Page 79 of Mark my Words

“Sure, man. I’m so sorry, Chase. I didn’t know she would go all psycho ex-girlfriend until it was too late,” he apologized, looking down at his friend with sympathy.

“Nathan, there was no way for you to know,” she sighed tiredly, and I could see the adrenaline wearing off from her confrontation. Chase was starting to deflate the longer she sat there.

“Still doesn’t make me feel any less guilty.” I felt bad for Nathan, but that woman would have found a way to cause trouble even without his accidental introduction.

“I’ll check in at the desk and leave him a message should he come back here on his own,” Emory told us as he stepped in next to his partner, who was still comforting Chase.

“That’s probably smart. Maybe let them know we also have his cell phone,” Diana agreed.

“Do you think they’d have security footage of the main entrance?” Talia asked, nodding at a camera mounted in the corner of the room.

“On it.” That was a great idea. “Emory and I can talk to the concierge and see what we can find out.”

He nodded, gesturing toward the door before he pulled Talia into his chest, whispering in her ear and kissing her cheek. “Let’s see if we can figure out which cab company he used.”

I followed Emory out of the ballroom and down a hallway toward the main lobby. A tall man in a suit was behind the computer at the check-in desk.

“May I help you?” he asked with a welcoming smile. “I’m the hotel manager.”

“Hello, Sir. We’re here with the party for the publishing house. We’ve got an issue with one of our writers. Do you, by chance, have security cameras?” I asked in a sweet voice. He didn’t need to see the inner bitch come out to play yet.

“Of course, but usually, we don’t share footage unless a law enforcement agency requests it.”

He looked a little startled at the wide smile I gave him. “Well, you see, one of your employees gave someone entrance to the ballroom we believe was stalking one of our writers...”

He immediately straightened, nervously adjusting his tie.

Gotcha.

“I apologize, Miss...but...” he rambled.

I looked at his name and raised an eyebrow as I delivered what I hoped would be our ticket. “Mr. Blithe, I would hate to have to alert the press gathered in the ballroom to the hotel security’s little mistake. It’d be a real shame for them to question the reputation of such a fine hotel chain.”

He visibly swallowed as I saw Emory smirk out of the corner of my eye. I was glad he didn’t try to shoulder me out of the way to take over. Smart man.

“Well. It couldn’t hurt to take a peek and see if we can come to a quiet resolution.” So, Mr. Blithe was a smart man too.

“That sounds like a wonderful idea.”

“Let me get someone to cover the desk, and you can join me in the security office.” He picked up a phone, and within minutes a young woman was able to take his place at the front desk.

“Right this way...” He gestured toward a door with an electronic pad on the wall next to it labeled ‘authorized staff only.’ A little green light appeared as he swept a card he pulled from his pocket over it. Emory held the door open for me, and we followed Mr. Blithe down a well-lit hallway.

“Here we go,” he said, knocking on a door labeled ‘Security Technology.’

A short man with dark hair and glasses answered the door and immediately straightened his posture as he saw the general manager standing there.

“Yes?” the man asked, pushing his glasses up his nose with a strategically placed finger on the bridge.

“These people need to access some of the security footage from the main entrance,” Mr. Blithe told him.

“Do they have a warrant?” the younger man asked, giving Emory and me a skeptical once over.

“Howard.” Mr. Blithe scolded, clearly irritated with his employee.

“I’m just shittin’ you. Come on in.” Howard laughed as his supervisor huffed from the doorway.

“You can sit there,” he instructed as he lifted a box full of random cables off a chair and patted the seat.

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