Maid for the Rock Star

Part 51

Fifty-One

"Audra, are you okay?"

Audra made a noise in her throat that she hoped Pamela took as agreement. She was asleep, damn it, or at least she wanted to be.

"Serge is back and he wants to see you. I said he has to wait until you're awake and dressed, but he's getting a bit impatient."

God save her from demanding men and their lack of patience.

"Audra, the police want a statement from you. And they need to photograph your injuries." Serge's voice sounded hesitant. "They need it as evidence to charge Penny."

Penny? But sleeping with Jay wasn't a crime. Audra climbed out of bed and stumbled toward the door. Why did her head throb again?

Oh. Penny had attacked her in the gym. Maybe she'd get prison time out of it. She could only hope.

Audra peered at her reflection in the tiny mirror and winced. That black eye on her otherwise wan face made her look like her parents' neighbour's pit bull, Patch. If only people would give her as wide a berth as they did that menacing-looking dog. Something yellow caught her eye and she turned to scan the room. Why was there a stack of fifties on the desk? Were those real?

Her memories came flooding back. Ecstasy with Jay before she'd lied to him, taken his money and run back to her room. She couldn't let Pamela and Serge see it - she didn't even want to look at it. She should never have taken it. Grabbing an envelope off the desk, she stuffed the money inside and threw the innocuous white packet onto the laminate surface, making it look far cleaner than the dirty money it was.

"Okay, I'm coming," she called, pulling on clothes as she heard a muffled conversation between Pamela and Serge. "Right." Audra threw open the door, only to find Serge standing outside alone. "Where's Pamela gone?"

Serge shrugged. "Something about the big conference thing here tomorrow. She has to get all the rooms ready. The hotel's going to be packed all week." His shoulders lifted as he straightened. "They've booked morning and evening relax sessions with the gym, so even I'll be kept busy."

Audra rubbed her eyes. Right. She'd forgotten. "That's good." She reached for her toiletry bag. "Let me just brush my teeth and freshen up, then I'll be right with you."

Five minutes later, she strode at Serge's side toward the main building. To her surprise, he took her to Dennis' office. It wasn't Dennis' domain this morning, though - a police officer sat in the seat of power, with Dennis perched uncomfortably in one of the guest chairs off to the side.

"You must be Audra Zoo...how do you pronounce it?"

Audra chose the chair beside Dennis. "Audra Zujute."

The police officer coughed. "An unusual name."

"Yes." She gazed at him impassively. She was used to police raiding the houses in her parents' neighbourhood, or on rare occasions coming to break up her neighbours' domestic disputes. Looking guilty or obeying her instinct to run only made things worse.

"Miss...can I call you Audra?" Without waiting for a response, he continued, "I'm Inspector Burgess. Investigating yesterday's incident here at the hotel. We've already seen the surveillance tapes, but we'd like to hear your account of the events of yesterday."

"You mean when my colleague went crazy and attacked me while I was working out in the gym?"

Inspector Burgess coughed. "Your colleague says you and the personal trainer attacked her."

"Is that supposed to scare me?" Audra snorted. "If you've seen the surveillance tapes, officer, then you've seen what happened. Penny lost her job and for some reason blamed me. She grabbed me from behind and I defended myself. When she was down, I walked away, but she attacked me again. Things...got a bit dark after that, because I woke up in my own bed several hours later." She waved her hand at her face. "Looking like this."

Inspector Burgess lifted a compact camera and Audra felt an uncharacteristic twinge of envy. Maybe, if she got the permanent job here, she'd treat herself to a camera. The smallest, cheapest digital camera in the electronics store, probably, but it was a start.

"May I take some pictures of your injuries for evidence? Those bruises will fade, you see."

He thought she was an idiot. Someone so stupid that she didn't even know bruises faded. Audra clamped her mouth shut as the officer snapped a few photos of her face, then stood behind her and photographed the back of her head, or at least that's what she thought he was focussing on. He could've been taking close-up shots of her backside, for all she knew.

"Thank you. How's Mr Felix?" the inspector asked, sinking onto his chair.

"Mr Felix?" Audra couldn't seem to close her mouth. How did he know?

"Mr Felix. You're the hotel staff member who came in the helicopter to collect him. The hospital surrendered him into your care. I hope he's in good health?"

She forced herself to smile. "Yes, I believe so. Good enough that he doesn't need a constant nurse, anyhow." But probably angry as hell at her for walking out on him last night. Oh, please don't let the officer pay him a visit today. Or search her room for the money...

"Good." Inspector Burgess' smile seemed as insincere as hers.

"Well, if that's all you want to know...I have work to do. A whole conference of people arrive tomorrow and we're down a staff member, so that means more work for me." Audra rose and headed out the door.

She marched to the laundry room without breaking stride, but once the door closed behind her, her breath whooshed out of her in a huge sigh of relief. She'd never trust the police, not after having grown up where she had.

"Come for your uniforms?"

Audra whirled around and found herself facing Jackie. "When did you get back?"

"This morning with a boatload of laundry and boxes for some conference. Good thing, too, seeing as we're one down. How'd you like the Pearls?"

Jay. Jay and his talk of pearls as he drove her to the peak of the best orgasm she'd ever had. She'd remember last night for the rest of her life.

Jackie smirked. "Dealing with VIPs isn't all it's cracked up to be. How many did you want to kill?"

Audra forced out a laugh. "They make me prefer the hotel. Normal guests are more...normal."

"Good, because the Pearls are mine again, now I'm back. I need the money. My oldest has it in his head that he wants to learn to be a pilot and flying lessons don't come cheap." Jackie nodded at the plastic-wrapped uniforms. "What size are you?"

"Small, please," Audra murmured, taking the stack of dresses from Jackie. "I better go hang these up and start work."

"You do that."

Audra stepped onto the veranda, then turned around to say, "Jackie? I really missed you. It's good to have you back."

The older woman laughed, ending in her characteristic smoker's cough. "Yeah, yeah." But she smiled, so Audra suspected she appreciated it.

Audra hurried back to her room. She shoved everything to the back of her desk and heard the sound of things falling behind it, but right now she didn't care. She dumped her work clothes in the space she'd created. Audra seized the topmost dress, stripped off her civilian clothes, and clothed herself in anonymity once more. Resolving to make sure none of the conference attendees felt the need to know her name, she hurried off to help Pamela with preparations. The more they managed to do before the guests arrived, the less exhausting the event would be. Ah, who was she kidding? Big events had everyone running around like headless chickens. But being kept too busy to think was exactly what she needed right now.