Page 29 of Shattering Dawn
She flushed. “Of course. That’s what I meant. Rooms. Two of them. Absolutely.”
“With connecting doors,” Gideon added. “I’m supposed to be your bodyguard, remember?”
“Right.” She hesitated. “What if they don’t have two rooms with connecting doors?”
“We’ll go somewhere else if necessary.”
“Sharing a room wouldn’t be the end of the world,” she ventured. “We’re adults. Who cares how it looks? Besides, it’s not as if we haven’t spent a night under the same roof. You slept in my living room last night.”
“That was different,” he said.
His stubborn refusal to consider sharing a hotel room was starting to irritate her. You’d think she was suggesting a hookup.
“How is it different?” she demanded.
“Never mind.” He stopped in front of the door markedManager. “You’ve got our story straight?”
“Of course I do,” she said. “I’m the one who invented it, remember?”
Great. Now she was snapping at him. What was happening here? She needed to stay in control.
Either Gideon did not notice her small flash of temper or else he chose to ignore it. He opened the door of the manager’s office and followed her inside.
•••
“No problem withconnecting rooms,” the manager said. He had introduced himself as Pete Ellerbeck. He was middle-aged, partially bald, and endowed with an outgoing, friendly manner. “Most of ’em connect. Double beds in each room. Take your pick. We’re not very full tonight. You’ll probably want to be close to the pool.”
“How about a couple of rooms near the ice machine?” Gideon asked.
Amelia glanced at him, surprised. She had assumed he would request room number ten.
“Let’s see, that would be ten and eleven,” Pete said. “Here you go.” He put two keys on the counter.
Okay, Amelia thought. She had to hand it to Gideon. That had been a very slick maneuver.
“You say you’re in town to do a photo essay on the old Lucent Springs Hotel?” Pete asked, lounging against the counter.
“That’s right,” Amelia said. “I’m a photographer. Gideon is my assistant. We’re working on a series on abandoned hotels of the West Coast. You’d be surprised how many there are scattered around the area, especially out in the desert. They’ve all got a history, and several have ghosts.”
Pete snorted. “The Lucent Springs Hotel has a few stories, I can tell you that. Lot of movie stars stayed there in the old days. Wouldn’t be surprised if there are a couple of ghosts hanging around as well.”
“You sound like you know a lot about the hotel.” Amelia gave him her shiniest smile, the one she used when she was trying to getCEOs to give her a warm and friendly expression for the company’s annual report. “We would love to interview you while we’re here.”
“Sure,” Pete said. “Glad to help out.”
“We’re in a rush because we recently found out that the hotel is going to be demolished,” Gideon said.
“That’s the word around town,” Pete said. “Some big international hotel chain picked it up real cheap over a year ago. Talk was they planned to renovate it. But there was an earthquake and a fire a few months later. Did a lot of damage. The company has concluded it would cost too much to rebuild so they’re going to take it all the way down to the ground. As it stands now, those ruins are a big liability. Lawsuit city if someone gets hurt out there.”
“Probably a magnet for kids looking for a place to hang out with their friends,” Gideon said.
Pete nodded. “Oh, yeah. Kids. Transients. Idiot tourists. The fire was caused by some out-of-town visitors who were fooling around with a drug party out there.”
Amelia froze.
“Is that right?” Gideon said easily. “What happened?”
“No one knows exactly,” Pete said. “Some women decided to have themselves a little fun. Got high. Must have started a fire to keep warm. There was an earthquake and the fire got out of control. The women panicked. They were lucky to make it out alive.”