“I’m on my way,” Kat said.
Jessie didn’t wait. She banged on the door even harder.
“You better let me in or I’m going to make a real fuss,” she said, bordering on a shout. “My girlfriends are just down the hall and I may have to have them come over and really get nasty with you. I may even get a manager. You’ve got three seconds before I start shouting for my friends to come over. One, two—.”
The door opened to reveal a tall, well-built man in a maintenance uniform. He had an earpiece in his ear, which seemed odd for a guy fixing a toilet, and wore a scowl.
“Listen, ma’am,” he said in an annoyed hush, “you don’t want to use the bathroom in here if you’re not feeling well. Trust me—it’ll only make things worse. If the ladies’ room is unavailable, I really suggest you go outside or back to your room.”
“I know this isn’t really a restroom,” Jessie said. “Let me in now or I’ll share that info with everyone.”
The guy stared at her, unsure how to respond. She internally debated whether, despite her reluctance, to make use of her LAPD ID. Before she had to decide, Ryan’s voice came back on.
“Everyone still there?” he asked.
“Yup,” Jessie replied.
“Right here,” Kat said. Jessie heard here voice on the call and in person and turned around to see that her friend was now right behind her.
“I’ve got Hugo on the line,” Ryan said. “I’ve explained the situation to him.”
“Lady,” the maintenance man said urgently, “you and your friend there really need to go. I’m not allowed to let people in here. It’s unsafe.
“Hold on,” Jessie said to him. “I’m on the phone with your boss.”
The man looked skeptical.
“You there, Hugo?” she asked.
Suddenly the guy’s eyes widened in surprise.
“I am, Ms. Hunt,” he said. “Detective Hernandez has filled me in on the situation. I’ve agreed to let you two, along with Ms. Gentry, into The Cove under one condition.”
“What’s that?” she wondered.
“While Peninsula doesn’t endorse or facilitate any illegal behavior on its premises, we cannot be held responsible for what consenting adults choose to do. I would ask that unless you find that they directly relate to your investigation, that any…unconventional behaviors you might encounter not be prioritized.”
“Did you already agree to this, Ryan?” she asked.
“Only if you’re cool with it,” he replied.
“I am,” she said, “as long as no one is in immediate danger, that is.”
“Then we have an agreement,” Hugo said.
“Good,” Jessie said, feeling better as each second passed. “Then can you please convey that to your bouncer dressed up as a maintenance guy in the gender neutral restroom that’s really an entrance to the club—because he’s giving me a hard time.”
She couldn’t help but smile as the bouncer’s shocked face perfectly matched the dejected groan over the phone from Hugo. Clearly, he wasn’t happy that his clever ruse had been uncovered.
“Give me a second,” he said, “I’ll call him now.”
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
The ruse was actually pretty damn cool.
Once everything was squared away and Ryan had joined them, the bouncer opened the door to the one stall in the bathroom. He pushed the button to flush the toilet. Jessie waited apprehensively. For a second, nothing happened. Then, silently and without warning, the entire back wall retracted, along with the toilet, and slid to the left.
“Welcome to The Cove experience,” the bouncer said with considerably less enthusiasm than she suspected he usually mustered. “Please enter. The elevator and stairs are on your right. I recommend the elevator unless you want to go down seven very steep flights.”
Jessie looked at the other two, who both indicated that she should step in first, perhaps as some reward for uncovering the place. She carefully made her way into the dark expanse where the wall used to be. Once there, she saw a dim overhead light, which shined weakly on an elevator to the right. Just beyond that, she saw a door with the words “stairs” on it. After the others arrived, she pushed the button and they waited.
When the doors opened, they saw that it was small, almost claustrophobic—barely big enough for four adults to fit in. Once the doors shut behind them, Ryan started prepping.
“I think we should use our phones like we did upstairs. The less we’re all together as a group, the less attention we’ll attract. Sound good?”
“Sure,” Jessie said. “And let’s remember, we don’t know why Cedric Cleaver thinks we should be talking to Matt Darcy. We shouldn’t make any assumptions about his guilt. No need to be aggressive until we have a reason.”
“So I can’t put him in a headlock to start off?” Kat asked facetiously.
“Not to start, Kat,” Jessie quipped. “But it’s good to know you have that in your back pocket.”
The elevator came to a gentle stop and the doors opened. Jessie girded herself for more migraine-inducing noise and color. But as she stepped out, she felt a huge sigh of relief. There was music, but it had more of an ambient electronica vibe and it wasn’t overwhelmingly loud. Even better, the place was dark with no flashing lights anywhere. With the sensory attack on her over, Jessie’s nausea had faded away completely. Unfortunately, it was so dark that she almost bumped into a couple standing right in front of her before spying them at the last second.
The Cove’s décor was best described as “chic grotto.” In certain sections, the walls were the actual rocks that had been carved out to create the space. Dim lights had been drilled into them at various spots. The ground was carpeted but had been designed to look like the floor of a cave, with gradations of gray that made her think she should watch her step despite it being flat. Much of the furniture, including tables and chairs, had glowing strips on them so that patrons wouldn’t inadvertently stumble into them.
The farther she edged into the bar, the more amazed she was. It was quite literally cavernous, to the point that she worried the place had been hollowed out too much and that it might cave in. She noted that instead of one big bar, there were three, placed at strategic points throughout the cavern.
Off to the right was The Cove’s essential element. The entire cavern wall along the ocean-facing side of the club had been replaced with a gigantic window that was only a basketball hoop above the water line. Easily thirty feet across and fifteen feet high, it was the size of a small movie theater screen. Spotlights placed somewhere on the cliff outside the club shined out on the waves as if they were stars on a Broadway stage.
As Jessie stared in awe, she noticed a particularly large wave forming off the coast. It got bigger as it approached, rising high in the air so that it appeared to be equal in height to the top of the window. She clenched her teeth and squeezed her fists as it barreled toward them, appearing that it would hit the window while at its apex.
But then, with only seconds to spare, the wave broke, collapsing in on itself. Even so, the water slammed into the entire bottom third of the window before slinking back down into the depths. Amazingly, she heard nothing and wondered just how thick the window was.