Free Carolyn Arnold - McKinley 02 - Vacation is Murder by Carolyn Arnold

but…señorita—” He whistled at Sara.

     
    “If you would have let him kiss me, I would have killed you. Just having that man eyeball me,” tremors ran through her, “gave me the willies.”
    “As if I’d let him get close.”
    “I know you wouldn’t because you value your life.” Sara cast him a glare and he laughed.
    They took the stairs to the third floor, not that there was another option.
    “Here it is, Sean.” Sara stood beside the door marked 315 , her back to the wall.
    Sean knocked.
    They waited.
    He knocked again.
    There wasn’t a sound coming from inside. If Amelia and the man had come here, they weren’t in their room.
    Sean studied the door handle and made the quick observation that it didn’t have any fancy swipe-key apparatus. The locking mechanism dated back as far as the worn, tattered carpeting and the rest of the touches in the place.
    He held out his hand to Sara and she passed him the hat while she rooted through her purse.
    “Here you—” When she looked up, holding a hairpin, she burst out in laughter. Her hand snapped over her mouth to dampen the volume.
    “What?” He traced the brim of the sunhat and polished the movement with flare at the end. “I take it by your reaction the hat doesn’t suit me either.”
    “One could say that, but to use the word either would infer that it doesn’t look good on me. The man at our resort told me it suited me.”
    Sean shook his head. “Darling, we’ve been through this. He would have told you anything.”
    “You say that because you’re partial.”
    “I say it because it’s the truth, but it’s not time to build your ego.”
    She lolled her head side to side and mumbled, “I think anytime is good for that.”
    “I promise, when all of this is behind us, I will make up for lost time.”
    She took the hat from him while he slid the hairpin into the keyhole and wiggled it around until the door was unlocked. With the motion, his solar plexus heated. They were making progress in this case and they would soon know what awaited them in the room.
    He extended the pin to her.
    “No thanks. You can keep that.”
    Sean tucked it into a pocket.
    “You come in behind me,” he said.
    Sara followed and put her hand in his.
    The curtains in the room were a rusty orange and, with the sunlight behind them, it cast an orange aura on everything in the room.  “I used to like the color,” she said.
    Despite the sunlight coming through the fabric of the cheap window coverings, shadows cast about the room. The place was silent, not even a leaking tap, which surprised Sean in a place like this.
    They took the few extra steps into the main area. There was a double-sized bed off to the right, an old tube television on a dresser to the left, and in the middle was a spindle-backed chair—Amelia Wolfe’s blank gaze staring back at them.
    “We’re going to have to involve the police, Sean.”
    He ran a hand down his face, taking in what used to be a beautiful woman. This didn’t have to happen. Was it a result of their getting involved in something that they should have left for the authorities to handle?
    “She was shot in the forehead.” Sean paced around Amelia. A part of him wanted to shelter Sara from this, but her background gave her all she needed to manage what was before them. He had to remember that, despite his overwhelming urge to coddle her, just a month ago she was working murder scenes back in Albany.
    “What’s going on, Sean? First Earl goes missing, and now Amelia’s dead? How does it all tie together?”
    “What if it wasn’t Amelia who needed the fifty thousand, but this man instead? Maybe he put her up to it. We’ve already figured their connection traced back home. When she didn’t come through and get the money, he took it to the next step. I’d really like to know where Earl is.”
    “Me too.” Sara walked near to Amelia’s body and scanned the room, her eyes settling on the exploded pillow. “He must have used