Simon Says_. Walk (Kate Morgan #6)(28)
Author: Dale Mayer

 

As that feeling of doom settled in deep, Simon grabbed his cell and called the desk clerk. “I don’t feel very good about this,” he said. “Any chance we can open this door, or do I need to get the cops in here?”

 

“Cops?” the clerk repeated in alarm. “Hell no. No, no, no, no, no. He’s probably just sleeping.”

 

“I don’t think he’s sleeping,” Simon argued, his tone harsh. “So it’s either cops or you open this door, and then we’ll see what we’re dealing with.”

 

“Ah, crap, I’ll be up in less than five.” He raced up the stairs, panting, and came to a screeching halt. “No cops. I don’t even give a shit what’s going on,” he got out, in between huffs and puffs. “No cops. Luca had better be sleeping this drunk off.” He unlocked the door and turned to face Simon. “You didn’t see me do that. This door was unlocked to begin with, you hear me?”

 

Simon didn’t say anything because, of course, Kate would have it out of him in no time, especially if what he suspected was behind this door. Taking a deep breath, he pushed it open and stepped inside. In there, on the floor, barely inside, was his superintendent. Dead, but with a message tied to his shirt. Well, Simon. Guess you didn’t expect this step, did you? Too bad you couldn’t get into the game, cuz it’s Game Over.

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter 6

 

 

 

 

 

Kate arrived at the hotel to see Simon on his laptop, sitting on a nasty-looking bench in the hallway. She stopped in front of him, and he looked up and nodded.

 

“Sorry to bother you again, but this one … needs your particular attention.” She raised an eyebrow, and he understood her questioning gaze. “Another note with my name on it.”

 

Her face shut down immediately, and she nodded. “Not quite what I expected. I’ll be back out in a minute.” She stepped into the hotel room, and her heart sank as she saw the dead man in front of her, but the note was of particular importance. Simon hadn’t even gotten into the game apparently, and already Kate had another dead victim. How the hell did that work? She called forensics and set the team in motion, including letting Rodney know where she was and what was happening.

 

Then Kate stepped back out into the hotel’s hallway and sat beside Simon. “The team’s on the way,” she said in a low voice. “You want to tell me what happened?”

 

He went over it, his voice strong and steady.

 

She nodded at everything he had to say. “And you got into the room, how?”

 

He gave her a wry look. “The manager won’t really be happy with me because he wanted me to keep it quiet, but he let me in because I was pretty damn sure that there was a problem.”

 

She didn’t say anything, just nodded and wrote that down. “It is, of course, pretty unusual to have that happen,” she murmured.

 

“It is, but I also knew,” he pointed out.

 

“Yeah, that’ll always add to my aggravation.” She sent a quick smile in his direction. “But considering you were here after a staff member, and you were concerned about his whereabouts,” she noted, with a thoughtful gaze, “that’s a whatever at this point.”

 

“Glad to hear that, so maybe keep the hotel clerk out of it, if you can.”

 

She chuckled lightly. “No way we’re keeping him out of it. He’ll have to answer a bunch of questions, and I presume you already questioned him yourself.”

 

“I did, but only because I was asking him about Luca’s whereabouts, confirming that he had a hotel room here,” Simon replied. “The clerk was not happy when I insisted on the door being unlocked.”

 

“Well, that’s good news,” she quipped, with an eye roll. “I hate to think that he would open it for anybody.”

 

“No, and I have to admit I was rather insistent,” he pointed out.

 

“Of course you were.” She nodded. “Can’t say I’ve ever known you really not to be. So what were the circumstances that brought you here in the first place?”

 

He explained everything from Ricky’s visit this morning to Joe’s comment about his brother-in-law and then trying to track down Luca.

 

Kate nodded. “So we’re presuming that the killer knew that this guy worked for you, which is interesting because obviously Luca hadn’t worked for you for very long.”

 

“I think about nine weeks,” Simon noted, “but I can get those records for you.”

 

“Please do,” she said absentmindedly. “What’s his full name?”

 

“Not sure about the last name, so that I have to confirm.”

 

“Do you have his address?”

 

He pulled out his phone and texted Joe, and, rather than responding via text, Joe called him. “Hey, what’s up that you need Luca’s home address?” he asked, worry in his voice.

 

Simon looked over at Kate.

 

Kate took the phone from his hand and quickly identified herself. “This is not for public knowledge until we have notified the next of kin,” she instructed him, “and, for that, I need the address for his wife.”

 

Joe, still blubbering in the background, quickly gave it to her, and she returned the phone to Simon and got up and left him to do the explanations. She heard him say that they’d found Luca dead in a hotel room.

 

And then she looked over at him. “Make sure he doesn’t say anything to the wife. I will be on my way as soon as forensics shows up. So tell Joe that I’m heading over there now.”

 

He nodded. “Joe, you can’t say anything to your sister yet. The detective is heading over there right now.”

 

Joe was still sputtering in the background. She heard him wailing over the phone, saying, “Oh my God, oh my God, she’ll be devastated.”

 

Of course she would be. Everybody would be devastated at the loss of a loved one. Kate didn’t understand why Luca hadn’t gone home. That would likely upset his wife too.

 

When the forensic team arrived at the same time as the local cops did, she sent several of those beat cops to knock on doors and to sort out if anybody had seen or heard anything in regard to Luca’s death. Kate was damn sure nobody had, but, hey, she had been wrong before. As she was about to walk away from the scene, Dr. Smidge, the coroner, called her into the hotel room. He stood over the body. “What’s going on?” she asked him.