she was wearing nothing but a bathrobe. She could feel the blood rising to her cheeks.
She heard the door close behind Hugh Channing on his way out, leaving her alone with Viktor.
A shiver went down her spine, and she wasn’t sure if it was fear or desire.
But she suspected it was both.
13
Dru looked up at Viktor, transfixed by his azure gaze.
“What was he doing in your room?” Viktor hissed, eyes flashing.
“We were looking at Brian’s phone,” she retorted.
“How do you know you can trust him?” he asked.
“How do I know I can trust you?”
“What is that supposed to mean?” he asked.
She shrugged.
“You’re practically naked,” he groaned.