The Fury - Jason Pinter [85]
Scotty Callahan? Sure seemed like it. The notion that
this guy, an admitted company man, would have spilled
his guts and walked away seemed awfully unlikely. But
there were others. Rose Keller. She was a friend of
Stephen's, perhaps better than I knew. Stephen was
more than I'd previously thought, so it occurred to me
that Rose might have been as well.
I lowered the window, breathing deeply as I inhaled
the warm air. Now Amanda was leaning back against
her seat, eyes closed. I wondered if she was sleeping,
dreaming peacefully.
Fifteen minutes later the cab pulled up in front of the
W Hotel. I ran my credit card through the cab's machine,
gave him a twenty percent tip and helped Amanda out.
We walked into the lobby quite a sight, Amanda wearing
a slinky dress and clinging to my arm, me looking like
I'd just rolled out of a bed in a sewer and carrying a
single suitcase. The building itself was beautiful and
massive. I'd read somewhere that it housed a stagger
ing fifty-seven floors, but in the dark of night it looked
like even more, a mammoth structure in the heart of
Times Square. The lobby was awash in subtle blue and
gray tones, and a waterfall ran down one of the walls.
There were two receptionists on duty, two young
women who looked remarkably similar. They both had
dark hair and skin, red fingernails and bright smiles
that seemed almost attuned to one another. As we
walked up they both said, "Good evening, sir."
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247
Their name tags read Rae and Gabrielle. You could
have switched the tags and I wouldn't have known the
difference.
"I'd like a room, please," I said.
The one with the Rae tag began to punch some keys
on her computer while Gabrielle stared at me with that
same, unwavering smile. Suddenly I felt Amanda's
breath on my cheek, and then a big kiss followed suit.
A split second later I felt her tongue on my jawbone,
winding its way toward my earlobe.
Gabrielle was still grinning, but now it was the kind
of grin you gave to your neighbor who got his morning
newspaper while wearing nothing but tighty-whities.
Rae looked up and said, "We have two rooms avail
able, one with two twin beds and another with one
queen."
"I'll take the queen," I said, trying to push Amanda
away while I feel my face turn bright red. Rae noticed
what was going on, and her bright smile quickly turned
like bad milk.
Gabrielle looked at Amanda, then looked at me, then
looked at my suitcase. Her eyes went back and forth
between the three while I stood there confused. Then I
realized what she was thinking. Attractive girl wearing
revealing clothes. Dorky guy wearing the same clothes
he'd probably worn the last three days. A suitcase.
No doubt Rae and Gabrielle thought Amanda was a
hooker, and would end up chopped to bits and stuffed
into the suitcase by the end of the night. I noticed neither
of them had made any movements to confirm my room
or make a key.
"You okay, honey? " I asked, stressing the last word
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Jason Pinter
in an attempt to let Rae and Gabrielle know that we did,
in fact, know each other.
"I'm just peachy, Henry." I smiled. See, she knows
my name!
"So...about that room..."
"I'll need a credit-card imprint," Rae said. I slipped
her my AMEX, and she ran it through, never taking her
eyes off of us.
"Hen- ree, " Amanda whined. "I'm ti-red."
"Just a minute, baby," I said.
Gabrielle seemed to be softening up, but Rae was
eyeing me with squinty eyes, letting me know she could
have hotel security at our room if she got the slightest
hint that an ax might make an appearance.
"How many nights will you be staying?"
"I'm not sure," I said. "Can we just keep it open?"
"Sure," Rae said, taking two plastic cards and
running them through the machine to magnetize them.
She slid them into a paper sheath, wrote a number on
it and handed it to us along with my credit card. "Room
2722 on the twenty-seventh floor. Please call if you
require any assistance."
"Please," Gabrielle added. "Any assistance."
"Anything at all, for you or