A Case of Extreme Mistaken Identity - Victorine E. Lieske Page 0,54

horrible memories.

He opened the fridge and pulled out a water bottle. He had to calm down somehow. It wasn’t going to do any good to stay up all night fretting about it. Then he’d be exhausted tomorrow. Dani would need him, and he wouldn’t be able to function if he didn’t get some sleep.

Dani wheeled her cart to room 305 and opened it with her master key. So many people had checked out this morning, she had several extra rooms to clean today. She hurried inside to strip the bed, her earbuds already in and playing her favorite songs.

She’d turned her music up loud to block out the awful foreboding feeling she had from last night. Someone was after Austin, and they were close by. It gave her the creeps. At least his security team had arrived, and they were guarding his room right now.

As she pulled the last sheet off the bed, something shiny fell onto the carpet and skittered across the floor. She picked it up and held it up to the light. A diamond ring. It almost looked fake, it was so large, but she knew a little bit about jewelry and suspected it was real. The sparkle on that thing was amazing. Someone was going to be in a huge panic after figuring out it was missing. She shoved it into her pocket and rushed to the front office. Kay would know who to contact.

Kay was at the front desk when she arrived. “Hi, Danica. What can I do for you?”

“I found a ring in the room I’m cleaning.”

Kay nodded and held out her hand. “Guests sometimes leave things behind. I’ll put it in the lost and found.”

Dani fished the ring from her pocket and handed it to Kay. “You might want to call the people who had the room this weekend. It looks expensive.”

“I can do that. Thanks.” She flashed Dani a smile. “I appreciate your honesty. It would be tempting to just keep something like that.”

The thought hadn’t even crossed Dani’s mind. “Oh, no. I couldn’t do that. I know how worried I’d be if it were mine.”

Kay slowly nodded. “You have a good heart.” She shifted and gave Dani a sidelong glance. “How are things going with you and Austin?”

“I think I’m more concerned about the notes than he is. Thanks for loaning us your security.”

“No, I mean…” She tapped the counter with her long nails. “How are things going, between the two of you?”

It was such an unexpected question that Dani took a step back from the counter. “Uh…” She had no idea what to say to that.

Kay put up a hand. “Never mind. It’s your business. I just thought I saw a spark between you, that’s all.” She smiled. “Ignore me. I get silly every now and again.”

Dani nodded, taking a step back. That was odd. Was it that apparent that she had a crush on Austin? Or that he liked her? She couldn’t remember seeing Kay around that much. How had she seen them together?

She bit her lower lip, trying to decide what to say. She needed to make a plan for after Austin left, which would be coming up soon. But she wasn’t sure exactly what to ask. “When will I get my first paycheck?”

“Next week. Why? Do you need it sooner?”

Dani wrung her hands. “Sooner would be good. I really should be finding my own place.”

Kay fiddled with her large ring. “I can pay you tomorrow, for your work so far. Will that help?”

Relief poured over her. “Yes, that will help. Thank you.”

She knew it wouldn’t be much, but at least it would be her money. Maybe she could find a room for rent. Something small wouldn’t be too much, right?

As she walked back to room 305, she felt a tingling sensation go down her back, like someone was watching her. She whirled around, but no one was behind her. Closing her eyes, she told herself that she was just paranoid because of the threatening letters. But they were now under security watch. It would all be fine. Right?

The rest of the day seemed to crawl by. By five o’clock she was hot and tired and ready to be done with work. She clocked out and headed back to Austin’s room. As she approached, it was comforting to see the man dressed in black standing at the door.

“Wait,” someone called from behind her. She turned around to see Claire rushing to catch up to her. “Danica. I want