Page 18 of Craving Vengeance
He could hear Walker talking to Debra and the Sergeant, but his mind wouldn’t process the words. He continued to stare down at the face of the victim. He couldn’t seem to tear his eyes from him.
Walker tapped him on the shoulder. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just...he just...has he been identified?”
Walker frowned. “Yeah, that’s what the Sergeant just told us. The room was rented to Dr. Joshua Meyers, and he matches that of the picture ID in the wallet on the desk over there,” Walker said as he pointed to the desk in the corner of the room.
“Doctor. That just figures,” Spinelli mumbled as he tried to make sense of it all.
“What?” Walker asked.
Spinelli glanced at the Police Sergeant and the ME then shifted his gaze to Walker. He shook his head. “Nothing, never mind.” He’d wait to tell Walker in private that the fourth dead cupid was the man he saw Shannon kissing earlier in the day.
“Debra, do you have an estimate as to the time of death or any ideas as to the cause of death?” Spinelli asked.
“Not long. A couple of hours, tops. Judging from the smell of almonds, I’m guessing we have another cyanide poisoned victim. He doesn’t have any visible wounds.”
A golf ball sized lump formed in Spinelli’s throat making it difficult to ask the Sergeant his next question. “Did you talk to any hotel staff? Did he check in with anyone?”
The Sergeant pointed to the doorway. “The shift manager is in the hall waiting for you guys. Earlier he said that Meyers was alone when he checked in at around 1:45.”
A wave of relief washed through Spinelli, but Shannon wasn’t off the hook yet. Why was the man she kissed only hours ago now dead? And who exactly was this man?
They stepped back into the hall to talk to the manager. Walker introduced himself and Spinelli.
“Hi, I’m Marcus Grasse, the front desk manager,” Marcus responded in a shaky voice.
Spinelli’s silence caused Walker to start the questioning. “So, you said Dr. Meyers checked in alone,” Walker stated.
The young manager nodded his head. He stood with his hands in his pockets and shifted from foot to foot, confirming his nervousness.
He looked to be in his early twenties. Probably his first real job out of college, and he winds up with a murder on his shift.
“Did you check him in or did someone else?”
Marcus shifted his gaze to the floor. “I did,” he whispered.
“Did he say anything when he checked in or was he acting unusual at all?”
The kid chewed on his lip for a moment, then released it from his teeth. “It was like any other routine check-in. He told me his name. I punched it in on the computer and found his reservation. I swiped his credit card, handed him his room key, and gave him a map of the hotel.”
“So he had a reservation?” Walker questioned.
“Yep.”
“Do you know when he made the arrangements?”
“It was earlier in the day shortly before he arrived. We’re not super busy during the week this time of year. I took the call myself while I was working the counter.”
“Who found him?”
Marcus pulled his hand from his pocket and ran it over his face. He pointed at a young woman sitting on a bench at the end of the hall. She was talking with a uniformed officer who stood by the caution tape dividing the perimeter from the rest of the world. Even from this distance, Spinelli easily noticed her red, swollen eyes. She took a pull from a bottle of water.
The three of them walked toward the woman. She rose to her feet as they ducked under the caution tape. Walker introduced himself and Spinelli. Her frantic gaze darted between the men then landed on Marcus. He gestured toward her. “This is Ashley Dart. She found Dr. Meyers when she delivered the champagne and rose he’d ordered shortly after he checked in.”
The young waitress swiped under her eyes with a balled-up tissue.
“Ms. Dart, was anyone else in the room when you entered?”
