Blue Room Confidentials: Vol. 3 Read online

  “Sure,” I say. “Anything else, Miss Mysterious?”

  “I’ll let you know,” she says. She’s still so abrupt. “I took a look on the footage on your phone. Good idea you had there, about setting up an indoor makeshift surveillance camera in that room, hooked up to your phone, to keep an eye on all the comings and goings here. And on Ben – or Rick – or whoever he really was. I’d suggest a higher-tech camera system for next time – there was a problem with the lighting that I think might have made your life harder – but I have something to show you, Xander, and Staci, tonight.”

  “That was fast.” I’m almost nervous. What other secrets might Skyla have uncovered? “Did you figure out what happened?”

  “I figured out something,” Skyla says. “I don’t want to say too much now. It might be nothing. It might be everything. Maybe it’s just a hunch – I don’t know. But I think there’s a good chance that there’s something to my theory. After I get through talking to each of the girls who works here today I think I’ll have more to go on.”

  I laugh a little. “We should have hired you earlier,” I admit sheepishly.

  “That’s what they all say.” Skyla winks. “Now, I’ve got to get to these interviews.”

  “I’ll call everyone together tonight. Should we meet here in this room?”

  “Mmm,” Skyla nods and starts to take out her laptop as I leave the room. In the hallway I come across the first blue Girl on her way to be interviewed by Skyla. It’s a girl I recognize.

  “Hi Terrence,” she giggles. “You probably don’t remember me, but…”

  “Of course I do. Crystal, right?”

  “Yeah! You remember!”

  How could I forgot? Crystal’s a fun, sweet girl – a little ditzy, sure, but with a good heart. She’s one of those girls who would do anything to please. A steady Blue Girl, no major drama or issues. She was also only five years older than I was, which was a little weird once I found out she was one of my stepdad’s favorites at the Blue Room before I put a stop to that. I watch her enter Skyla’s makeshift office and then enter Xander’s office. He’s sitting like a big shot business guy at his swivel chair.

  “So,” Xander says. “How’s it going with the Detective? The Blue Room spooked yet?” he asks.

  “The staff was surprised at first,” I admit. “But everyone seems to be cooperating.”

  “And what about Skyla Strong? How’s she? You think she’s going to be able to help us find Jaymie?”

  “I don’t know,” I admit. “But the truth is that she seems to know what she’s doing.” I notice a certain look in his eyes. “You really care about Jaymie, huh?”

  Xander hesitates a moment. Something about his tone jars with me. “Yeah,” he says. “Of course I do. She disappeared on our watch. So she’s our responsibility. She was a Blue Girl – and we take care of our Blue Girls. All of them.”

  “Are you sure that’s all it is? I mean, Jaymie’s a hell of a beautiful woman!”

  “Careful,” Xander arches an eyebrow. “Staci chose you. It’s time for you to close that wandering eye of yours – if you want to be worthy of her.”

  I laugh. “Don’t worry. Staci has all of me. I haven’t got any baggage from my past to burden her with.”

  Xander looks up sharply. “What do you mean by that? Be clear with your implications, if you’re going to make them.”

  “Oh,” I say. “I just know – I just know that after Marina…things have been hard for you, that’s all. It’s why you’ve never remarried after all these years? Danny told me everything. He lost someone, too, so he knows what it’s like – why it kept you away from any Blue Enterprise dealings for all those years – depression does that to a person, I guess. It’s why you were never close with any other Blues. Even us. When Clarence fell into a coma – suddenly you came back here and got in touch with us again…”

  “What does this have to do with anything?” I’ve clearly irked Xander. “Why are you bringing this up now?”

  “Because,” I say. “I’ve been doing a little digging of my own, dear uncle. I wanted to find out more about the people who wanted my fiancé gone – to make sure she wouldn’t get in the way of whoever else could inherit all that sweet Blue and Tannenbaum moolah.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “You never told me Gloria Tannenbaum adored you. Called you “godson”. Wanted you to inherit the Tannenbaum fortune.”

  At last he knows I know. I’ve got him where I want him.

  Xander swallows hard.

  “I knew you’d find out,” he says. “Sooner or later.”

  “I can’t believe you kept this a secret.”

  “I didn’t. Not from Staci.”

  “Staci knows?” I’m flabbergasted.

  “The second I found out Gloria’s target was Staci – I turned away from her. By then, I knew Staci. I cared for her. I loved her. I would never have let anyone hurt her. And Staci knows my connection with her already. It’s a source of great shame and great pain to me. It’s why…it’s why…”

  It hits me then.

  “It’s why Staci chose me, isn’t it?” The knowledge is too shattering for words. “My my my. And I didn’t even have an inkling of your Tannenbaum ties, Uncle. Not until I figured out the connection between Roni, Gloria, and Staci and the Blue Room.”

  “If you know that, then you know the real danger Staci’s in. She’s inherited all Gloria’s mess – and all her dangerous partners.”

  “So that’s why you want to help Jaymie? To help Staci?”

  “It’s no secret that I still care for Staci,” Xander says stiffly. “I would help her any way I can. But since it’s also tied to Gloria’s business dealings, the situation’s even more delicate...”

  “Because Gloria left you a percentage, didn’t she? A small one, but still significant. You have a stake in her businesses too. Even to the end, she thought of you as her own. Interesting indeed…””Were you?”

  “What?”

  “You were only Clarence’s half-brother. Same father. Different mother.”

  “It wasn’t Gloria Tannenbaum, if that’s what you’re implying,” says Xander. “No, my mother was Gloria’s secretary. Gloria was fond of her – like a daughter. Guess that’s how my mother ended up being with Clarence Blue’s father – um – my father, a man who knew Gloria. Was good friends with Gloria, enough that she became a godmother to me, too.”

  “So you’re the mysterious other Tannenbaum heir. Good to know. I won’t deny I’m not jealous.”

  “Of the money?” Xander scoffs. “You have more money than you’ll ever need. We both do.”

  “No,” I admit. “Because you’ll be forever tied in with Staci.”

  “I can see why you’re worried,” Xander gives me a dark grin. “So – you’re here to tell me you’re going to tell Staci about me being the mysterious part owner?”

  “The last thing I want is Staci getting more involved with you than she already is.”

  “So why are you here, then? What do you want?”

  “We may know what happened to Jaymie and Ben tonight. Detective Strong called a meeting. Tonight at 8 in her office – the small boardroom. She has a lead.”

  “I’ll be there,” says Xander. “I’m curious to see what she’s got.”

  Chapter 7

  Xander

  At eight pm sharp, I walk straight into the boardroom. There’s a lot to get done, I know, and my stomach is still clenching like a fist. Not knowing what’s going on – what’s happening to Jaymie, where she is, what Ben or Rick or whoever the hell he really is really wanted, is getting tiresome and taking its toll. I need to know the truth. I hunger for the truth the way some men hunger for bread. But once again we’re plunged into the same old mire of the Blue Room, the same old despair. Skyla, her sharp dark eyes flashing with intelligence, is working on her laptop, trying to connect one of the old Blue Hotel projectors into her modern Macbook Pro.

  “Damn,” she whispers s
oftly, her caramel lips moving into a gentle pout.

  “Here,” I say, as helpfully as I can. Let me help you out. The projectors are as old as Methuselah in here – nobody ever uses this conference room. We never need projectors. I remember setting things up back when I first came here to help Clarence out…I worked the front desk on the hotel side of the Blues Towers…”

  Skyla looks up at me with big doe-eyes, an expression of interest forming within them. She smiles up at me, and I realize with a jolt she wants me to tell her more. After the disappointment of losing Staci I hadn’t expected any woman to be interested in me again, and it’s a shock and a relief to realize this beautiful woman is hanging on my every word.

  “You, a Blue, a mere front desk clerk?”

  “You have roll up your sleeves and do the job no matter how big or small when you run a company, and the boys – Terrence and Danny were already in over their heads trying to jump into Clarence’s secret pet project,” I say. “I have to admit, I’m not familiar with running a gentleman’s high end club like the Blue Room. Nor a hotel, which it really is, so Blue or not, I needed to know how it worked – from the inside out.”

  “Well, that explains a lot,” Skyla says, grinning.

  “Like what?”

  “How Xander Blue became one of the youngest billionaires in the United States. You must have all the ladies aflutter.”

  I flush and look down. I was a playboy, once, I think. Before Staci. Before all that’s happened between us. “A billionaire – and a handsome one to boot.”

  I take her in: her lovely, elegantly sculpted features, her high cheekbones, her luminous dark skin.

  “Well, Detective Strong,” I try to play it cool. “You’re not so bad yourself.”

  She laughs a bit. “You flatter me,” she says. Then, in a low voice. “I heard the whole story from Danny,” she says. “You. Staci. Terrence. I’m sorry. It must be hard.”

  “Um…thanks,” I’m not sure what else to say. “I’m fine, really.”

  “Between you and me,” she says. “I think she made the wrong choice. But what do I know about people? I’m just a detective.” She gives a laughing shrug.

  “You do get to the facts pretty fast, don’t you?” I can’t suppress a bitter chuckle. “And I can’t say I don’t trust your judgment – at least when it comes to men.”

  “I have eyes, Mr. Blue. And they come in handy for a lot of things. Pulling up figures and numbers. Getting information. Going beyond what the CIA, the FBI, the police department can find. Finding the dirt that people don’t even tell themselves. That’s what makes a good PI.”

  “So, you have dirt on me, too, do you?”

  She raises an eyebrow. “Like you wouldn’t believe.”

  “But it doesn’t make you like me any less.”

  She winks at me. “Far from it. Some very…compromising photos. Flattering, too. They say the camera adds ten pounds. But in your case, I think it added a few inches.”

  I can’t help it. I blush. “Oy,” I sigh. “I thought those were long gone.”

  “Nothing’s ever fully gone,” says Skyla. “Whatever’s hidden, it soon comes to light. Nothing you can do about that. What drunken frat boys want to forget, I make sure they never do. I can pull up anything. Even your godmother Tannenbaum couldn’t hide the files she wanted to hide well enough from me.”

  “So you know all about me and Gloria, then?” I say with a sinking heart.

  “Not all,” Skyla says. “There’s always more to know about these things. Just the surface – what I could get from records. But what I don’t understand is how you no longer had anything to do with her in the final months of her life. That’s what I want to know about. From the time you met a certain someone whose name rhymes with Lacey.”

  “Isn’t it obvious why?” I sigh. “Do we really have to go into it?”

  “So. Gloria doesn’t know she has a granddaughter. She leaves part of her fortune to her son – who leaves it in turn to his daughter. And part of her fortune to you.”

  “What are you getting at?”

  “Either you’re Staci’s best friend or her very worst enemy,” says Skyla. “Now that I’ve met you, I see you really fell for her. So you must be the friend, I assume. Which clears you as a suspect.”

  “I could have told you that myself,” I laugh. “Without the need for an investigation.”

  “Who’s to say I’d have believed you?” Skyla rolls her eyes. “You would have said that in either way. And Staci wouldn’t have to worry about you – though your family background means you did have every reason to want her safely out of the way.”

  “That background,” I say stiffly, “cost me everything. It cost me Staci’s love. As long as I live I can never forgive myself for the way things turned out…”

  “Which brings to mind…” Skyla looks up. “Speak of the devil.” Terrence is walking into the room.

  “Who, me?” Terrence says with mock insouciance. “What about me? You guys were talking about me? I hope it was all good things.”

  “Not exactly,” Skyla begins. “You’ve got some records I’m sure you’d rather keep buried. A stint in jail for a few nights for drunk and disorderly conduct. A pretty limited employment record, all on Daddy’s dime. Some pretty racy films – a side career in a few adult erotic films that circulated the Internet. A bit of a name for yourself – or at least, a bit of a name for Ryder Hard.”

  I stifle a snort.

  “After your first visit to the Blue Room as a client – rebelling against your stepfather – Ryder Hard was born.”

  “Wow…” Terrence looks incredibly uncomfortable. I’m secretly pleased.

  “So I guess you have some work experience after all,” I say dryly.

  “I used a pseudonym,” Terrence looks like a sulking teenager. “And everyone was clean – we were always safe. I did it to spite my stepfather, to get back at him for cheating on my mother, for going to the Blue Room while still married to her. Anyway, I regret it. I just hope Staci never finds out…”

  “Find out what?” Staci and Danny are striding into the boardroom.

  “Uh…” Terrence looks from me to Skyla to Staci and back again. “Minor stuff. Embarassing stuff. I’ll tell you later. But first I think Skyla should tell everyone what she found out from the footage from the room.”

  “That was fast,” says Danny.

  Terrence is saved by the film.

  “I’m a pro,” Skyla says, shooting Danny a withering look. “Plus, I don’t waste time banging club owners to get my sources. I use actual detective work, not what’s between my legs.”

  “Excuse me?” Staci has turned bright red.

  “Case over at the Crimson Red Hotel. Some reporter agreed to a BDSM arrangement with the owner of a sex club just to get access to a story, interview club members undercover. I’d never do something like that. I think she got the short end of the stick, personally. You need detachment to do this job, not to get involved undercover…”

  “How dare you…” Staci sounds like there’s smoke coming out of your ears.

  “What’s it got to do with you, hon?” Skyla looks perplexed. “I told you – it happened down the road. Nothing to do with Blue Enterprises in the slightest.”

  “So what did you find?” Danny drawls. “Sorry, but I’ve got to get going. We’re playing in England tonight and we need to catch a flight…”

  “Then let’s get straight to it,” says Skyla. “Everyone, take a seat, and someone grab the lights.”

  She turns on the project. Onscreen, her laptop screen shows the footage Terrence took of the shadow in Ben’s room. The bright light and then the disappearance.

  “See here?” She backs up to a spot on the footage where there’s a reflection: a glimmer in the mirror off to the side of the dresser by the bed. “There’s a mirror here. And one here. Do you notice anything straight?

  “Yes…” Staci seems to have cooled off. “It looks like the numbers on the alarm clock
next to the bed are backwards.”

  “Which means…” Skyla prompts her.

  “We’re….” Staci thinks hard for a second. “Looking at a mirror?”

  “Shit!” Terrence leaps to his feet. “So we weren’t looking at Ben at all. Just a reflection.”

  “Which means…” I start putting two and two together in my head. “Ben was capable of being away from the bed while we were left thinking we were watching him safely sleep.”

  “So he could have gotten up and tampered with the camera while we think he’s still sleeping in the bed.” Danny puts his head in his hands. “This is crazier and crazier.”

  “That figure…that flash of light…” Staci purses her lips. “So it was all an illusion the whole time?”

  ‘Nobody else was there,” I say. I’ve figured it all out now. “The only person in the room was that shadow figure – Ben in dark clothing. He faked his disappearance to make us think he’d vanished, but he was hiding when you got there. He figured we’d search the room for him, and he was right. Once we opened the lock on the door he would be able to rush us and run away, taking one of us hostage.”

  “But was she a hostage?” Staci asks. “Was this an accident at all? I don’t think so. In fact, I think it’s a a very safe bet to say that maybe Jaymie Wakely was part of Ben’s plan to escape – once his original plan went down the drain.”

  “So Jaymie is his accomplice?” Danny looks confused. “That can’t be. She’s on our side.”

  “See for yourself.” Skyla jots something down on the piece of paper in front of her.

  I take the paper and read what Skyla has written. An address.

  “Jaymie. Here?”

  “Unless they’ve packed up and moved,” says Skyla.

  “I don’t understand…” Staci says. “Why would Jaymie betray us?”

  “Why does anyone betray anyone?”

  I remember Jaymie, Ben, that one night I saw them together. What was their relationship, really?

  “Jaymie and Ben – they’re connected,” I say. “I don’t know if it’s romantic or something else – but I saw Jaymie and Ben together the night of her first patron assignment. They seemed to be arguing about something. I was trying to investigate it on my own, to get as close as I could to the truth. But what connection do they have to each other?”