The Colonel's Daughter [Elvis]

Chapter 9 - Custodial Closet of High Emotions

It took a good twenty minutes to get away from the hoard of people. Rainie and I found the Colonel in a hallway that he, the guys and I would take to not be seen in the lobby—it went to doors leading to the north side of the hotel, and it was pretty sparce, just cream-colored walls, burgundy carpet and a single custodial door. The Colonel immediately saw me walking up to him with his daughter.

"Just what are you doing with Elvis, Rainie?" he asked, his eyes ablaze, then a look of realization came to his gray-blue eyes. Since he had a hand on a cane and the other had an unlit cigar, he couldn't plant his hands on his hips, but he shook his head in a tsk tsk fashion. "You heard the conversation Elvis and I had a little bit ago. I taught you to be stealthy a little too well."

I was pretty curious about just what he made Rainie do as a girl, enough to make her want to escape over one of the largest oceans on the planet. I just knew that it was most likely not the most legal things to make a buck. Hence, the stealth.

"Colonel, we all need to talk," I said, and he looked at me, then back at his gorgeous daughter who really only took after him in personality. Well, she inherited his blonde hair. Marie was a brunette.

"You told him, didn't you?" His gaze was fiercely aimed at his daughter. I stepped up.

"I already knew, or... I suppose I already suspected." Someone passed us, and he greeted me and the Colonel, then walked on—a hotel employee. "Let's go and talk somewhere, huh? We have time." We looked around but didn't find any immediate area. "Let's go back up and talk in my suite."

"Not unless we want to be hounded again, and I don't want to be asked more probing questions," Rainie put in, then looked around a little more. She went over to the custodial closet and touched the doorknob. "How about this?"

"You do know that the plaque reads 'Custodial Closet' on there, right?" I asked. "Let's go to your suite, then, on the first floor."

"We have to pass the lobby, and you have no time to please fans and reporters." She opened the door and went on in. "Well, it's cozy, but there are metal chairs in here. Does the cleaning staff have little parties in here or something?"

Curious, I went on in and indeed saw two metal chairs, and really, this closet was big enough to fit only about five grown people. It also smelled musty, like damp mops, and of cleaning chemicals. It was a good thing I wasn't sensitive to the smell. I didn't need more of a headache today.

"Fine, since we're only gonna be talkin' for a few minutes," I said. "Colonel, come in."

He came on in and looked around. "You're out of your mind, the both of you. Let's go to your suite, Rainie, or even find a stairwell. That would be better than a place like this."

"Just sit, Dad," she said and shut the door. I indicated the other chair for her. "I'll stand, thanks. You need to be looking him in the eyes while having this conversation."

Knowing that she wouldn't change her mind since that was her stubborn nature, I sat down in the hard, cold chair right next to the Colonel, and Rainie stood by a mop whose head was in a bucket. We heard people going by.

"What if the cleaning staff comes in?" asked the Colonel. "Really, you two."

"Really, Dad," Rainie countered, using similar wording. "Stop stalling. Look, yes, Elvis and I talked after you left that dining area, and through him asking some questions, he figured it out. He knows everything. Well, everything about your secret."

My heart was starting to sink now that we were getting into this. The Colonel wasn't looking at me, just at the wall across from us, and that hurt. He couldn't look me in the eye. "You really could've told me, Colonel. I would've understood. You've..." I gulped hard as the emotion rode up my throat. "After all we've been through... you've never lied to me."