Free Elisabeth Crabtree - Pink Flamingo Hotel 01 - Death by Pink Flamingo by Elisabeth Crabtree

was apparently laughing at me somewhere.
    Danielle spun on her heel and strode up to me. The naked fear that had covered her face only moments before had been replaced by raw fury. I stole a glance at Jesse, wondering what he had said to get her so riled up.
    “What did you do with her , Anna?” she asked.
    “I beg your pardon?” My heart caught in my throat as I noticed the police had chosen just that moment to arrive. Or at least one police officer. Ryan Taylor was standing at the front door. Catching sight of me, he smiled and waved his hand.
    I weakly waved back.
    “Sylvia,” Danielle answered with a sneer. “You did something to her and that’s why she’s not here. She doesn’t have any friends in Tallahassee. She doesn’t have any friends. Why don’t you admit that you killed her last night?” She looked up and around the lobby. “You must have hidden her body someplace.”
    I looked nervously around as the lobby began to fill with people, suddenly very interested in what Danielle was saying. Luke and Victoria had left the dining room the moment Danielle had begun her little tirade and were now standing next to Ryan, watching. A group of out-of-towners stopped to gawk on their way to the beach and hovered nearby. The dining room, which had up until then, been relatively noisy was suddenly quiet as diners strained to hear. Even my employees had stopped what they were doing to stare at Danielle and me.
    Krista took a step closer to me and shook her head disapprovingly as she whispered into my ear, “This is not the way to run a successful business, Anna.”
    “ Well, I didn’t exactly plan this, you know,” I snapped before turning to Danielle. “Danielle, let’s go into my office and talk privately.”
    Danielle, oblivious to the attention she was receiving, s napped her fingers. “I know. I bet you hid her body upstairs on the fourth floor.” Everyone’s gaze immediately turned toward the ceiling. “You could bury a body in that shag carpeting and never find them again. Hmm. That’s why you don’t want to rent those rooms out. It’s a perfect place to hide a corpse.”
    Horrified, I dropped my gaze from the ceiling to the two police detectives standing nearby, hanging on every word.
    Danielle must have caught my expression, because she looked over her shoulder. She turned back around with an evil little grin. Pointing at me, she raised her voice even louder as she announced to the whole room, “I saw her kill Sylvia last night. I saw Anna Hart strangle the poor woman with her bare hands in the garden.” Clearly proud of herself, she crossed her arms once again and raised her chin. When the two detectives didn’t rush forward, she flipped her hand in my direction. “Take her away.”
    I turned panicked eyes toward Jesse as Luke and Ryan began to slowly advance toward me.
    “You couldn’t have seen her kill anyone, Danielle,” Jesse said. “You just told me that you left the hotel at midnight last night and were staying at a friend’s house. Remember?”
    Danielle’s chin came down a few notches. “I … well, I lied to you.”
    “Really ?” he asked as he came to stand next to me. “And why would you do something like that?”
    “Because I … because … I just didn’t want you to know where I was.”
    Jesse wrapped his arm around my waist. “You’re lying, Danielle. Why don’t you admit that you’re angry with me? Angry that I ended our relationship. Angry that I’m now with Anna. You’re just trying to get back at her for something I did. Just admit it.”
    Danielle’s eyes narrowed. “Look, I know what I saw. I was here last night—”
    “Well, if that’s true and you were here, and you saw someone being murdered, then why didn’t you call the police?”
    Danielle hesitated . “Well, I just didn’t … It was dark. I didn’t know she had been murdered. I didn’t piece it all together until Sylvia didn’t show up this morning. That’s when things began to