Michael scrolled through the list of all female staff members that met the criteria Catherine established. Alena made the cut, so Michael wanted to talk to her again. He also wanted Sloane’s impression.
There were two women on the list who Michael hadn’t spoken to at all, though they’d been interviewed by Matt or Detective Fuentes on Friday. One worked in Housekeeping, and one was a bartender. Both in their early thirties and single and had worked at the resort for less than a year. And then Hope Davidson, who worked in the gym and saw Matt and Kara on Sunday morning.
He wanted to talk to them in their working environment.See what their reaction was when he and Sloane walked in. Nervous? Confused?
He knew that women could kill, but it was difficult to put any of these women into the murderous role of Reid’s partner.
The concierge returned. “Alena isn’t in her office and hasn’t answered her page. However, her assistant said she is somewhere on the property. Shall I have her reach out?”
Michael slipped him his card. “My cell number is on the back. I need to talk to her as soon as possible, and I’m happy to meet her anywhere at the resort.”
“As soon as she calls in, I’ll give her the message.”
Alena Porter spent all morning—on her day off—writing memos, changing protocols for security, and a very uncomfortable thirty minutes talking to the lawyer of the resort ownership group. Then she was late for her meeting with the event planner for a fiftieth wedding anniversary celebration two weeks from now.
Her head was spinning, and she worried she might just lose her job when this was over. They claimed she’d done everything right, but as her dad always said, shit rolled downhill.
And in the back of her mind, she couldn’t get that photo of the female maintenance worker out of her head. She knew that person, but she didn’t know why or how.
It wasn’t that sheknewthem, but she’d seen someone who looked just like her walking through the resort, and there was just something familiar about the memory that she couldn’t place.
The concierge texted her that the FBI wanted to speak with her again, and she said she’d be back at her office in an hour. She had nothing to add, and her vague feeling that shemightknow the woman in the image was just that... a feeling. Nothing she could articulate. Someone she saw in passing who was...
She felt an itch, sort of like the hair rising on the back of herneck but all over her body. She detoured from going back to her office and headed to the gym instead.
She’d seen that uniform, she realized. Sunday morning, it was in one of the lockers. She thought it was strange, but hadn’t really focused on it. Staff were allowed to use the facilities during their days off—it was a perk. And while they had programmable locks available for guests, no one on staff used them unless they had valuables.
She entered the locker room via the poolside entrance and went over to the locker where she had seen the uniform. If it was still here, she would definitely reach out to the FBI—they might be able to find evidence on it. But when she opened the door, it was empty.
“Alena, are you looking for something?”
Alena yelped, a hand to her chest, then laughed slightly when she recognized the woman. “Hope, you startled me!” She closed the door to the empty locker and said, “I thought I saw a uniform in here Sunday, and the FBI is asking questions about a woman in a maintenance uniform. Did you see it?”
“No,” Hope said.
“Have you talked to the FBI?”
“Yeah, twice now. Do you need something?”
“No, thank you. I’ll talk to the FBI about it, it’s probably nothing.”
“Good idea,” Hope said. “By the way, since you’re here, I wanted to show you something in the yoga room—we might need to get Maintenance in to fix the mini-fridge.”
“Just put in the work order,” Alena said.
“Well, I have an idea about that, not just a repair, but we might be able to do something fun with the area, something we did at one of my old gyms. But if you don’t have time...”
“Sure, since I’m here.” Alena followed Hope through the gym and into the yoga studio, which wasn’t currently in use. She only half listened to Hope’s idea, then said, “Sounds good,how about if you bring it up at the next staff meeting and if there’s a consensus, we’ll do it.”
“Great!” Hope reached into the refrigerator and took out two flavored waters. “Want one?”
“Thanks, it’s hot in here. Is there something wrong with the A/C?”
Hope unscrewed the cap. “No, it’s just from hot yoga this morning, though it’s almost back to where it’s supposed to be.” She motioned to the opposite wall, which listed the schedule each day. Alena never understood the allure of yoga, but their guests enjoyed the classes. “Should be comfortable in an hour for the next class.”
She took the water from Hope and drank half of it as they walked out into the gym. Hope walked behind the counter and Alena headed toward the hotel. She still felt hot from the yoga room. Maybe she was coming down with something.
Her phone vibrated and she saw a text from the concierge. But her eyes ached and her vision blurred momentarily. She would deal with the FBI tomorrow. All she wanted now was to take a nap, and pray she didn’t come down with a cold. Not when she had so much on her plate.
