Killer Ambition

73

Graden asked me if I wanted to do dinner, but I was too keyed up to be decent company. I’d been so excited about a possible break in the case that I hadn’t stopped to think about the fact that hiring Parkova was the one thing I’d done so far that could get me thrown out of the DA’s office-and sully my name forever. It was an act of insurbordination of high magnitude to hire an ex-felon hacker without prior approval. If I lost the case, there was no doubt about it, I’d be fired on the spot. Vanderhorn not only wouldn’t hesitate, he’d relish the opportunity. But I was in it now, no going back. So I took my anxious self back to the hotel.

Too beat to deal with parking, I pulled up to the valet stand and tossed Rafi, the valet, my keys. The rare event brought a surprised smile to his face. The hotel elevator was packed, but I didn’t want to wait for another one, so I squeezed in and held my breath. Toni once told me that breathing the air in those close quarters was a surefire way to get sick. Ever since, I reflexively stop breathing every time there’re more than two people in an elevator. When I got off, I took a big gulp of air.

I headed down the hallway that led to my room, thinking about how I’d handle the Gelfer debacle in closing arguments. Just the thought of having to talk to the jury about it made my stomach churn.

Suddenly, an unfamiliar voice called out behind me. “Hey! Rachel!”

I turned to see the grinning face of a deeply tanned young man in his twenties wearing sunglasses on top of his head. A cameraman was standing off to his right. They quickly moved toward me, backing me into the wall, and in the next second, a blinding spotlight snapped on.

“I just wanted to ask you, how do you feel after today’s disaster? Are you ready to throw in the towel?” He thrust a microphone under my nose.

Without conscious thought, I slapped the microphone out of his hand, shoved him as hard as I could, and ran down the hall to my door.

“Hey, come on!” he called out. They followed me down the hall. “We just want your reaction! What’re you so afraid of?”

I scrambled into my room as quickly as possible, my heart beating so fast I couldn’t catch my breath. I threw the dead bolt, slid in the security chain, and grabbed the hotel phone. “Get someone up here, fast! There’s some lunatic in the hallway with a camera!”

Fortunately Gregor, head of security, was on duty. “Lock your door. I’ll have someone up there right away, Rachel. Shall I call the police? Or would you rather do it?”

Finally able to draw a full breath, I thought a moment. “I’ll take care of that end. Thanks, Gregor.”

After I hung up, I listened for a moment. I thought I could still hear voices out in the hallway, but I couldn’t tell if it was the same two jerks who’d accosted me. Two minutes later I heard Gregor’s booming voice. “Are you a guest in this hotel?” A murmured voice responded, then Gregor, in a tone with enough menace to scare off any conscious biped, said, “Then I suggest you both leave immediately. And don’t you ever let me find you on a guest floor again! Got it?”

More murmuring. Then Gregor shouted, “Move faster!” A moment later there was a knock at the door.

“Rachel? It’s me. They’re gone.”

I opened the door. Gregor’s solid rectangular frame filled the doorway. It was a reassuring sight. “Thank you so much. Those two just ambushed me.” Now, in hindsight, I realized there’d been no real danger, and I felt sheepish. “Sorry to sound the alarm like that. I guess I overreacted.”

“Please, you were more than justified. No apology necessary. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Gregor. Thank you again.”

“I’ll put extra security on your hallway from now on. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it sooner-”

“Maybe because you were thinking no one would be sleazy enough to hit me up where I live? Because I sure didn’t think of it.”

Gregor apologized-unnecessarily. I told him to knock it off and thanked him again. When he left, I called Mario, who’d just been promoted to senior investigator for the downtown DA Investigators Unit. He’d worked on the case that involved Lilah. I told him what had happened.

“You’ve got to be kidding me. That same hallway?”

Last year, one of Lilah’s henchmen had jumped me in that hallway. Beat me up badly enough to put me in the hospital. I had a feeling that might’ve had something to do with my overreaction to those creeps tonight.

“Yeah. Seems to be my favorite meeting spot for assholes. What do you think I should do? Gregor says he’s going to keep a closer watch, so maybe that’s-”

“Uh-uh. Not enough. I’ll have someone posted there for the duration. You want an escort to and from the courthouse?”

“God, no. These guys aren’t trying to kill me.” I told him I already had secure parking at the courthouse. And Rafi wouldn’t let anyone get near my car at the hotel-he wouldn’t take the chance of forfeiting a tip.

By the time I ended the call, I was feeling relatively normal. Exhausted, depressed, demoralized, but all things considered, that qualified as normal. One hot shower and a glass of wine later, I was in bed with a murder mystery. Three minutes later I was asleep with all the lights on. I woke up just long enough to turn them off. But I thrashed around all night, as one nightmare after another assaulted my subconscious. I woke up the next morning more tired than I’d been when I went to bed.