Hotel Nigh

Chapter 12

Connecting the Dots

"We should have one another's numbers," I proposed when Melina was going to go back to her room, "just so if we need one another, we can quickly get in contact with one another."

It sounded a lot less lame in my head and at the time I felt like one of those geeky boys trying to get a girl's number who was way out of his league. I just had to keep reminding myself that this was for Kimberly and Ethan, and seeking justice and making sure no one else would be murdered during our stay at Hotel Nigh. But Melina just smiled and we exchanged phones, and a minute later we had one another's number.

It was not because I thought Melina was beautiful and being with her constantly made me perhaps want to kiss her. Just a little. Not much. Honestly.

I'd even offered to walk Melina back to her room, but she assured me saying, "You know I'll be in danger if you hear me scream. And just so you know, I do know a few tricks up my sleeve if someone does attack me. Not only did I want to be an actress, but I had to know some basic martial arts moves at one point for a project. It went absolutely nowhere," she explained, "but they stuck with me. I could do a demonstration on you?"

I politely declined her offer.

There were no doubts in my mind that Melina knew some martial arts moves and she'd know how to kick a guy's butt if he ever screwed her over. Maybe it was worth getting to know her past in the boyfriend department. I couldn't deny that we were growing closer, though we'd barely known one another a few hours ago. We just got thrown together in this shambled mess.

So after Melina departed back to her own room, I was left in my own solitude. Grabbing my notepad back, I opened up the page to the list of occupants. I suddenly remembered that I'd asked what room Danny stays in and he said MOON, so I jotted this down hastily. It was up to me now to differentiate between STAR and SUN. One room had to be Elliot's and the other room had to be Rose's. I figured whoever I ran into first I could ask. I left my notepad and pen in my room to elude concurrent befuddlement and suspicion.

The corridor was deserted, but there was that lingering sense of sorrow and fear. People were silently mourning Kimberly's death, even though they didn't even know who she was, but they were fearing for their own lives because her killer (who was also, unknowingly to them, also my brother's killer) was roaming about the hotel and playing us all for a fool.

I made it all the way to the kitchen until I finally ran into someone, and that someone just so happened to be ever-cheerful Danny. "You looking for me?" He actually wore a hopeful smile. To be honest, he did appear to be quite bored just loitering around in the dining area, overlooking everything. "Please say you are."

"Don't you have work to do?" I prompted.

His shoulders sagged and he lost his cheerful persona. "Yeah, I'm supposed to be manning the bar, but since that woman's death, everybody's too afraid to come out of their room so they're staying in there and not coming down to the bar or whatever. I've been listening to the rain nonstop since I've been on my own."

"Any thunder and lightning yet?"

"None. Do you want a drink?"

"Melina was getting slightly tipsy before, but I think what happened with Kimberly sobered her up at once. She's back in her room now, so I think it's best if I don't have a drink." I decided to bite the bullet and ask bluntly, "Do you have any idea who would do such a thing to Kimberly? The old woman."

He shrugged. "Everyone seems so polite, but I'm staff so if I'm polite to them, they'll be polite back to me, won't they? Let's ask Rose."

And without further ado, Danny strolled forward to the actual kitchen, and it took me a moment before I realised I was meant to follow, so I was loitering behind in the threshold to the dining area. I had to jog to catch up with him before the door shut behind him.