Page 64 of The Last Good Man

“I’ll be outside,” her husband says beforemaking the trip backto retrieve my suitcase.

Olivia rounds her carved desk, where a parchment lampshade filters a warm glow over a big burgundy leather guest book.

Next to it lies a computer screen, a sleek keyboard, and a wireless mouse.

Iwatchher check the information I provided when I booked my room online last night.

I was lucky to find it, considering how busy they are.

The humming drifting from the other room–a mix of clinking porcelain cups and silverware and muted words–reaches my ears as I run my eyes over a small bronze statue depicting a couple of horses.

The prolonged pause and unexpected nervousness in my hostess’ clipped gestures make memove myfocus back to her before I become the disquieted witness of her smile dissolving into a puddle of concern.

“Is everything all right?” I ask.

“Uh… Yes. It should be,”shesays,hergrin tense, not in the least the bearer of good news.

She clicks the mouse, closes the computer window, and the screen goes dark before she excuses herself andgoes to speakwith her son in the back.

The tension fluttering in her wake seeps into my bones.

I move my eyes to the dining room, where the lights and flowers seem livelier than ever, and then I peer outside where Herbert rounds the corner, carrying my suitcase.

Seeing him comforts me. Things must be okay. There must be a room in this house waiting for me.

I hope that’s the case, especially now that the sky gets darker, and the perspective of going back to New York or spending the night in the nearby town doesn’t appeal to mein the slightest.

Herbert enters the house while his wife approaches the desk, stillvery muchtense.

“Yes?” I murmur, plastering a fake smile on my face.

She instructs him to leave my suitcasenext tome and peers down at my name scribbled in the guestbook.

“I’m sorry,” she starts, and my knees turn to mud. “There’s been a glitch. Our system didn’t update the vacancies last night, and the room you picked had already been booked. The gentleman is here already.”

“Okay,” I say, my lips dry. “Is there anything we can do about it?”

My voice is neutral, yet evenso,if I look closely, a glistening bead of sweat forms on Olivia’s brow.

She checks the guestbook and moves the mouse, waking her computer.

It’s futile if you ask me.Shejust said it. They’re fully booked.

It’s not as if it hasn’t happened to me before. I travel a lot, and there are always some errors made by people, or computers.

The thing is, it’s easier to fix a blunder like this in ahugeluxury hotel.

“Um…”

Her bottom lip is rolled tight under her teeth while her eyes move swiftly across some text.

Hope flickers in her eyes when she swings her gaze to me.

“You’ve only booked it for one night, right?”

I nod, unsure whether that’s good or bad.

“Okay.”

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