Lethal Game (GhostWalkers 16)

Marie had decorated each of the downstairs rooms with sea animals to make it easier to identify guests and where they were staying. The dolphin room was Tania Leven’s. She was already up, moving around. Malichai could hear her talking quietly to someone else—a male. He slid deeper into the shadows beside her room in an effort to identify the male voice speaking with her at four in the morning.

It wasn’t as if, on a vacation, she couldn’t hook up with someone, it was done all the time. It was just that Tania was surrounded by family, all men, and everywhere she went, she had her brother or cousin with her. Malichai had never noticed her flirting either.

The door swung open and Tommy Leven stood there, looking back inside. “See you at breakfast, honey,” he said.

“Thanks for staying with me,” Tania said. She sounded as if she’d been crying.

Tommy shrugged and closed the door quietly. He stood there for a moment looking at the door and then he went on past Malichai, back toward his room. Malichai leaned against the wall, trying to puzzle out why Tania would be so upset that her brother had to spend most of the night talking to her. She always seemed a very steady woman.

He was about to move on down the hall when the door to the orca room opened. It was the one right beside the dolphin room, the one rented to Linda, Lorrie, and Lexie Montclair. Linda looked out into the hall, toward Tommy’s room, and then crept out and knocked softly on Tania’s door. Malichai frowned. He’d never seen the women talking to each other.

Tania opened her door slightly and then, seeing who it was, cracked it wider. Fresh tears instantly began to track down her face. The two women stood there looking at each other and then Tania hiccupped.

“I’m so sorry,” she whispered. “Linda, I was careless. That was all. Careless. It wasn’t on purpose. You have to know that.”

She sounded so contrite, Malichai felt sorry for her and he didn’t even know what she’d done. Linda stepped closer to the door and Tania backed inside to allow the other woman entry. Linda put her arms around Tania and held her while Tania began to sob quietly.

“You’re going to give yourself a headache. It’s over. Tag’s not going to hurt her now. Were you jealous? Why would you ever think I’d want to be with a man like that?”

“He kept asking for you, not Lorrie. It was always, ‘Do you know this woman, Linda Montclair?’ I thought he was your ex and he wanted you back.”

Linda reached behind her and closed the door, but as she did so, he could see she caught at Tania’s hair, turning her face so she could find her mouth with hers.

Linda and Tania? What the hell was going on? And Tania had contacted Tag and brought him to the bed-and-breakfast because he’d been asking around for Linda? He probably realized Linda ran the show. She would be the one hiding her sister from him. But Tania and Linda? Linda was from San Diego. Tania was from North Carolina, at least that was what was on her driver’s license. They couldn’t have just struck up the relationship. How had they met? How long had they been together?

Malichai waited a few more minutes, listening carefully, but there was no more conversation. None. He sighed and continued down the hallway until he was at the stairs leading to the second floor. There were two sets of staircases, one on either end of the first floor. There was also a lift a wheelchair could use from the foyer where the front desk was, so three ways to access the top floor.

He went up the stairs and stood in the wide hallway for a moment, just listening, allowing his enhanced senses to scan for him. The five men from the various countries represented at the Ideas for Peace conference were each staying in one of the five suites on the second floor. Stefani Charles, representing Finland, was also on that floor. Three more of the rooms had been reserved for representatives of other countries. The remaining vacant two rooms on that floor were reserved for attendees of the conference. Those people would be coming in that morning or afternoon. The Ideas for Peace conference had turned out to be a huge draw, and the local motels, hotels and B and B places had all benefited.

Malichai walked up and down the hallway, but as far as he could see, nothing seemed out of place. His alarm kept nagging at him, but there weren’t any whispers, no voices talking conspiracy. Just his gut telling him something wasn’t right. It was possibly left over from Tag’s sudden appearance, but that didn’t feel right to him.