Free Death's Daughter by Kathleen Collins

you...” Juliana trailed off as she realized the man had never introduced himself.
    “Please call me Nicholas. Now, would you like me to show the rooms we have arranged for you, or would like to take your bags upstairs first?”
    She hefted the bags in her hands again, trying to get a better grip. Carrying an armory around got heavy fast. “Let’s get these upstairs. I’ll need a key for the back elevator as well.”
    “It’s already been arranged.”
    The main elevator to Thomas’s suite was the private one that ran straight up from the lobby. However, there was a back entrance that could be accessed by the service elevator. A key was necessary to access Thomas’s floor and a code was required to open the rear door. It would enable her to reach the other floors in the hotel without having to go down to the lobby just to catch another elevator.
    The concierge stopped at the counter as they passed by and grabbed two regular keys and a stack of key cards. After riding the private elevator up and dropping the bags off in Thomas’s suite, she followed Nicholas out the back door. He showed her how to use the key on the service elevator and took her down to the third floor.
    After a short trip down the hall, he used the other key on a set of double doors. He opened them and stepped aside. She couldn’t stop the smile that spread over her face. Leave it to Thomas to take her simple request and put his own particular spin on it. “A ballroom?”
    “It’s the smaller of the two in the hotel. It’s often used for conferences and the like.” He stepped into the room and to an inconspicuous box along the back wall. With a flick of a switch, a screen lowered along one wall. “I’ve taken the liberty of having a projector brought up already. What else might you require?”
    She glanced around the spacious room, suddenly grateful she wouldn’t be cramped in a little space with people she barely knew. There was enough area here for them to spread out and view all the evidence at once if they chose. The only thing in the room she was certain they wouldn’t require was the disco ball suspended from the ceiling. “We’ll need four long tables with ten to fifteen chairs. Several moveable whiteboards if you have any, the more the better. If not, don’t worry about it, I can have some sent here. And coffee, lots of it.”
    Nicholas nodded and handed her the key for the room along with the stack of key cards. “Rooms 401 through 404 have been reserved for your use. They are directly above here. I would appreciate it if no one but you maintains the key for this room as we normally don’t allow anyone but staff to possess it.”
    “I understand.” She paused and then added, “It seems odd that the ballroom and four rooms in row directly above it would all be open and not in use.” She knew very well the man must have put forth a great deal of effort to make it so.
    “That would be a most unusual circumstance indeed, Ms. Norris. Luckily I specialize in unusual circumstances.”
    She smiled. “What a coincidence. So do I. Thank you, Nicholas. For whatever you had to do to secure this for us.”
    He nodded once and turned to go.
    “One more thing,” she said, stopping him. “Once everyone gets here and we start working, no one comes in this room but me and my men.”
    He opened his mouth as if to argue and she held up a hand.
    “I understand what I’m asking and I understand it goes against everything ingrained in you if for no other reason that you’ll want to see to our needs. But it’s for the well-being of your staff.” She took a deep breath. “You’ve heard of the Thief?”
    His brow furrowed and he nodded.
    “We won’t have actual evidence or anything like that here because we’re not in a secure facility, but we will have copies of things, and photographs. Lots of photographs. No one here needs to see that. There will be someone stationed in the room at all times to make sure nothing is disturbed, but I