The Fixes (27 page)

262.

Maybe it's the way
falls.

Maybe it's the way his head bounces off the hardwood.

   Or maybe Jordan's just that strong.

       Either way,
goes down.

He doesn't get up.

263.

“Holy
shit
.” Paige is kneeling beside
. “Jordan, what did you do?”

The movie star is lying on the floor, facedown, not moving. “Did you check for a pulse?” Haley asks. She kneels beside Paige, puts her hand on
's neck for a beat. Then she shakes her head. “Geez, you guys, I think he's
dead
.”

The word hangs in the air. The penthouse suddenly seems small, claustrophobic. The movie star still hasn't moved.

“Wipe down everything you touched,” Jordan tells them. “
Everything.
Think hard. Don't leave any fingerprints.”

Paige looks up at him. “What are you talking about? We need to call an ambulance.”

“And tell them what?” Jordan says. “We were trying to steal this guy's amazing Ferrari and we accidentally killed him? We need to get out of here, now. And we can't leave any evidence behind.”

“Oh my god.” Paige stares at Jordan. “
No
. That's not what we're doing. We can't just abandon him here.”

She looks to Haley for support. Haley just shrugs. “I don't really want to go to jail for this asshole. I'm just saying.”

“CPR,” Paige says. “We need to do CPR.” She straddles
's body. Starts attempting compressions.

Jordan rolls his eyes.
“Paige
.
”

Paige doesn't answer. Jordan motions to Haley,
Get her
off him
. Haley stands, puts her arm around Paige. Ushers her to the side.

“We don't have time to waste on stupid shit,” Jordan says. “Sooner or later, someone's going to check on this douchebag. We don't want to be here when that happens. So think back to everything you might have touched, and wipe that shit down. Then we get the fuck out of here.”

Paige is breathing heavy. She's practically hyperventilating. She stares at Jordan like he's just admitted he tortures small animals.

“Come on, Paige,” Haley says. “This guy was a creep. You really want to risk the rest of your life to save him?”

Paige doesn't say anything, but she lets Haley pull her to her feet. She doesn't look behind her, where
lies, unmoving.

“Good,” Jordan says. “Now what did you touch?”

264.

E can't take it. There's been no sign of Haley or Paige or Jordan. He's been lurking in the lobby of the St. Regis for way too long.

E puts the newspaper down and goes to the elevators. Presses the up button and rides to the top floor. The hallway is quiet when the doors open. No security guards. No police. No screaming.

That's a good sign.

E walks down the hall toward
's suite. The door is closed. Locked. E knocks on the door.

There's a long, pregnant pause.

Then the peephole goes dark. A moment later, the locks click and the doors open. Haley peers out, her face ashen. “What are you doing here? You're supposed to stay in the lobby.”

“I saw Jordan,” E says. “I thought it was
911
. What the hell is going on?”

He tries to peer past Haley into the room. Haley blocks him. “You don't want to come in here, dude,” she says. “You really,
really
don't.”

(But when does that ever work?)

“Uh, yeah,” E tells her. “I really think I do.”

He pushes past her and into the room. Down the little hallway into the vast living area, the expensive, minimalist furniture, the kitchenette with its granite countertops, the living area with its floor-to-ceiling ocean views.

And the movie star lying dead on the mahogany floor.

“Holy fucking god,”
E says.
“What the hell happened?”

Jordan comes out of the bedroom. “Never mind what happened. Just don't fucking touch anything, okay?”

E stares at the body. “Is he—?”

“Sure is,” Haley says.

“Oh my
god
.”

Jordan comes over. Takes E's face in his hands. “There's no time for ‘
Oh my god
.'” He gestures to Paige. “We're already full on our freak-out quota. What I need is for you to help me get us out of here as quickly as possible. Okay?”

E looks past Jordan to the body. Jordan moves so E's looking at him.
“Okay?”

“Holy shit,” E says. “I mean, yeah. Okay.”

265.

Jordan and Haley wipe down the whole suite. Anything any of them could have conceivably touched.

Paige just silently freaks out in the corner. E tries to comfort her without touching anything.

(
just lies there.)

Finally, Jordan's satisfied. “Good,” he says. “I think we're in the clear. Now we just have to get out of here.”

E points to the body. “We're just going to leave him?”

“You want to wrestle a famous movie star's body out of a five-star hotel?” Jordan shakes his head. “We're leaving him. Let the cops try to put it together. We're clean.”

He's still in control. After this, after all of this, he still knows what he's doing. He's not stressed at all.

“We just have to get out of here,” Jordan says. “And we can't let anybody see us, okay?”

“Yeah, okay,” E says. “But how do we get out?”

Jordan points to the door. “Use the fire escape, dummy.”

He ushers the Pack out of
's suite. Hangs back for a long moment, lingers inside the suite while the others wait out in the hall. Then he's out.

“Had to make sure we were clean,” he tells them. “Let's go.”

They sneak down the hall to the emergency fire stairs, Jordan in the lead, then E, then Paige and Haley. Nobody comes out as they're sneaking. Nobody sees them. Jordan disables the
alarm. They hit the fire stairs and Jordan pushes the door open, and they start the long descent to ground level.

They don't say anything. They go slow and cautious and as fast as they dare. Their footsteps echo through the stairwell as they descend. They listen for doors opening, or anyone who might see them.

The drop takes forever. Then they reach the ground floor. There's a fire door to outside. Jordan pushes it open. E and Paige and Haley follow him out to the night.

They're in an alley. There's a hedgerow opposite. On the other side is the public beach parking lot. Jordan leads them up the alley, toward the front of the hotel. He sticks to the shadows. He doesn't make a sound. E creeps behind him and tries to emulate what he's doing. Tries to forget the sight of
's dead body.

They reach the front of the hotel, the end of the hedgerow. Jordan circles around to the other side, the beach parking lot. It's nearly deserted, at this hour. His dad's Tesla sits in the shadows.

E follows. Nobody sees him. Haley pushes Paige around the edge of the hedgerow too. Goes to follow her, and doesn't notice the curb in between the two lots. Sees it too late and falls flat on her face.

The others are already halfway to the car. Haley pulls herself to her feet, feeling stupid. Looks back at the hotel, for god knows what reason, and stops cold.

A kitchen worker, a sous chef or something. He's coming out of a service entrance like, thirty feet away. He's lighting up a cigarette. He stops when he sees Haley. He stares right at her. His eyes lock on hers for an interminable length of time.

Then Haley shakes it off and keeps going.