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She laughed."It's six o'clock, Leo.I have a million things to do today."She walked into my office and dropped a paper in front of me.
"What's this?"
"The ad for a new event planner," she said."You told me you would start looking right away but you seem a little preoccupied, so I thought I'd help you out a little bit.All you have to do is approve it and it'll be online by noon."
My eyes flicked down to the paper and then back up at her."I'm sure it's fine.You know as well as I do what we need."
Roberta took the paper and tucked it into her portfolio.
"Is there anything else?"I asked when she didn't move away.
"Yes, there is," she said."You look like shit.Are you okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Have you slept?"
"Not lately."
"Leo, go home."
"No can do, Roberta."I clicked my computer off, aware that I hadn't even looked at it, and stood."I have things to do."
"Would those things involve a certain woman?"
Roberta rarely mentioned my personal life, and I never inquired about hers.It was an unspoken rule we had and an arrangement that worked well.I raised an eyebrow at her and said, "I think you know that's none of your business."I grabbed my Blackberry off my desk as I stood."I have a meeting with the banquet coordinator in an hour about the conference this weekend."
"I can handle it," Roberta said."You need some rest and if you don't mind—"
"I do mind."
"It's just that, if this is about that woman, you should know—"
"Roberta," I warned, "this isn't your business.Drop it."
"It's just, you should kn—"
"Enough," I barked at her and before she could say another word, I pushed past her and left her standing in my office.
I should've let Roberta take the meeting.It took forever.The representative for the jewelry group couldn't decide between cold or hot finger foods for cocktail hour and despite both the head of catering and myself urging her to choose a selection of both, she waffled for over an hour before finally selecting cold appetizers.Then details about the rest of the food needed to be worked out and it was a quarter to nine by the time I escaped the meeting room.
As soon as I was on the casino floor, I powered up my phone and checked messages.Lexi was probably wondering where I was.There were four messages.All from Roberta.Lexi hadn't called.
Something was wrong.It couldn't possibly take so long to tell someone their marriage was over.Unless...no...I wouldn't go there.
My stomach churned and for a moment I thought I was going to be sick.What could've happened?Andrew didn't seem like the violent type, but no one could predict what a man would do faced with the news Lexi was going to deliver.I should have insisted on going with her.She should never have gone alone.
My first instinct was to phone her room but I stopped short of dialing the number.If her husband answered, what would I say?And if I went upstairs myself...no.There were other ways to handle this.
I dodged and swerved through the blackjack tables and approached the front desk.
"Nancy," I said to the concierge on duty."I need you to send housekeeping to a guest room, please."
"Hi, Leo," she said and immediately turned to her computer screen."What's the room?"
"It's 6423."
She dutifully tapped away on the keyboard before turning to me."That room is vacant, Leo."
