The Reunion (25 page)

“She had Dave’s room key and went there to search for a stun gun. She has one and thought maybe Dave had stolen it in Chicago.”

“I don’t think Dave Coryell zapped and strangled himself,” the sheriff retorted in a dry tone.

Meghan waved him silent in irritation. “She had the creepy feeling she was being stalked.”

“Stalked? Where?” Ray pressed.

“Outside Dave’s room and in the parking…” She stopped. “That’s it! She said she searched Dave’s car, too.”

“Coryell’s car keys were in his pants pocket,” Ray told her.

Zach heaved a deep breath. “She must have found a spare. Is Dave’s car still here?”

“It was an hour or so ago.”

“Suppose someone knocked at Suzanne’s door, but she didn’t answer. Suppose she was scared and decided to bolt,” Meghan concluded. “If it was me, and I had a car key, I’d make a run for it.”

The night manager approached with the desk clerk.

“Sheriff, Billy has something to tell you.”

“Can’t it wait?” Ray clasped his cell phone in his hand.

“I guess, but since Mrs. Crocker is missing I thought you’d like to know about the scream.”

“What scream?” Meghan, Zach, and the sheriff all spoke at the same time.

Billy cleared his throat. “Well, Mr. Nelson had been helping me with some paperwork in the back. A few seconds after he left, the phone rang. It was some woman on the sixth floor. She called to say she thought she heard a scream. I know I’m not supposed to leave the desk unattended, but in view of what’s happened tonight I went up to check anyway.”

“Where were you?” Ray demanded of the night manager.

“Making my rounds. I was checking up on the cleaning crew. I do it every night.”

“Go on, Billy.” Ray tilted his hat back on his head.

“When I got there, the woman’s husband answered the door. He said his wife had fallen asleep with the TV on. He thinks she must have heard the television. He apologized for disturbing me. I came back down, and a few minutes later Mr. Nelson returned.”

“Where was this room?” Zach asked.

“Uh, it was room six-seventeen.”

Meghan gazed toward the front doors. A chill slid down her arms causing the hairs to rise. “What direction does it face?”

“The front of the hotel.”

“Near the parking lot,” Ray answered in a low tone.

“Well, the parking lot’s off to the side a bit,” Billy informed them.

Meghan looked at Zach and Ray. The hair on the back of her neck followed the action of those on her arms.

“Oh, my God,” she whispered. “Suzanne.”

The three of them raced for the doors, and ran down the steps.

Zach led the charge. “What kind of car does Dave drive?”

“A Mercedes. Light colored, I think,” Ray replied.

In her high heels, Meghan had trouble keeping up with the men. “Any idea where it’s parked?”

They stopped momentarily as Ray flipped open his cell and punched a button. “Jamieson, when you searched the lot for Coryell’s car earlier, where was it parked?” He listened for a moment. “Thanks.” He hung up. “Third row, near the end, over by the garden.”

They sprinted in that direction then pulled up short when they spotted the car under a lamppost.

“It’s still here. She didn’t take off,” Zach said.

Meghan walked around toward the driver’s side. She gasped when her eyes caught sight of a blue-clad body partially hidden under a car. “Oh, God! It’s Suzanne.”

Zach and Ray leaped forward and gently eased her from under the car, rolling her onto her back.

Ray placed his fingers on the battered woman’s neck feeling for a pulse. His gaze met hers.

“She’s alive!”

Chapter Fifteen

Suzanne was alive!

Meghan’s heart hammered as she rushed forward to help the wounded woman.

“Don’t touch her, Meghan.”

Meghan ignored Ray’s order, gulped tears, and held Suzanne’s hand. Zach crouched next to her. Ray immediately called 9-1-1.

“This is Sheriff Ray Armstrong. I want an ambulance sent to the parking lot of The Grandview Inn stat. I have a critically injured woman. Please alert the ER at the hospital to stand by.” He hung up from emergency services and re-dialed. “Jamieson, are you the only deputy still here? Call in Campbell and Thompson. We have an emergency in the parking lot. Someone’s assaulted Mrs. Crocker. She’s unconscious and bleeding bad. Get forensics out here… Screw Coryell’s room. Drug paraphernalia can wait a while. This one is hot—less than an hour old.”

Meghan gagged. Suzanne’s beautiful designer dress was ripped and blood spattered. Congealing blood caked her red hair. Suzanne’s ankle and arm were twisted indicating broken bones. She shuddered at the sight of the stains marring the dress.

Suzanne’s face bore no resemblance to the beautiful woman of a few hours ago. Meghan stifled a sob. The metallic stench of blood was overwhelming. She struggled not to throw up.

“I guess there’s no mistake this time.” Ray said in a grim tone. “Dammit. Why the hell did she leave her room?”

“I don’t know.” Guilt gnawed at her insides. “I should have stayed with her.”

“Where’s that damned ambulance?” Zach snapped at Ray.

“Take it easy. I just called. If you want to help, inform Nelson he’s got another victim.” Ray glanced at the overhead light several yards away. “Ask him if the hotel has security cameras covering the parking lot.”

Zach left while Meghan continued to hold Suzanne’s hand, wincing at the sight of the woman’s grotesquely twisted limbs. She couldn’t just sit here. She had to do something.

“Come on, Suzanne, hang in there. Help is on the way. You’re tough. You can do it.”

She hoped the redhead heard the words of encouragement. Suzanne could be a real bitch, but she was also a fighter. She wouldn’t give up easily. Then a thought occurred.

“Ray, she must have seen her attacker.”

“Maybe, maybe not. He might have worn a ski or stocking mask.”

“What about the weapon?”

“A baseball bat? A tire iron? Even a hammer. I don’t know.”

Meghan peered under the cars. “Do you think it’s still here?”

“As soon as my men get here, we’ll search the parking lot and the garden. The attacker would want to unload it as soon as possible.”

“If he attacked Suzanne in the parking lot, he must have returned to the hotel through the front doors.”

“Not necessarily. He could have entered the garden, hidden the weapon in the bushes, and slipped in through one of many doors. This is a cool character. He’s familiar with the layout of the hotel.”

Sirens wailed in the distance. Meghan breathed a sigh of relief. Help was on the way.
It’s about time.

The ambulance cut the noise when it entered the parking lot. Ray ran toward the entrance and flagged them down, pointing to the scene. Two police cruisers turned in a few seconds later. When the ambulance stopped, paramedics piled out.

“I’ve got to go now, Suzanne. The paramedics are here and will take good care of you. Fight it. Don’t let the bastard win.”

Meghan rose, picking up Suzanne’s discarded purse, car key, and shoes. She stepped back and crossed her arms over her chest as the medical personnel swarmed around the victim. Already Ray had directed his men to the garden. That seemed the most logical place to stash the weapon.

“Meghan, go back into the hotel. This is a crime scene. I’ll take those,” Ray said, pointing to items in her hands.

Meghan handed them over, and then secured her bag firmly over her shoulder by the slender strap. Blood streaked her arms. She gazed at the men working to save Suzanne.

“BP’s eighty over forty, respirations eight and shallow, pulse sixty, thready, and dropping. Come on guys, we’re losing her. God only knows what kind of internal injuries she’s sustained.”

“Fight, you bitch, fight.” Meghan hadn’t realized she’d spoken out loud.

“Meghan, please,” Ray insisted.

“No. I want to stay with her. I’ll just stand here.”

The paramedics stuck an IV needle in Suzanne’s unbroken arm and slapped an oxygen mask over her blood covered face. Meghan held her breath and waited while the men applied air casts on the broken bones. Suzanne never moved.

“Ninety over sixty,” the paramedic monitoring vital signs called out. “Pulse and respirations are up, too.”

Way to go, Suzanne
.

Meghan jumped when an arm draped over her shoulders. “How’s she doing?” Zach asked.

“Not so good, but better than a minute ago.”

Ray joined them. “What did Nelson say?”

“There are no security cameras anywhere in the hotel.”

Meghan jerked her head around to stare. “No cameras? What kind of hotel doesn’t have security?”

“According to Nelson, they had cameras, but turned most of them off two years ago in a cost cutting move. What’s there now are used as a decoy, a deterrent.”

“Didn’t work, did it?” she snapped in a tart tone.

“Instead the guards patrol on foot.”

“What guards? I haven’t seen any all night. What the hell were they doing? Playing Liar’s Poker in a back room?” Meghan spat out.

“Relax. There are only two of them. They stroll around the outside, including the parking lot and the garden, once an hour. Most of the locked offices are on the alarm system.”

“Are any of the cameras still working?” Ray demanded.

“Nelson admitted he didn’t know. He said he hasn’t looked at a monitor in six months.”

Ray took off his hat, ran his hand though his hair, and grimaced. “Damned jackasses. I hope The Grandview Inn can cover all the lawsuits heading their way.”

The paramedics lifted Suzanne onto the gurney brought out of the ambulance. She looked pitiful, barefooted and in the tattered remains of the bloodstained designer dress. Tears gathered in Meghan’s eyes. She sniffed. She didn’t consider Suzanne Crocker a friend—wasn’t even sure she liked her, but no one deserved this.

“BP’s one hundred over sixty. Pulse steady and stronger at sixty-five. Respirations improving. Let’s transport,” the paramedic ordered.

“I want to go with her,” Meghan said.

“Let the hospital personnel do their job,” Ray told her.

“Please, let me go with her,” she begged.

“I’m sorry, ma’am,” one of the paramedics finally told her. “We have work to do, but you can follow us to the hospital if you want.”

“I want. How long before I can see her?” Meghan persisted as the last paramedic climbed into the ambulance.

“Can’t say, ma’am. Could be an hour, could be longer. Take your time. No sense in sitting in a hospital waiting room.”

“Is she going to live?”

“She’s in bad shape, but her vitals are improving.”

He slammed the door, and the ambulance shot out of the parking lot.

“That didn’t tell me a damned thing!”

“Come on, Meghan. I need a drink,” Zach said.

Their retreat was halted when Ray turned his attention to one of his deputies returning from the garden. “Find anything?”

“Nothing. The lights are too dim and flashlights don’t come close to penetrating all the foliage.”

“Well, keep looking. The killer wouldn’t leave the damned thing lying on the path. Check behind the bushes,” Ray snapped.

“Don’t forget the koi pond,” Zach suggested.

“I hadn’t thought of that,” Meghan murmured. What better place to hide something than in the depths of dark water?

“Don’t worry, we’ll check everywhere,” Ray replied in an impatient tone. “Why don’t the two of you go back inside? Nothing for you out here.”

Zach steered her across the parking lot. Nelson met them at the front door. “Is she going to make it?”

“Too soon to tell. We’ll be in the bar if the sheriff wants us,” Zach informed him.

The night manager nodded, his expression far from happy.

Probably thinks we’re going to get blind drunk on his tab. Serves him right if we do.

Meghan ignored the tables and grabbed a stool. Zach slid around the bar and lifted the brandy bottle.

“No, not brandy. Wine.”

He opened the fridge under the counter, extracted a half-empty bottle of chardonnay, and poured, then using a glass, scooped ice from the bin. Glenlivet crackled over the cubes.

She sipped, then shoved the glass away and buried her face in her hands. “We should never have left her alone.”

Zach pried her hands loose. “And what would she have said if you suggested staying with her?”

“She’d have probably told me to go to hell.”

“And you’d have walked away. No one could predict she’d take off. The only person who should feel guilty is the killer.” He released her hands and sipped on the scotch. “The bastard obviously thought she was dead or at the least, dying. If she makes it, and got a good look at him, she may be able to provide an ID.”

“Assuming he didn’t wear a disguise of some sort. I would. To shield my face and clothing from blood spatter if nothing else. Zach, a thought occurred to me earlier.” She fiddled with the stem of her wine glass. “What if the killer is a cop, or even one of those security guards? Suzanne would have opened the door to someone like that.”

Zach frowned. “I can’t think of why anyone in the Grandview Police Department would have a vendetta against these people. Ray and Ron Campbell are the closest in age to us. Ron was a member of the Methodist Church and president of the youth league when I was a teenager. I think he graduated two or three years before us.”

“Maybe it doesn’t have to be a real cop. Someone could be running around with a fake uniform and badge. Would Suzanne know the difference? Would you? Would I? Would anybody?”

Zach shook his head. “But why would she leave with him? Why even open the door? She was scared and pissed.”

“And she wasn’t forced to leave. She’d have screamed the house down. Plus, if the killer had a knife to her throat or a gun stuck in her ribs, why attack using a blunt instrument?” She glanced at her watch. “Do you think they have any news yet?”

“Honey, it’s only been a few minutes. They’re probably just arriving at the hospital. Come on, drink your wine.”

“I don’t want to drink the goddamned wine. I want to be with Suzanne.”