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To be honest, I wasn’t at all sure I wanted to get used to it. And speaking of shock...
My eyes roved the lobby, which seemed to be drowning in an almost tangible tension, then flicked out to the two men standing behind a barricade, just a short distance from the raging mob.
Nick was talking to James, speaking in a fast-paced clip too low for anyone around them to hear. Twice, James nodded in a daze, his mind a million miles away. Then, he looked up sharply, unwilling to commit to whatever Nick was saying, but Nick held firm, and a second later, they both headed inside.
“That was fast,” Nick muttered the second he’d reached me and Abby. He planted a quick kiss on his wife’s cheek before glancing back to the frenzy of cameramen threatening to break through the barricade. “I wonder who tipped them off.”
Abby nodded grimly. “Probably someone at the hospital or maybe Ben’s hospice worker. I know they did their best to be careful, but with that many people around, someone was bound to talk. For all we know, it could’ve been one of Rob’s people.”
Rob? Ben? The nicknames caught me by surprise, and it took a second for me to recall that Abby and Nick actually knew them. In fact, they knew them both quite well.
“I’m sorry,” I heard myself saying before I even made any conscious decision to let those words tumble out. “Benjamin Cross,” I was quick to explain, “you, uh...knew him. It’s a terrible thing, and I’m very sorry for your loss.”
Abby bowed her head to the ground while Nick gazed thoughtfully out the window.
“He was a good man, actually a lot like James.” His voice faltered a moment, and he dropped his eyes to the floor. “I can’t believe he’s actually gone.”
Abby stepped quickly forward to take his hand.
“James?” I stood up on my toes and craned my neck to peer out over the lobby crowd, searching for that telltale mop of dark, luxurious hair. “James! Where are you?”
Nick was quick to pick up on the hunt while Abby frowned and speed-dialed him on her phone. A second later, she slipped it back in her pocket. “Voicemail,” she said, looking decidedly worried. “Nick, didn’t he come in with you? I saw you both heading this way together.”
“I thought so, but he musta doubled back.” Nick’s dilated eyes scanned the area with a predatory efficiency, only to come up blank every time. “Shit! I shouldn’t have let go of him!”
I’d learned that those who grew up under the spotlight learned to live by a certain set of rules, and they harbored a rare protective streak not often found in others. Nick and James operated as a team. When life threw a little more at them than they were able to handle, one always had unspoken permission to check out while the other instinctively took the reins. This was most definitely James’s turn to break down, and as such, it was Nick’s sworn duty to hold at bay any forces that would disrupt that deserved breakdown.
“Shouldn’t have let go of him?” Abby repeated in disbelief. “Babe, c’mon. You can’t keep a literal hand on him at all times. It’s a miracle you got him past that rope line. Now just calm down and think for a second. When James is upset, where does he go?”
“Switzerland,” Nick responded instantly. Then, when Abby and I shot him equally incredulous looks, he lifted his hands defensively. “What? He likes the cider.”
Abby pursed her lips with endless patience. “Isn’t there somewhere a little closer, perhaps in the same country?”
Nick thought for a moment, then turned his head toward the door. “The Dorchester,” he said softly. “He and his dad loved booking the penthouse there on the weekends. If I was him, that’s where I’d be now.”
I knew the room well, and I also knew Nick was right. It was a brilliant idea, yet another place kept tugging at the corner of my mind, like a persistent voice, whispering in my ear. “Check there,” I said quickly, flipping up the collar on my coat at the same time. “I’ve got another idea, so I’ll check it out, just in case.”
“What idea?” Nick asked quickly as he and Abby turned to me in surprise, as if they couldn’t fathom anyone knowing Nick better than they did. “Did he tell you where...” He trailed off as his wife lay a silencing hand on his arm, her eyes dancing with a knowing smile.
“Let her go,” Abby said softly. “Four eyes looking are better than two, right? I’ll stay here in case he decides to come home.” She glanced at the swelling, screaming throng just outside the window and let out a resigned sort of sigh. “Hopefully, one of you will find him before those vultures get to hack off a piece for themselves.”
Nick glared through the window and shook his head, but I followed her gaze with a stab of fear. She’s right. The second we step out, they’re gonna be all over us. Unless...
In the blink of an eye, I shed my coat, opting for Max’s discarded blazer instead. In an instant, the sunglasses were on, my hair was stashed safely away, and, just for good measure, the cap of a passing bellboy was pilfered and smashed squarely over my head. “There. Perfect,” I said as I spun around for Nick’s and Abby’s approval.
“That’s...interesting,” Abby said with a great deal of restraint.
“Amateur at best,” Nick scoffed under his breath.
“Hey!” She smacked his arm. “I was an amateur once too.”
“You never wore a hotel cap.”
I blushed but paced quickly toward the door. “It’ll be fine. You can get me on my cell, and we’ll come back straightaway if I find him...or even if I don’t. I’m sure he’ll want to—”
“Della?”
I glanced back and saw them both staring at me with the same patient smiles.
