The doors slid open as I tried to reason with her, but she ignored me. She stepped out into the hallway, her strides long and filled with purpose. I latched on to her arm and yanked her to a stop, my grip as tight as I could hold her.
“You cannot just go in there and attack Viktor,” I said urgently. “But if you think he was behind it, we can go to the police and tell them.”
“The police can’t help,” she said, trying to pull away from me. Tears sparked in her eyes, but didn’t fall.
“They can,” I insisted. “We just need to give them something they can use. They already know he’s a criminal; they just need something concrete.” I hesitated, then decided to tell her. “They gave me two bugs to plant in your suite tonight so they can listen in. You can help me do that.”
At that, she finally stopped struggling against my hold on her.
“Really?” she asked.
I nodded. “I just need Viktor to be distracted for a few minutes so I can plant them.”
“And the police will be listening? They’ll arrest him?”
I didn’t think Tania knew a lot about our justice system, but we didn’t have time to go into details now about evidence and probable cause and warrants, so I just said, “Yes.”
She studied me, and the tears spilled over. “Why did he kill her?” she asked. “What happened?”
Her voice broke and my heart went out to her. I wrapped her in a hug. “I’m so sorry,” I said. “I don’t know why. What I do know was that she was helping the police, and you should know, if you help the police, you could be in danger as well,” I warned her. “I don’t want that.” I had enough guilt on my conscience. I didn’t need something to happen to Tania as well.
“It doesn’t matter,” she said. “My sister is dead. I’ll do whatever I have to do to bring her killer to justice.”
The door to the suite suddenly opened and one of the bodyguards from New York came out.
“Viktor is looking for you,” he said to Tania, and the words may have seemed innocuous, but they were laced with warning.
“I’m coming,” she said. Straightening her shoulders, she preceded me into the room.
The hair on the back of my neck stood up as I passed the man, and it took all I had to turn my back to him.
Parker and Viktor were still going over files, but I noticed Viktor looked up when Tania walked in and his body relaxed.
I tried to figure out how I was going to plant the bugs. I needed to plant one out here and probably the other in the bedroom. But how to get in there? Then inspiration struck.
“I’m not feeling very well,” I announced to the room at large. “I-I think I might be sick.” I clutched at my stomach and rushed into the bedroom, flinging the door closed behind me.
There. That should deter anyone from following. Nothing kept people away quite like the prospect of being witness to someone vomiting.
Reaching in my purse, I dug for the plastic baggie and pulled out a bug. My hands were shaking I was so nervous. Hurrying to the bed, I inspected the lamp on the table. Surely there was a place I could stick it on there…
I was just lifting it to check the bottom when the door suddenly opened. I nearly dropped the lamp before I realized it was Parker.
He saw me standing there, jaw agape and lamp in hand, and immediately closed the door behind him.
“What in the hell are you doing?” he hissed.
I had no idea what to say. I hadn’t considered getting caught, much less by Parker. “I-I…” My stammering only made his lips press together in a tight line and he was next to me in three strides. I was still holding the bug and he took it from my fingers, studying it, and realizing what it was. If possible, he looked even angrier.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he growled. He snatched the lamp from me and replaced it on the table. “Do you have any more?” he asked.
He was furious and I didn’t dream of lying to him. I nodded.
“Give them to me.”
Digging again, I handed him the baggie. He put it and the other bug into his pocket.
“Go flush the toilet and run the water,” he ordered. I scurried to do his bidding. After a moment, he was