Sudden Death

“I’m not sure,” Hunter answered.

“And the other key?”

“Where I stayed last night,” Hunter said.

“And you still can’t tell me who you were with?” the deputy asked.

“No, I can’t say.”

“Can I get any help on this?” Deputy Myers asked hotel security.

“I would have to take both keys, and read them using the RFID chip reader to see which room is assigned to which.”

“That would violate my privacy, and the privacy of the other person,” Hunter said, his voice coming across sterner than he intended. “I’m not a person of interest, right?”

Deputy Myers shook his head. “Not yet, but I’m trying to make sure you’re not. Clearly, you could have the motive to have your stepfather dead. Preliminary reports of his death suggest some blunt force trauma to the back of his head. We are not sure if it was from a fall, or from some sort of murder weapon. The impact point is rather small, and required a lot of force.” The deputy hesitated. “What’s usually used if it’s murder is something nearby, like a bat, a heavy stick. Even golf clubs if heavy and swung a certain way. Do you know where your stepdad’s golf clubs are located?”

“You mean my stepfather’s? It would be downstairs with the bell valet. I think the tournament officials took them from me to transfer back to the hotel.”

“That’s good then. Since you’re not in possession of the golf clubs, you won’t mind if we test each club for any forensic evidence.”

“I have nothing to hide, so test away.”

“Except the identity of who you were with last night,” the deputy mumbled. “And if you’re trying to protect this person, he must be very famous.”

Hunter gasped and then flushed. It dawned on him that Deputy Myers had been fishing for information, and Hunter’s reaction just confirmed it.

The security manager, who’d ignored this exchange, glanced up from his cell phone. The dark suited man, narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips, crossing his arms. Hunter wasn’t sure what the hotel representative had just read off his cell phone, but the fact that he eyed the keys on the table and then his cell phone again made Hunter uneasy.

When the dark-haired man gritted his jaw, and stared at Hunter almost in disbelief, Hunter went numb. The hotel must have security video showing Hunter going into Dimas’s room last night, and then leaving this morning. They could easily confirm Hunter’s alibi.

Now they knew Hunter’s horrible secret and in learning this, they could expose Dimas, too.

“Deputy I’m being called by the hotel manager, so excuse me.” The dark haired man stood up, glanced briefly at Hunter.

“Sure,” Deputy Myers said.

As the dark-suited man approached the door, he glanced back to Hunter. Again. That moment was like a gut punch. Carl was dead. His life was upside down, and the secret of the man he loved will no longer be a one if the hotel and the police had their way.

He wanted Dimas with him, to tell him that everything was going to be okay, and this feeling of loneliness and sadness would go away. But Dimas wasn’t there with him, and the inquisitive deputy, and the photo taking crime scene tech only made Hunter sadder.

He wondered what happened to Carl. Why was he up so early in the morning? What made him go outside that early? And if it was murder, who would want to kill him?

He shuddered when he remembered Dimas’s words earlier in the morning. “I’d fucking kill him.”