Free Messenger of Death by Alex Markman Page B

reveal the lobby. Two
busy clerks stood behind the reception desk at the far end, while
Shelly sat on a cozy sofa a few steps away, conversing leisurely
with two men.
    “What took you
so long?” was Shelly’s immediate reaction. She was pink from the
drinks and the warmth of the hotel. With a sly smile, she added, “I
think you were having a good time by the bed of that sick man.” Her
sly, mischievous but pleasant grimace was the reflection of her own
intriguing suspicion.
    Camilla did not
respond, giving a brief glance around.
    “Now, let’s
rush. Stanley and his friends are gonna pick us up in an hour.”
    Shelly leapt
up. With ringing laughs, see-you-soon promises, and eyes shining,
the girls departed. Shelly was excited; so was Camilla. She,
however, was hiding her mood beneath a quiet demeanor.
    “Weird guys,”
Shelly expressed her unsolicited opinion when they got to their
room. “We’d better stay away from them.”
    “We don’t have
to marry them,” Camilla objected. “Dinner in a restaurant is not an
engagement.”
    She turned on
the TV, trying not to listen to her friend’s conversation about
marriage and dinner.
    According to
the local news, the weather was expected to continue to be cold and
overcast for another two days. However, the chairlifts at Mont
Tremblant would be open. In the actual newscast, the announcer said
that the local police had been informed about an Iron Ghosts biker
club gathering in one of the hotels at the ski resort. In a related
story, a brawl had broken out in one of the bars with a local gang,
associates of the Devil’s Knights. The news concluded with a
warning about an approaching snowstorm.
    Camilla dodged
questions about the sick man, skillfully diverting the conversation
to other topics, such as how good looking the guys were who had
kept Shelly company. The diversion worked.
    Stanley picked
them up in the lobby exactly at 8 o’clock. The girls settled
comfortably into the rear seat of a large jeep and looked out the
windows in silence. A dense mass of trees edged the narrow road,
which wound in steep curves up the hill. Occasional snowflakes
swirled leisurely through the headlights. There was no traffic on
this seemingly deserted road.
    The car reached
the top of the hill where a large building stood, its windows
ablaze with bright lights from inside. Stanley pulled up close to
the entrance and led the girls through the lobby and two large
halls. The entire place was richly decorated and packed with
well-dressed, smiling people. Elegant furniture, china, crystal
glasses, and sparkling flatware added to the ambiance of this
opulent place. When they entered the dining room, a huge picture
window stretched from floor to ceiling like a glass wall, providing
the view of a fenced courtyard, lit by outdoor lamps all around
it.
    “Here we are,”
Stanley said, pointing to a table by the window. The two men who
had kept Shelly company in the hotel sat there with one vacant
chair between them.
    “Sit down with
us, Shelly,” one of them invited with a smile.
    Camilla took
the nicest place at the far end, where she could observe the
snow-covered land outside as well as the warm aura of the dining
hall. On her right sat Stanley. Shelly settled between the two men,
all pink cheeks and shining eyes, happy to be the center of
attention.
    A large table
further down the hall was apparently made up of a few smaller ones
that were joined together to accommodate a party of ten men in
their late thirties and early forties. Tough-looking guys, they
studied everyone around with hostile suspicion.
    “Some water?”
Stanley asked. Camilla paid attention to his hand, which was
holding a jar. She saw an interesting ring on his finger: a weird
emblem surrounded by small diamonds.
    “Yes, please,”
she said, studying the hands of the two guys across the table. They
wore similar rings.
    “Anything
wrong?” Stanley asked, filling up her glass.
    “You all have
weird rings,” she said.