The Book of Fate

12

Where’s he now?” O’Shea asked, pressing his palm against the window of the black sedan and feeling the warmth of the Florida sun. It was freezing in France. But somehow, even with the Palm Beach heat and the liquid-blue sky, he wasn’t any warmer.

“He just took the elevator upstairs in the hotel,” Micah replied.

“Elevator? You let him ride alone?”

“Better than me jumping in with him. Relax — there’re only four floors. He’s not getting far.”

O’Shea rolled his tongue inside his cheek. “So what’re you still doing in the lobby?”

“Waiting for one of the—”

Through the phone, O’Shea heard a slight ping followed by a low rumble. Micah’s elevator had finally arrived. “I’ll have him in—”

Micah’s voice went silent. But from the background noise, O’Shea could tell Micah was still on the line.

“Micah, what happened?” he asked.

No response.

“Micah, you okay!?”

There was another low rumble. Elevator doors closing. Then a rough swishing. Like two windbreakers being rubbed together. Micah was moving. The swishing continued. At that pace, he was clearly not in the elevator, O’Shea thought. But if he wasn’t in the elevator, that meant…

“Wes just stepped out, didn’t he?” O’Shea asked as his sedan made a sharp left onto a well-manicured drive.

“Not bad, Watson,” Micah whispered. “You should do this professionally.”

“Anyone with him?”

“Nope. All alone,” Micah said. “Something happened up there, though. Kid’s got his tail between his legs. Like he got dumped.”

“Is he leaving the hotel?”

“Nope again. Headed for the restaurant in back. I’m telling you, he really looks terrible… I mean, even more than those Frankenstein marks in his face.”

“That’s a shame,” O’Shea said as his car curved into the horseshoe driveway of the main entrance. “’Cause his day’s about to get a whole lot worse.” On his right, the car door sprang open and a valet with blond hair offered a slight tip of his hat.

“Welcome to the Four Seasons, sir. Are you checking in with us today?”

“No,” O’Shea offered as he stepped out of the car. “Just grabbing a little something for breakfast.”