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“Just curious. I thought he would have spent the day in bed, after what he went through.”
“He said he was here to use the spa. Thought it would help him feel better.”
“I hope it did.”
When Teddy had run into Matthew last evening, Matthew had given Teddy the impression he’d only been at the hotel for a short time. If he’d spent the afternoon at the hotel spa, why hadn’t he said so?
Something wasn’t adding up.
But there was a way Teddy could find the answers. He would just have to wait a bit before he could check.
???
Peter leaned out from his monitor. “One more time.”
Teddy and Logan returned to their starting positions, out of the camera frame.
“Action,” Peter called.
Teddy sprinted to the parked car and yanked the door open. As he climbed in, Logan raced into the shot.
“Storm! Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“I’ll be back. I promise. But there’s something I need to do first.”
Logan brandished a gun. “The only thing you need to do right now is get out of that car.”
Teddy started the vehicle. “If you’re going to shoot me, then shoot me. Otherwise, get out of my way.” He shifted the car into reverse and looked behind him.
“Cut!” Peter shouted. “Perfect. Excellent work, gentlemen.”
Normally, Teddy would watch a replay of the scene, but between his unanswered questions about Matthew and the clock clicking down on Rebecca’s life, he had no time to spare.
He gave Peter a wave and headed to Mark Weldon’s trailer.
Before being called to the set earlier, he’d begun searching through hotel security footage from the previous day, looking for signs of Matthew. Before it was time to film his scene, he’d only had time to establish Matthew’s lunchtime arrival and how he subsequently ran into Ben in the lobby.
Now back at his laptop, he picked up the search where he’d left off. The first thing he confirmed was that after Matthew left the restaurant, he had remained at the hotel. He did not go to the spa, however.
Switching between camera feeds, Teddy followed Matthew, after he parted with Ben, through the building and into a side corridor, where he stopped in front of adoor markedstairs. Matthew looked both ways, clearly checking that he was alone, and then entered the stairwell.
It took Teddy a minute to locate the feeds of the cameras covering the stairwell and pick up Matthew’s trail again. To Teddy’s surprise, Matthew went all the way up to the roof exit, which had a sign on it that reademployees only.
Matthew removed something from his pocket and waved it over the pad next to the door. When he pushed the door handle, the door opened, and he stepped outside.
“Huh,” Teddy said.
Matthew apparently had a keycard. Which was odd, given that Teddy was sure he wasn’t staying at the hotel. And even if he was, Teddy was willing to bet every cent he’d ever made working in Hollywood that the keycards hotel guests received wouldn’t open that door.
How did Matthew end up with a keycard that granted him access to places only authorized employees could go?
Teddy thought about the video of Matthew hunched in front of the entrance to Billy’s suite. Matthew had said the door had been ajar, but his actions hadn’t matched the description. His actionsdidmatch that of someone with a master keycard, however. And if that were the case, Matthew must have known the suite hadn’t belonged to Kordo but was, in fact, Billy Barnett’s.
Which begged yet another question: How would he know that?
Teddy tried to find any cameras on the roof, but there were none. So, he did the next best thing and sped through the footage that covered the roof doorway, searching for the moment Matthew reappeared. He was beginning to think Matthew must have used a different way down, when Matthew finally reentered the stairwell.
Teddy checked the time stamp. He had left the roof approximately five minutes before Teddy had run into him in front of the hotel last evening. Meaning he’d been on the roof for approximately three hours.
