Hotel Nigh

Chapter 26

The Smoke

"We need to figure out why the lock is three-one-one-eight. And fast," I announced.

We'd just made it back to my room, having met no one on the journey down a floor to my room. Melina flopped back against the bed, but I stayed sat up. In my head, I knew that if I were to lie down next to her, with the kiss that happened in Danny's room, I think that's all I'd want to be doing with her right now; I had to keep reminding myself that we had a task at hand... an immensely crucial task.

"I don't even know where to start," she replied. "The three is to do with the woman who instigated the secrets and whatnot, but I can't think why two one's and an eight have to do with her? But that's all we know, isn't it? That she had three secrets. We don't know anything else about her."

"I think it's Gerald," I muttered. "I think he's completely... moronic, but I think he's the killer. It makes sense. It has to. Kimberly is out of the running for obvious reasons, Matt the same, Hilda would never kill her husband and leave her child without a dad-"

"Would she though?"

I frowned. "Jenny – again – obvious. She's a little kid. Miles... he's a cop, basically. He wouldn't dare risk his job like that. That leaves Gerald the author."

"You forgot me," Melina pointed out, though when I turned around to her incredulously, she had a smirk on her lips.

I admired her for the fact that she could make a joke at a time like this when we were supposed to be thinking and strategising and figuring out why the locks had that specific combination, especially on the box in the basement via the tunnel.

She reached up, settling her hands on my cheeks. In the heat of the moment, I let her pull me down and for my lips to land gently on hers. She smiled into the kiss; I couldn't help myself. I smiled as well. It was only when we both pulled back, having rested my hands on her hips as I leaned down, did the reality of the situation strike me. Plus, everything was still in our pockets and I was distinctly aware of objects clashing against one another.

"As much as I would love to stay in this room with you for the rest of the night," I began, the smile beginning to slip from my lips, "I want to say there'll be plenty of time for that after tonight."

She nodded. "Plenty of time."

It made me smile.

Sitting back up again, I turned around to face her. We were quiet for a few long seconds, and my brain was already shifting its gears again, trying to come up with some sort of logical answer that would bring us a step forward in this investigation. My smile, I realised, had perished, and Melina and I were just simply staring at one another.

"Everyone in this hotel has their own little secret, and it's disturbing. This hotel harbours secrets and its foundations are built with lies. The more lies that are told in this place, the stronger it becomes. For once, I'd like to crack the foundations. Not add to them."

Her finger trailed across my collar bone in a way that was almost therapeutic. She hummed slightly and then said, "But when you crack the foundations, everything else will soon crumble and fall. We become part of the wreckage – injured and hidden – whilst the smoke conceals us."

"The smoke is our friend, not our enemy."

Her finger stopped for a moment on my collar bone. "Do you think we should talk to Elliot?" she asked after several second's pause. "He was the one who first said about how the secrets started, remember? When we first met? He must know more than what he told us. Perhaps the one, one and eight have something to do with the woman?"