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“Okay,” Beth said. Where are you going next?”
Jessie looked at Ryan and could tell that he was on board with her plan, even before she said it.
“We’re going to Buhner’s office,” she said. “He wants to meet at 3 p.m., but we’re not doing that. He’s on our timetable now.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Jessie was restless and she knew why.
This was her first real case in months, and she’d lost a valuable skill in the interim: patience.
As much as she and Ryan wanted to get to Harrison Buhner’s office immediately, it wasn’t possible. Even using the siren and beacon, it had taken them almost forty minutes to travel from Century City to the downtown L.A. headquarters of Deluxe Hotels and Resorts.
Normally she would pass that anxious time by reviewing the case with Ryan or mentally checking out to give her brain a little break. But on this drive over, she couldn’t make herself let go of the simmering anger she felt at Buhner’s deception.
She tried not to let it color her view of him too much. Maybe there was a miscommunication. Maybe he had a legitimate reason for misleading them. But it was hard to give the man the benefit of the doubt, when he’d already seemingly lied to them.
Ryan pulled up into a loading zone spot in front of the tower that housed Deluxe’s offices, passing a phalanx of TV trucks. Jessie suspected they were hoping to get a comment from the new widower to the daughter of the first couple of 90s American sitcoms. As Ryan put his LAPD placard on the dashboard, Jessie got out and headed for the front door. He jogged to catch up to her.
“Let’s not announce our visit,” she told him as they pushed through the revolving entrance doors. “I don’t want to give this guy any kind of heads up. And I don’t want to give him a chance to run.”
They were approaching the bank of elevators when they were met by a security guard who had dashed over to meet them.
“Hold on, folks,” said the guard, a thin guy in his thirties who didn’t look like he could secure much of anything, “I need you to go back and sign in at the front desk. Then we’ll want to confirm your appointment with whoever you’re visiting.”
Jessie worried Ryan might cave and explain where they were going and why, which could give Buhner warning if the guard called up to his office. But she should have known better.
“No,” Ryan said bluntly as they stepped in the just-arrived elevator, holding out his badge and ID as silent explanation. “We’ll sign in when we come back down.”
The doors closed on the befuddled face of the guard. Jessie turned and gave Ryan a firm kiss on the lips.
“What was that for?” he asked, pleasantly surprised.
“You’re the sweetest man I know,” she whispered, “but sometimes it gives me a little jolt when you’re more naughty than nice.”
He smiled sheepishly.
“Making a mental note of that,” he told her.
The elevator doors opened on the thirty-fourth floor of the thirty-five-story building, and they stepped out into the lobby, which was clearly designed to look like the reception area of one of their hotels. They moved toward one of the three front desk receptionists, who were all wearing Deluxe Hotels & Resorts uniforms.
“How may I help you?” asked the young woman with dark, curly hair and an aggressively bold smile plastered across her face.
“We’re here to see Harrison Buhner,” Ryan told her.
“Okay,” she said, typing on her keyboard, “and do you have an appointment?”
“We do, for 3 p.m.,” he replied.
“You’re a little early,” the receptionist, whose nametag read “Tina,” said, looking at the clock on the wall, which read 1:14 p.m.. “Why don’t I check in with his office and see when he’ll be available?”
“Actually, Tina,” Ryan countered, holding out his badge and ID, “we’d like to meet with him now.”
“Oh, okay,” Tina said, rattled. “Give me a moment and I’ll have his assistant come out and escort you there.”
“I think we’d prefer if you just led us directly there,” Ryan instructed. “I’m sure your co-workers here can handle the reception desk without you for a couple of minutes.”
“Of course,” Tina said as professionally as she could under the circumstances. “Please just follow me.”
