Mean high tide by 1947- Hall James W.

Author:1947-, Hall, James W. ,
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Thorn (Fictitious character)
Publisher: New York, N.Y. : Dell Pub.
Published: 1995-01-29T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER

20

‘This is Peter Lavery,” Sylvie said. “He has a reservation, but it’s not till later on this week.”

Behind the curved marble counter, the registration clerk typed the name into the computer and stood back, watching the screen. He was a handsome kid of twenty-five or so, white shirt. Dark tan, blond hair trimmed neat, like a surfer gone legitimate.

‘*Now, that’s strange,” the kid said.

**Strange?” Sylvie was hugging Thorn’s left arm, nuzzling her nose into his shoulder. Playing the newly-wed. Thorn, seriously pissed, but riding it out.

**According to this, you already checked in, Mr. Lav-ery.”

**You sure about that?” Sylvie said, dropping Thorn’s arm.

‘Tes, ma’am, right here, Peter S. Lavery.”

**Great,” Thorn said. *The more Laverys, the merrier.”

In a bruised and far-off voice, Sylvie asked what

MEAN HIGH TIDE 229

room the other Lavery was in. The clerk apologized, but he wasn’t allowed to give out that information.

*‘Well, what time did he check in, can you fucking tell us that much?”

The clerk looked at her for a moment, then hit a couple of keys on his computer and said Lavery had checked in an hour ago.

Sylvie asked the kid where the house phone was and he pointed at a table near the distant wall, and she marched over to it. Heads turned to watch this skinny girl with her chain saw haircut, muddy boots, and Raiders jersey tromp past.

Thorn turned back to the counter and began to fill in the registration card. According to the kid, the last available room in the entire hotel was a suite with a Gulf view. Thorn said that would be fine and the clerk asked him for a major credit card.

‘Don’t even have a minor one,’ Thorn said.

**Then you’ll be paying cash?”

**Unless you’d barter for fishing flies.”

The kid smiled wanly.

‘*So, that’ll be two hundred and eighty-five dollars.”

‘^Christ, I don’t need it for the whole month.”

The kid improved on his smile. Yes, sir, he’d met his share of kidders, wealthy wackos with seven-inch fingernails and beards to their belt buckles. And he was trained to be polite to all of them. You never knew when one might turn out to be Mr. Ritz or Mrs. Carlton. So, by god, when you checked into this place, you got treated right, no matter which mental hospital you’d just escaped from.

* That’s two hundred eight>^-five dollars per night, sir.”

Thorn glanced around at the lobby.

‘*Hell, I’ve owned cars that cost less than that.”

‘*So you don’t want the room?”

230 JAMES W. HALL

Thorn looked over at Sylvie. She was sitting in a leather chair, curled around the phone receiver, her free hand shielding the mouthpiece. Completely focused on her conversation. He didn’t like this hotel, and sure as hell didn’t like Sylvie maneuvering him into this situation. But he had the very strong sense that he’d learn far more about the Winchester clan by placing along as Peter Lavery than by trying to strangle the truth out of them one by one.

For a moment, he had a painful glimpse of how Darcy might’ve felt li\ing with him.

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