Free Class Reunion of Murder by Vanessa Gray Bartal Page B

“What’s with the darkness?”
    “I can’t find the light. Where is it?” Jason said.
    “How should I know?”
    “It’s your hotel,” Jason accused.
     
    “I haven’t had time to sit down and memorize the light switches yet,” she replied. They fumbled in the dark until they found the string and pulled it. Anemic light filtered through the stuffy enclosure.
    “Is there anything else you’ve bought since we started dating? An airport or Laundromat, perhaps.”
    “I’m not keeping it,” she said. “I bought it, fixed it up, and now I intend to sell it.”
    “Oh, see, that makes it better. I thought maybe you bought it because you needed a place to live. Knowing that you bought it because you had a giant pile of cash sitting around and plans to flip it makes me feel loads better.”
    “You get upset when I tell you money things,” Lacy said.
    “I get upset when you don’t,” Jason said.
    “I can’t win. The money means nothing to me; it’s a means to an end. But you’re so touchy about it. I never know what I’m supposed to tell you and not supposed to tell you. I don’t want it to make you feel uncomfortable, so I pretend it doesn’t exist.”
    He swallowed down a retort and let out a sigh of frustration. “You’re right. The money thing is hard for me. I’ll work on it. In the meantime, you can’t not tell me things of this caliber. You bought a hotel, Lacy; that’s a big deal.”
    “It’s a very small hotel,” she said. She risked touching him. When he didn’t move away, she slid her hands from his chest to circle his neck.
    “It’s bigger than any hotel I own,” he said, but he was smiling. His fingers skimmed her waist. “How come you ignored me in there?”
    “I don’t think we should tell anyone about us yet,” she said.
    “Why not?” He regarded her through narrowed, suspicious eyes.
    Because you’re beautiful and I’ve regressed to full-blown ugly duckling. “Well, there’s the murder. I was thinking about motive. Who wanted Summer dead the most? That would be my group of friends. I can be your mole. I’m not sure they would accept me if they knew you and I were together; you’re one of them.”
    “Your thought processes are starting to make sense to me; that’s worrisome.”
    “Yes, and yours are becoming clear to me. I know you don’t want me to get involved in your case, and I know you don’t want me in danger. I’ll just keep my ear to the ground and see if anyone held an especially large grudge against Summer. I’ll liaise.”
    “Is that why you’re dressed like a sexy librarian?” he asked, motioning to her disarray.
     
    “Sure,” she said. She touched her palm to his forehead. No fever.
    “Why don’t you ever wear your glasses for me?”
    “Because they’re glasses,” she said. Why was it that the only people who found glasses attractive were those with perfect vision? She had spent most of her life trying to escape having four eyes. Now that she had contacts, she had no plans to ever go back.
    “This is how your hair looks after I’ve had my fingers in it for a long time. Are you trying to drive me crazy?”
    “I think you’re already there,” Lacy said. He advanced on her, but she leaned away. “Wait. Close your eyes.”
    He closed his eyes. She popped out her retainers and clasped them out of sight behind his back. “Okay,” she said.
     
    “What was that about?” he asked.
    “Wouldn’t you like to know?” she said.
    “So mysterious, Miss Steele.”
    “So delusional, Mr. Cantor,” she replied.
     
    Sometime later, they emerged from the closet together. Maybe if people knew she’d been having a tête-à-tête in the supply room, they would think that was why she was so disheveled. No such luck, though. There was no one around. Jason followed her toward her office to retrieve the electronic key information for the pool room.
    “Maybe I’ll get lucky and whoever killed Summer was stupid enough to use his own key,” he