Hit and Run by Blair Howard

Author:Blair Howard
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blair Howard

19

6pm Tuesday, June 12

I took the envelope with the money for the mystery caller down to the front desk, then returned to the room. Kate arrived from her walk a few minutes later.

“Nice walk?” I asked.

“The best,” she replied. “Would you like a drink? I’m going to have one.”

“Sure. See what kind of scotch they keep in the minibar.”

“Dewar’s,” she said. “Will that do?”

“Sure. Dewar’s is as good as any. Do we have any ice?”

“I’ll go and get some.” And she did.

She was back a few moments later and mixed us both a drink, then we went out onto the balcony, sat down at the table and looked out at the beach and the ocean.

“It’s so beautiful here,” Kate said. “Why don’t we move to Florida and buy a house on the beach?”

“It’s a nice idea,” I said, “but kind of impractical, don’t you think? I have a business to run.”

“You could move it down here. They would love it—”

I heard the room door open. So did Kate. Our years of training kicked in and we leapt to our feet.

There was a thump and a hissing sound as something hit the floor. The door closed again. I ran into the room. It was already full of acrid smoke and flames were rising from the far side of the bed. I grabbed a towel from the back of a chair, held it over my mouth and nose, and ran to the bed, my eyes streaming, to see an emergency roadside flare erupting in red fire and sparks. The carpet had already burned through, and the bedcover was burning fiercely, smoke billowing from it.

“Kate!” I shouted. “Stay back!”

I ran to the flare, tried to pick it up, fumbled it and burned my hand. It rolled under the edge of the bed. I dropped to one knee, reached under the bed and grabbed it as the flames from the bedcover scorched my bare arm. Crying out in pain, I turned and leapt to my feet, holding the sizzling flare.

“Kate, move aside!”

I threw the flare out through the open sliding doors, over the balcony. It spiraled, end over end, down onto the hotel gardens below. I turned back to the bed and was about to grab the burning bedcover when the fire system kicked in and the overhead sprinkler dowsed everything with water, extinguishing the burning bed.

I ran back out onto the balcony, choking and coughing from smoke inhalation. I leaned over the rail, coughing uncontrollably. Kate stepped to my side and began beating my back with the flat of her hand. It worked. I stopped coughing, took several deep breaths to clear my lungs, turned to her and said, “What the hell was that about? I must have really pissed somebody off.”

It wasn’t but a couple of seconds later that the room door burst open and the concierge rushed in with a fire extinguisher in his hand.

“Are you all right?” he shouted as he ran under the sprinkler toward the balcony. “The fire department is on the way.

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