Page 38 of Obsession

“Martini, please.” Matthew had read in an interview that Tessa liked them, so they had become his go-to drink.

While he waited for it to arrive, his gaze drifted across the bar area. He’d registered the man sitting at the table when he’d walked in but hadn’t paid attention to him until now.

It was the fake guard from the set, only now instead of wearing a security outfit, he was dressed in a suit. He seemed particularly interested in what was going on in the lobby.

“Here you are, sir.” The bartender set a martini in front of Matthew and left to help another customer.

Matthew took a sip and looked back at the man at the table, intrigued.

28

Teddy was in Billy’s suite, having returned to the hotel ten minutes before Kordo took a seat in the bar.

After taking a shower to wash away his detective disguise, he checked the time. He needed to hurry if he was going to make it to the Novaks’ house by six p.m. If he was right, another video would arrive around that time. He wanted to be there when it did.

He changed himself into Billy Barnett and headed downstairs. As he crossed the hotel lobby, he once more felt eyes watching him. This time, though, he sensed it was more than just a fan looking his way.

Casually, he scanned the room. As his gaze reached the bar, a man at a table near its entrance looked away.

Perhaps it was coincidence, perhaps not. Teddy couldn’t get a solid read on the guy. He did notice Matthew was also at the bar, though the kid didn’t seem to realize Teddy was there.

If Teddy hadn’t been pressed for time, he would have made a more thorough search. He headed outside and the valet brought him his Porsche.

As Teddy climbed into his car, the feeling of being watched returned. He glanced back through the glass doors into the hotel lobby.

The same guy who’d been sitting at the table in the bar now stood several feet away inside, talking on a phone and trying very hard to act like he wasn’t looking at Teddy.

Maybe hewasa film fan. That kind of attention was something that occurred more when Teddy was Mark Weldon than Billy Barnett, but it did happen.

He noted the man’s features in case he saw him again, then put his Porsche in gear.

???

Inside the lobby, Kordo watched Barnett pull away. “He’s leaving now,” he said into his phone. “I need to go.”

“No,” Neno said. “If you follow him, you might lose him again.”

The words stung. “But I thought you wanted me to—”

“Stay there until I call you back. I’ll find out what room he’s in, then you can wait there until he comes back.”

29

Matthew took another sip of his martini as he watched the faux guard walk across the lobby toward the hotel entrance. The man stopped a dozen feet from the doors and made a phone call. When he hung up, he sat on one of the lobby chairs.

“Huh,” Matthew said under his breath. The guy had clearly been watching Billy Barnett. But why?

Over the next several minutes, the man switched back and forth from checking his phone to looking out the glass doors. Finally, whatever message he’d been waiting for arrived. After reading it, he headed to the elevators.

Matthew knew it wasn’t his business, but curiosity gotthe better of him. Besides, he still had some time until dinner. He dropped some cash on the bar and followed the man.

When he reached the elevator waiting area, the doors of the car the man had entered had already closed.

Matthew pushed the call button. While he waited, he watched the floor indicator for the faux guard’s elevator. It stopped on the fourth floor, then started down again.

That was interesting.

Matthew had used a stolen master keycard to sneak into housekeeping when no one was there and obtained a list of guests and the rooms they were in. So he knew the fourth floor was where Tessa, Peter Barrington, Mark Weldon, and Billy Barnett were staying. And now Ben Bacchetti, too, he reminded himself.

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