Page 109 of Thief of Night
In the hall, Charlie took Red’s hand and pulled him toward the stairs. “Never mind Mark. I shouldn’t have bothered. Let’s get this done.” It was easy to give him a besotted grin, hoping that if anyone saw them, there would be absolutely no question as to why they were sneaking off.
“I like watching you work,” he told her as they moved into the hall of the second floor.
Room 210 was at the end of a hall, set off from the others. Probably a suite. Luxurious, but not a cottage. Even with selling shadows, Archie wasn’t feeling flush.
Charlie looked down the hall as Red spilled into darkness. He didn’t flow under the door, though. A moment later, he re-formed beside her. “Onyx,” he said. “I can’t get in.”
“Guess I’m still good for something,” Charlie told him.
Despite the cost of this place, the locks on the doors were older and blessedly not all that secure. Charlie supposed people willing to pay the exorbitant prices didn’t need to steal trinkets from one another. Taking out Topher’s credit card, she jammed it into the gap between the door and frame.
“Keep watch on the hall without seeming like you’re keeping watch on the hall,” Charlie said, pushing it harder. She went down on one knee.
“I don’t know how to do that,” Red said.
Well, then she better be quick. She wiggled the card lower and felt the moment it hit the strike. She dragged it down, hard, sawing it back and forth to try to catch the edge of the latch bolt.
With a click, the card slotted into place. Charlie turned the handle and the door opened.
“You’re fast,” he said, slipping past her and entering Archie’s room.
“So they say,” Charlie offered, following.
It was a suite, but the living area opened onto the bedroom, making for a large space but with little privacy.
On the floor, suitcases stood open, clothing scattered around them. A dopp kit sat on the bed, bottles of pills spilling out of it. The ironing board had been left open and when Charlie glanced into the bathroom, she saw the sink covered in a smear of shaving cream, flecked with hair.
On the bright side, no matter what they disarranged, Charlie doubted it would be noticed. But it was going to be hard to find anything, much less shadows.
“He can’t really mean to bring people back here, can he?” Charlie asked. “This is a mess.”
Busy opening and closing drawers, Red didn’t answer.
Charlie went into the bathroom and looked under the sink. Extra toilet paper, but otherwise empty. A large claw-foot tub had a damp towel thrown across it. The shower had a tipped-over shampoo bottle, opalescent goo pooling around it.
Archie had been running late, obviously. And stressed. But had he intended to come back here? Was this really where he was keeping a bunch of incredibly valuable shadows?
“Oh, I know,” Charlie said, walking out of the bathroom and yanking open the upper cabinet, above the sideboard unit with the mini fridge and Nespresso machine.
Red looked up. “What?”
“The hotel safe.” Built into the wall, it was a basic model, but sleek, with a glowing keypad. Charlie turned the lever. Locked. Which meant it was in use. If he hadn’t programmed it, it would still be ajar. “He putsomethingin there.”
“Can you open it?” Red asked.
“Let’s see.”
With safes like these—and especially in a place like this that didn’t expect there to be any real theft—the first thing Charlie was going to try was to see if Solaluna had reset the administrator password from the manufacturer. She pressed the lock button twice and the word “SUPER” came up on the digital screen. Then she typed in the default 99999 and held her breath.
Inside the wall, she heard the telltale grind of gears. She turned to grin at Red, who raised his eyebrows at her.
Outside the door, she heard footsteps in the hall.
Archie’s familiar voice sounded. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Don’t come at me, motherfucker,” said another voice that Charlie recognized from being woken in the middle of the night. The redheaded puppeteer who had brought her to Mr. Punch.
Charlie pressed clear on the safe and closed it. Then all she had time to do was throw herself to the floor and roll under the bed. A moment later, Red was beside her. She tried to still her breaths as the door opened and the two men walked into the room.
