Zen and the Art of Vampires - By Katie MacAlister Page 0,58
be exhausted."
"Yeah, I'm a bit pooped. Whoops. Come back. I think that's a cop car."
We pulled back as we were rounding a corner, both of us watching suspiciously as a man strolled out of the front of the hotel, pausing to talk to someone sitting in an unmarked car.
"Cop?" I asked Magda.
"Definitely. They must be watching for you. Let's go around the back. Maybe there's a way we can get in there without them seeing."
We slipped around the block, coming up against the kitchen entrance, but there was a policeman there, too, talking with easy amiability with a woman wearing a traditional white chef's hat.
"Damn. OK, how's this? I go in and distract the cop in the lobby, and you sneak through to the side stairs and go up to your room."
"I don't have my key," I whispered, my hopes sinking. Although the Brotherhood people had said they would give me money, I wanted my own clothing and things, which Magda thought were still in my room. "It was in my room when I left, but I'm sure the manager or police picked it up."
Magda pulled out her hotel key - really a plastic card with a magnetic strip - and looked thoughtful. "There's the bathroom. That's a way in for you."
I ran my mind back to the morning, shuddering at the memory. "I left the door unlocked when I went to bed, in case you needed to use the room, but this morning when I found Anniki, it was locked."
She gave a little grimace, then said thoughtfully, tapping the key card on her lips, "That's as may be, but the police unlocked it at one point. I caught them peeking in while I was getting dressed. If they didn't lock it, I bet you could get into your room from mine via the bathroom. Or in a worst-case scenario, use the balcony our rooms share."
"There's still the matter of getting up into your room."
She smiled and fluffed her substantial cleavage. "Oh, I don't think that's going to be too difficult to overcome. The girls and I can keep the lobby cop's attention long enough for you to slip in and go up the side stairs. I would avoid the elevator, though."
"And if we're caught? I don't want you to get into trouble with the police for helping me."
"If you're seen, I'll simply point at you and scream bloody murder," she said confidently, giving me her key card. "There's nothing they can do to me since I haven't done anything wrong. Just a little aiding and abetting, but what's that? Nothing, really."
Whereas I'd honored Anniki's last request, which left me running from the scene of a murder, I thought with a twinge of guilt.
"Come on, let's go in via the verandah, and I'll go dazzle the cop inside with my fabulous breasts."
Her plan - or breasts - worked like a charm. She had no difficulty engaging the cop's attention long enough for me to slip inside and along the far wall to the hallway that led to a set of lesser-used stairs. The reception clerk was too busy watching Magda to notice me, and my luck held all the way to Magda's room. With a quick, fearful glance up and down the hallway, I opened her room door and let myself in.
I was about to turn on the light when a muffled snore emerged from her bed. Evidently Raymond had decided to wait for her here. I knew where the door to the bathroom had to be, and edged my way carefully through the room, but it was dark and impossible to navigate without running painfully into things. The third time I smashed my toe against a piece of furniture and uttered a smothered yelp, Raymond snorted, and groggily asked, "Honeycakes?"
I murmured something that I hoped sounded Magda-ish, and almost sighed with relief when the door to the bathroom opened easily. I closed the door behind me before turning on the light, hesitating for a moment as I considered locking it in case Raymond decided to follow me, but decided against such an action. It wouldn't be fair to keep Magda from using the room for a second night.
The bathroom had been cleaned up, so presumably the police were done with their forensics work. I eyed the spot where Anniki had lain, begging me for justice, and renewed my intention to fulfill her dying wish.
"If it was Kristoff that killed you, he won't go unpunished," I told the empty room.