Page 86 of Dark Romeo

I ignored that comment. “Do, er, do we get a shot of her face anywhere?” I asked, trying not to let my voice shake.

“No. Just her sweet ass.”

Espo slapped the Dene on the back of his head. “Have some respect, bro.” He pointed to me.

“Oh, er, sorry, detective,” Dene said, sounding a little embarrassed.

“It’s fine,” I muttered, hoping he didn’t notice that I couldn’t look him in the face.

The camera angle flicked to the lift, then to the top floor’s suite. I was still hanging upside down, my hair in my face. I had never been so thankful that Roman had been such a caveman that night.

“They go into the Presidential Suite at eleven-oh-three,” Dene said. “They don’t leave the room, either of them, until seven the next night.”

“Do they get any visitors?” Espo asked.

“They order room service on Sunday, twice.”

“Just like Rosaline said in her statement. Looks like she’s telling the truth. Show us the footage of them leaving.”

“Here.” Dene pointed to another screen where Roman was walking back out of the room, the duffel over his bag. The time stamp was seven eleven p.m. He disappeared off screen. My gut tightened. I would come out next, maybe five minutes after him.

“Where’s the girl?” Espo asked.

“Well, this is the strange bit…” Dene said, his eyes flicking over to look at me.

Oh my God. I was so screwed. In a second they would both watch me walk out of that hotel room.

Hopefully I could argue that it was Rosaline and not me. We did look similar. It wasn’t like the footage was perfectly clear. Right?

I could barely breathe as Dene sped up the tape and the minutes flew by. Here it was…seven sixteen p.m. I stared at the screen, waiting for the door to the Presidential Suite to open, revealing my face.

But it never did. The video played on and on until the cleaners came the next morning.

“That’s it?” Espo asked. “She never comes out?”

Dene shook his head. “It’s the strangest thing. I checked the footage for the rest of the day, even the day after just to be sure, but we never see her leave the room.”

Somehow I’d dodged a bullet. I slowly let out a breath of relief. But how did this happen? I had walked out a few minutes after Roman. Why wasn’t I on the tape?

“Is there another exit?” Espo asked.

Dene shook his head. “Not unless she climbed off the balcony.”

“Has someone messed with the footage?”

“If they did it was a pro job.”

Roman. Roman must have done this.

He was protecting me. Protecting my career, my job, my reputation. My heart began to warm. He did care.

I shook myself internally. What was I thinking? Roman didn’t do this for me. He did it for himself. If word got out to his family that he’d been intimate with a detective, they’d have reason to mistrust him. They might even kill him.

I couldn’t get rid of the nagging thought that he’d done it to protect me. It was stupid. Arrogant, even. Still, I couldn’t help but want to thank him. In person. My heart skipped a beat at the thought of seeing him again.

Stupid heart.

Espo let out a growl. “Dammit. His alibi holds. The chief isn’t going to like this.”

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