Elisabeth Crabtree - Pink Flamingo Hotel 01 - Death by Pink Flamingo

Author:Elisabeth Crabtree [Crabtree, Elisabeth]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mystery: Cozy - Hotel Owner - Florida
Publisher: Elisabeth Crabtree
Published: 2014-06-06T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

I sat at one of the picnic tables near the end of the boardwalk next to a bunch of strangers as the police swarmed around the old pier. Every so often, I’d catch sight of Ryan or Luke in the distance. We all watched in rapt fascination, speculating on what was going on. The only difference between us was that I knew. I knew exactly what was happening. The police were looking for Sylvia’s body. Why else would they be down at the old pier at this time of night?

The only thing I didn’t know was what was taking so long. Hours went by as most of my fellow watchers left to go home. A voice in my head told me to go back to the hotel. Act natural. Pretend that everything’s okay. Only the guilty stick around to watch, it said, but I couldn’t tear myself away. Besides, I wasn’t guilty, I argued back. Someone else was.

I looked around, hoping to see someone familiar. Someone who could have killed Sylvia, but everyone around me was a stranger and as the night dragged on, they all left one by one. I waited, anxiously biting my nails, for the coroner to come or the police to find me, but absolutely nothing happened. One minute the police were there, and the next, they too were gone.

Somewhat surprised, I made my way to the hotel. It was well after midnight, closer to three and the only one awake was the night manager who looked up in surprise as I entered. “Your friend Jesse stopped by a few minutes ago,” Lizzie said. “He said he tried to reach you on your phone.”

I reached into my purse and pulled out my phone. Dead. I shoved the phone back in my purse and zipped it up. “Did he say what he wanted?”

“No, he said he was going out and that he’d be back in a few minutes. I think he was going to check out what was happening by the old pier.” She leaned forward and in a hushed tone, said, “He sure ducked out of here fast when the police showed up. What do you think they were looking for?”

I shrugged before deftly changing the subject, which was much easier to do with no-nonsense Lizzie than the dynamic duo I had been with earlier in the evening. She was filling me in on some minor problems that had come up, when Blake strolled up to the desk, wearing nothing but a bathrobe.

“Did you see all that excitement out there?” he asked excitedly. “Wow, I had a prime viewing location from my balcony. I saw it all. It was like watching an episode of CSI. They had dogs out there and everything.” He drummed his fingers on the desk and swung his hips to an imaginary beat as he babbled about what he saw. When he finally got to the end of his story, he took a deep breath and added, “Pretty interesting, huh?”

I nodded wearily before saying good night to Lizzie and walking to the stairs.

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