The Girls on Floor 13: An utterly addictive crime thriller with a shocking twist (Detective Maria Miller) by Helen Phifer

Author:Helen Phifer [Phifer, Helen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Storm Publishing
Published: 2024-05-30T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

“Can you take me to the Plaza?” Maria was huddled in the front of the car. The heating blasted out, warming her bones that were both frozen and on fire at the same time.

“I thought you were stopping at the towers?”

“I don’t know where I’m stopping, but I have to speak to Henry the manager—like now.” She felt bad for snapping at Frankie but was too tired to argue with him. He must have realized, because he nodded and didn’t answer back.

Traffic was bad all the way there. She wanted to get this over with then go home to sleep for a while. Frankie pulled up to the curb, and she jumped out. “Wait here.”

He didn’t argue with her, and she knew he was a little put out at the way she’d talked to him. She’d make it up to him when she felt better.

The entrance was busy, there were tourists everywhere. She had to cut through them to get to the desk. She’d no idea if Henry would even be on duty. To her relief, she saw him talking to a guest. He spotted her, excused himself and rushed over to her.

“Ms. Miller, is everything okay? You don’t look so good?”

She shook her head. “My shoulder, it’s infected.”

The look of horror that crossed his face told her he was thinking about lawsuits and whatever else could be thrown the Plaza’s way. He took hold of her elbow and gently guided her to the manager’s office. “I’m so sorry, let me get you a medic.”

She held up her hand. “Henry, none of this is your fault and I’m not blaming the hotel. That’s not why I’m here.”

His shoulders dropped and he let out a sigh of relief.

“I need you to be honest with me. Did you check… was there a loose spring in that mattress?”

“I don’t know, Ms. Miller. I had it taken away and replaced immediately.”

“Not Ms. Miller. Maria, please. Can you show it to me? I need to see it.”

He nodded. “Yes, we can do that, of course. Come with me.”

He offered her his arm. Normally she wouldn’t have accepted, but she liked Henry, so she linked hers through his. “You have a fever, Maria, you’re burning up.”

“I know. I’ve had some Tylenol. It will be fine as soon as they kick in.”

He took her to the staff elevator and pressed the lower basement button. When the doors opened, the blast of cool air was a welcome relief. He led her along a corridor until he reached a door and swiped his card to get inside. The lights came on and she saw pallets of new mattresses stacked up. There was one mattress to the side without plastic sheeting around it and a note that read Penthouse taped to it.

“Maintenance left it here in case there were any repercussions.”

Maria walked across to look at it. The side facing her was perfect. Running her hand along the soft material, she could feel nothing sharp. There was clearly nothing sticking out of it.

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