Chapter Fifteen
Waking up on the carpet, I realised my bones ached and my face felt kind of itchy. None of that mattered when I saw the killer wasn’t where he should be. A tiny splash of blood on the carpet showed where his head had lain. I pulled to my feet, panic starting to grab hold of me. Where the hell was Mason? A worse thought hit me. How long had I been out?
A very bad feeling crawled over me like a million ants all at once. Had it been hours? I considered the idea for a few seconds before discarding it. I couldn’t have been unconscious for anywhere near that long. I wouldn’t still be waking up where I’d passed out if that was the case, surely. So how long had it been?
Where’s Mason? Where’s Lucy? Where’s the killer?
I moved quickly, peering down the corridor. Lucy’s cart was gone. That was one mercy. If it had still been there I’d be even more worried about what had happened to her. I saw the door to the room where the girl had been killed was open slightly, and when I moved closer I saw the reason.
Mason was on the ground and his leg was keeping the door from closing. My heart stopped for a second, until I got closer and saw that he was breathing. Letting out a sigh of relief, I got down on my knees and shook him lightly by the shoulders. He groaned after a second, but he didn’t instantly awaken.
I looked around, the killer wasn’t in the room and my gut instinct was to find him, but I knew Mason was the best clue I had to finding out what happened. Chances were the killer hadn’t just gone to his room. He knew I was on to him. He wouldn’t make it easy for me to take another run at him. I thought fleetingly about rushing down the stairs but with no idea where the guy might have gone, what was the point?
“Mason.” I pinched at his cheek. “Wake up.”
I stepped over him as he groaned a second time and his eyelids started to flutter. I gasped in a breath as I saw the dead woman was no longer on the bed. The only clues that she’d been there at all were a handful of small bloody stains on and around the bed.
“Shit.” Okay, now my skin was really crawling. Why would he take her?
“Tina?” Mason murmured, starting to move from the floor. “I’m so glad you’re okay.”
“What happened here, Mason?”
He got up, rubbing at his head. “The guy woke up.” He groaned some more as he pulled to his feet. “He came straight to the room, pushed me out of the way.” He seemed to flush, not meeting my eyes as he added, “I guess he knocked me out when I followed him in here.”
Of course, Mason wouldn’t know where he’d gone. I needed to pull a plan out of my ass, stat. “Mason, go check out those security cameras. Tell me if you find him.”
I didn’t have a second to spare right now. I moved to leave, and Mason put his hand on my shoulder.
“You passed out, Tina. I don’t think you should be...”
“I’m fine. Just get to the CCTV.” I rushed out to the elevators. Last place it went was the first floor. I tried to slow down my thoughts and figure out where he might actually have gone. Somehow, I doubted he’d have taken a dead girl to the reception area. We would have heard the ruckus if he had. I looked up. Would he have taken her to his room? It seemed too easy, but I didn’t have a whole lot of other options to ponder.
I took the stairs. My bones ached all over as I rushed to the top and yanked open the door to the third floor corridor. It was quiet as I went straight to his door and tried the handle. Locked. I unlocked it and stepped inside, wishing I’d thought to bring a weapon. Turned out it didn’t matter. He wasn’t there.
“Shit.” I stepped back out and tried to think. Where would he take a dead body? Where could he go that wouldn’t be noticed?
I rushed back towards the elevators, when the ear-splitting cacophony of a siren blasted through me. I halted in fright. It took me a second to realise what it was. Someone must have pulled the fire alarm. Two thoughts entered my mind as soon as the initial shock died down. One, wherever he was, the bastard hadn’t left the building. If he had, he never would have pulled the alarm, to force everyone else to leave. Two, there’s something very specific that he liked to do to a body after he murdered someone. There was going to actually be a fire.
I moved towards the back stairs quickly. Doors were opening along the corridor. People seemed dazed and confused. They slowly filed out of their rooms and went towards the main stairs. I headed to the back stairs and moved down them, removing my oversized waistcoat after it snagged on the door handle, and ditching it there on the handle. I was glad that no-one else was using these stairs. It was obvious where the main set of stairs led, almost directly out the front door, so that’s where everyone went. The back stairs were unlit for a reason. They were only really meant for staff who didn’t need to use the lift.
I had to find somewhere to hide so I wouldn’t be forced to leave the building. It wasn’t ideal considering there was probably some sort of procedure in place that would mean accounting for every member of staff in this type of situation. Someone would know if I was missing.
A message made my phone vibrate against my arse just as I was considering going up, to avoid being seen on any kind of checks that might be getting done on the ground floor. I took out my phone and raised an eyebrow at the number that showed on the text message. I didn’t have the best memory, but I knew a few numbers off by heart. This one belonged to Mason. I supposed most people kept the same number to make it easy to get hold of them. He must have swiped mine off of my application form.
Where are you?
I hesitated to send a reply. If he knew I was staying he might not understand, and as much as having an ally might help, I couldn’t tell him what I was up to. So I settled for asking him a question instead.
Did you get to the cameras?
He took a few seconds to hit me back this time.
No. I’m in the back of the cleaning closet. The place is being evacuated, in case you didn’t notice.
I had to smile. Then I had to wonder.
Why didn’t you leave?
It took three minutes for him to reply, enough time for me to know he was hesitant to tell me. Enough time to get me up to the third floor landing, where I pressed against the wall and waited for the mind-melting sirens to stop going off.
The dead girl’s spirit told me what happened.
Okay, that was going to take some getting used to.
What happened?
Another pause. Longer this time. Much longer. Clearly, there was something he didn’t want to tell me. Shit, Mason. Hurry up. Who knew where the creep had gone by now? Every second mattered.
The sirens were really starting to make my head pound. When the hell were they going to stop wailing? I watched the minutes tick past on the face of my phone. Almost ten had passed by the time it vibrated in my hand.
When Mason’s message opened, it was enough to rattle my cage.
He just left the building.
I cursed repeatedly as I rushed down the stairs and into the first floor hallway to get to the nearest front facing window. The other floors had vending machines in that space, and the windows had been bricked over. It was something that had stuck in my brain from way back when I used to come and follow Lucy around while she was working.
The first floor window didn’t have much of a view. There was a pillar blocking most of the car-park from sight. I could see there were people being ushered to the grass at the bottom of the car-park, to the assembly point. I couldn’t see the demon’s host out there amongst them.
I moved to the edge and pressed my face against the glass, trying to see further. There was no sign of the slicked-back black hair of the killer. I stepped back and wondered what the hell was going on. It made perfect sense for him to leave, but what had he done with the body if he had? He couldn’t just walk out of the building carrying her. Had he already set a fire when he hit that alarm? My stomach was squirming madly. None of this made any sense.
I messaged Mason back.
Did you see him lea
ve? Where did he go?
I moved down the stairs to the ground floor, ready to go after the killer. Mason didn’t reply, and that’s when I knew something was wrong. Where had he said he was? The cleaning closet? I bolted down the last flight of stairs.
I opened the back door to the reception area and moved out, keeping tight to the wall. The cupboard wasn’t too far. I was almost there when I spied Mason standing near the front doors talking to two policemen. They eyed me before I could duck behind the desk, and I winced. Caught. This was so the last thing we needed.
“He killed a girl in one of the rooms on the second floor,” Mason said, as he glanced back at me.
What the hell? Why were they just standing here questioning him? Why weren’t they taking off after the killer if Mason had seen him leave the building? Maybe there were more than two of them. I relaxed slightly, though I wasn’t overly happy about this development.
The older officer with the notepad in his hand was the one asking questions while the other glanced around, getting a good look at the security camera by the door.
“What did he look like?” He sounded bored and flipped a page on his notebook before shooting Mason an expectant look.
“About my height, average weight. Dark hair. Lightly tanned. Black shirt and trousers.”
The cop nodded. “And you say he killed someone? Did you see this happen?”
I made to walk past them and the cop checking out the security camera got in my way. I seriously didn’t want to look into his eyes, because that was just the worst. Catching the flickering glint of a demon was always bad. Seeing it in the gaze of someone who’s supposed to be on the side of good was just downright depressing.
“Chris?” The familiar voice forced me to focus. I glanced at him and tried not to wince. He looked so happy to see me. At least I didn’t catch a hint of demon in his eyes.
“Dawson, hey.” I remembered his name and tried to smile. I knew the guy from high school, vaguely. We’d sat together in a class or two.
“Long time,” he said, looking me over and nodding. “Looking good.”
“Thanks. You too...” I glanced over at Mason.
He was still answering questions. I sighed inwardly. The desire to take off after the demon’s host was growing stronger by the passing second.
“Listen, I kind of have to go. The building’s being evacuated and all.”
He blinked. “Oh. Okay. Can I call you, or something...”
“I’ll call you,” I lied, dashing past and knowing the second I got outside that it was too little, too late.
I peered around, but I couldn’t see any sign of the demon. I was quickly waved over to the assembly point where some of my co-workers were bitching about how cold it was. I half-expected someone to ask where my waistcoat was, but the woman with the clipboard who seemed to be organising everyone was too busy checking her board. I started to chew at my nails as I tried to work out what to do. I had to find the damned demon. I’d screwed up badly in the dreamscape. I needed to make it right, and it needed to be before anyone else got hurt.
Mason exited the building without the cops. He made a beeline straight to me.
“What did the cops say?” I had to know what was going on.
He shrugged. “They’re locking down the building to check out the crime scene. I told them we suspect the killer set off the fire alarm to clear the building. Might take a while.”
“Wait. You told them the killer left, right?”
He frowned at me. “He left?”
I got out my phone and showed him his message. He checked his pockets and came up empty, his face paling. “Holy shit. It must have fallen out when I was trying to get to the security office.”
“So he’s still in the building.” Fuck my life.
The stern-faced woman came at us with the clipboard. “Have either of you seen Lucy Parker?”
A chill rushed through me. “What did you just say?”
“Lucy, you know, the Assistant Manager...”
“I know who she is. She’s not out here?” I cut her off, looking around. There had to be a hundred people on the grass. It only took one glance to know Lucy wasn’t one of them. How could I not have noticed? Shit. This couldn’t be happening.
The woman with the clipboard moved on when Mason shook his head. He looked paler than a ghost. I was pretty sure my own shock was mirroring his. Lucy was still in the hotel with the killer. This just got worse and worse.
“The police are in there, Tina,” Mason said, trying to make me feel better, I supposed.
“I need to get back inside.”
He blinked at me. “You can’t. We have to wait for the cops to clear the place for safety...”
Screw that. I wasn’t nuts. I knew it would be too tricky to get back in through the front door. It was far enough away for someone to stop me if I tried to make a mad dash for it. But I could meander to the back of the crowd on the grass and slip around the back of the hotel that way. I started to move, pulling Mason’s hand to bring him with me. He followed without asking questions. We got a couple of weird looks for the hand-holding, but I figured when we disappeared that people would assume we were messing around in the bushes rather than sneaking back into the building. We’d arouse the least suspicion if we did this together.
“What are you doing?” His whisper was insistent. I dragged him where we needed to go and rushed along the side of the building, without letting go of his hand, keeping close to the wall. We were alone. We were going to make it... and then we weren’t.
The building maintenance guy looked our way with a frown. I stopped and pulled Mason closer, going in for a kiss and gasping in shock when he pressed me against the wall and kissed back as if he really meant it. I barely registered the old guy’s muttering about the youth of today as he passed. Everything falls out of my head but the heat-sparking sensation our embrace was sending through my entire body. I really could have dropped everything to mess around in the bushes with this guy. For a few seconds, I completely forgot it was supposed to be a deflection. My heart was pounding by the time Mason tore his mouth away from mine. His intense gaze drifted over my lips and lower as he pulled away.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” he told me, though he didn’t exactly sound regretful. He sounded the way he did whenever he was angry and aroused at the same time. Don’t ask how I knew what that sounded like, it makes me feel like a bitch. He frowned at me, but there wasn’t time to figure out why he was so conflicted over a kiss.
For a minute, I’d forgotten my best friend was in mortal danger. It pushed back to the forefront of my thoughts the instant his words broke the spell his lips had cast on me. I pushed him hard to get him out of my way, and I headed for the service entrance with quickened steps. The door wasn’t locked. I moved inside and Mason followed me.
Chapter Sixteen
Mason started acting all cave-man once we got inside. If I didn’t kind of need him to lead the way to the security room, I might not have let him away with taking charge. Guilt blasted over me. He shouldn’t even be here. This was all on me. I swallowed the lump in my throat that was forming over Lucy’s disappearance. Best friend or not, I couldn’t stand the thought of anything happening to her.
I followed Mason into the room, rushing after him as he peered around the corner and confirmed the police were gone from sight. I saw over his shoulder when Dawson went into the stairwell.
We stepped into the security room and he closed the door quietly. When he looked at me I knew he was going to make this about things we didn’t have time for. I held in the sigh that wanted to expel from my body.
“Are you going to tell me what all of this is about?” There was a hint of threat in his tone, and he sounded kind of like one of our teachers from high school when he was trying to get kids to admit they’d done something to take the piss out of him. He even folded his arms.
“There isn’t time, Mason.” I moved over to the screens and gazed over them until they ma
de some sort of sense. There really weren’t that many, and none of them showed our killer.
“This is serious, Tina.”
“I’m well aware of that.” I had to think. There were plenty of places the creep could go, but I was not going to get too many chances to pick the right route. The police would likely take their time checking out the room the dead girl had been in, and the room the killer had stayed in, but they would have to come back down sometime. I didn’t want to be caught poking around when they did.
I glanced up, certain Mason was staring at me. He wasn’t. His gaze trailed around the room, before it fixed on something over my left shoulder. His expression twitched before his sky-blue eyes locked on mine.
“I’ve always known there was something,” he started, pausing to sigh and rub at his jaw. “We’re the same, in a lot of ways. Different. Weird. Some people might call us crazy. Okay, a lot of people, probably. We both know that’s not true, but I’ve been afraid to tell you what my deal is, because I wasn’t sure you’d accept it. Even if I know there’s something you’re hiding from me. Something that’s worse.”
Dread flooded me. He’d just told me his secret, and now he expected me to spill mine. There was no way I could do that. It was probably just as well I was getting used to being bitchy. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He frowned at me. “You saw a dead girl on Saturday night. Her body burned up in a fire, but she was already dead.”
My mouth dropped open. I knew I should be focussing on figuring out where the killer could have gone, but Mason had thoroughly succeeded in throwing me off track. My thoughts were spinning as I read between the lines. “How do you... You spoke to her ghost.”
That’s how he knew about the killer when he walked up to the front desk. It’s why he’d whispered creepy warnings in my ear. There was more to this, though, I could feel it, and I was certain I wasn’t going to like the rest.
“His victims have been following you around.”
Aw hell no. I’ve been surrounded by spirits? “You’re kidding.”
Sinners Never Sleep (Seven Deadly Demons Book 1) Page 10
