Contrapasso

Part 2

Chapter 2: The second day

It was the second day of her stay here and Astrid was watching the sunrise while sitting on a bench in the gardens. It was still dewy out so she had a shawl over her shoulders. The freak storm last night and the death of one of the guests had shaken everyone. Also, there was the matter of a missing staff member.

Astrid thought back to last night while she unconsciously held something in her hand.

Tuffnut had brought both Astrid and Mala to the scene which was on the 2nd floor in the nightclub. Astrid held her breath for a moment as she took in the room.

The guests, naturally were being held near the door but Mala was allowed through. "Can Astrid come to?" She heard Mala ask Ruffnut who was trying to keep the peace.

Ruffnut frowned but then agreed when Mala added that she wasn't sure she could face the scene alone. Astrid remembered herself being let through and then took in the ruined nightclub more closely. She noticed Fishlegs consoling the young maid, Marisol, that she had run into earlier. The storm was still brewing and two palm trees were sticking through the glass windows near the bar. On the floor lay Grimmel's body, pierced by multiple shards of glass. A lot of shards of glass actually which Astrid found odd.

Mala was keeping a calm head but Astrid noted something in her eyes. It wasn't the grief she would expect from a recently widowed woman. There was relief instead in those eyes which Astrid found odd.

"Was it all an accident?" Mala asked with pursed lips. Her fists were clenched and her voice wavered a bit but it didn't seem to Astrid as if it were in grief. Astrid knew grief, this looked more like hopefulness.

The whole scene was just odd. Astrid quickly picked up a shard of window glass that was on the floor and pocketed it. Grimmel was like a pincushion with all those glass shards in him but something in Astrid's mind just screamed that it shouldn't have been possible. There was blood on the nightclub floor and the rain that was battering inside was washing it and any other evidence away.

"We think so," Fishlegs answered. "It looks like the palm trees crashed through the windows that the club had and sent shards of glass flying."

But that explanation just didn't sit well with Astrid. "What was Grimmel doing on this floor in the first place?" She asked with a frown. "The nightclub wasn't in use."

"Well... uhm...." Fishlegs hesitated.

"Fishlegs please...... just tell them or I will." The female voice that spoke up was Marisol's. The young maid looked shaken but there was determination when she pleaded with Fishlegs.

"Uhm......"

With the captain slash waiter being indecisive Marisol blurted it out. "Mr. Grisly followed me here," Marisol said. "I was in the elevator when he stepped in and he started hitting on me."

Astrid did recall Marisol on her floor. The young woman could have gotten into the elevator afterwards when Grimmel stormed out of his room. "Go on," Astrid said but she already had an idea forming of what happened. She looked at Mala for any indication of anger but found the recently widowed doctor to be calm. Too calm.

"I told him I was not interested. I was scheduled to clean the 2nd floor so I got off here but so did he." Marisol stated. "He was persistent and followed me into the empty club."

"Then what happened?" Astrid asked as she carefully gauged everyone's reaction.

"He grabbed my arm," Marisol said and then showed the others her arm that had a bruise forming near her palm. "The storm was brewing outside and then I screamed when the trees crashed through the window. He let go and I fell to the floor. Next thing I know he was dead from the glass piercing him." Marisol explained. "I immediately contacted the front desk."