Deadly Fate (Krewe of Hunters #19)(55)

She looked up at him with her incredibly blue eyes and smiled. “No, it won’t,” she said. “You and Jackson won’t let it take a long time.”

He hesitated. “He might have come to Alaska because of me. For revenge. That puts anyone near me in danger.”

“No,” she said. “I know Jackson, I know some of the Krewe—and now I know you. I’d be in danger if I weren’t with the two of you. And you won’t convince me otherwise,” she told him.

He nodded. “Well, for now... For now,” he told her. “It’s true that we just might need you. I’d really like to avoid a vicious fight with Marc Kimball and twiddling my thumbs while we wait for a warrant if we need something that requires one.”

Her expression faded slightly. “He really does give me the creeps.”

“And I really do want you to keep your distance,” Thor said.

She laughed suddenly. “Suck up to him from a distance.”

“Yep, that’s it,” he told her.

Jackson finished with his phone call. “Our hotel clerk, Arnold Haskell, is at the front desk at the Nordic Lights. Let’s head over.”

At the Nordic Lights Hotel, the day manager was quick to come and take over for Arnold so that he could speak with them. The four of them headed over to a little group of lobby chairs; Thor noted that Clara was silent but that she was an attentive listener. He had the feeling that she’d be able to remember everything they heard—almost as if she were studying personalities or learning a script.

Arnold Haskell was a young, eager man in his early twenties. He started off by telling them that he’d already spoken to the police; he wished that he could give them more, but he could only tell them what he had seen, and what his dealings with people had been.

Thor showed him the image printed from the security footage.

Arnold Haskell frowned, studying the picture.

“Did you see this man?” Thor asked him.

“Yes, I did,” Haskell told them. “But he wasn’t a guest here at the hotel.”

“You’re certain?” Jackson asked him.

“Well, to the best of my knowledge. We’re a fairly small, local hotel. There are only six of us desk clerks altogether, covering all shifts. You can check with the others, but if he were a guest here, I believe I would have seen him coming and going. I only saw him the one time.”

“And it was the same evening Miss Fontaine was killed?” Jackson asked.

Haskell nodded, his eyes growing larger as he stared at Thor. “Yes,” he said quietly. “I remember that Miss Fontaine was giving instructions to her people.” He hesitated. “I don’t think I would have liked to work for her. The evening Miss Fontaine was killed here, he was sitting in that chair while she and her staff were talking. I remember seeing him because I thought he was a bit strange looking—kind of like I’d imagine Marc Twain to look, except that would have been a long, long time ago!”

“Did you see him leave the hotel or head for the elevators to go upstairs?” Thor asked.

Haskell frowned, thinking hard. “A whole pack of people came in—there’s a drug company having their annual meeting here. They kind of overwhelmed the desk when they first arrived. They had my attention...but I think he did head toward the elevators!” Haskell said suddenly. “I mean, maybe. You know how you see things from the corner of your eye? I looked at this poster thing the drug company had. And it seemed like it was moving oddly—it jostled! I think he went behind it, toward the elevators!”

“This is important, Mr. Haskell,” Thor said. “Can you remember if he was carrying anything?”

Haskell let out a sigh. “I’m sorry. I didn’t even really see the man, much less if he was carrying anything.”

If the white-haired man had been Tate Morley, how the hell had he beheaded a woman if he hadn’t gotten upstairs with a weapon?

Unless the weapon had been left for him.

“I didn’t see or hear anything out of the ordinary that evening or even in the morning—until all hell broke loose. And I was here from about six until after the cops came the next morning. We work twelve-hour shifts,” he explained. “Everyone loves it—gives us three days off each week.”

“I’m sure it’s good,” Clara murmured, offering Haskell a smile. He smiled back at her, a little smitten.

He looked at Thor then, and he seemed even more passionately earnest. “I really want to help you in any way. This is so horrible. And the hotel is so great. Seward is great! I don’t want people to stop coming here, you know?”

“They won’t,” Clara assured him.

“You were still on duty through the night and the next morning, so you saw Amelia Carson before she left?” Jackson asked.

Haskell nodded. “Oh, yeah. I didn’t just see her. I heard from her. She was just irate that we didn’t have coffee out! I wonder what it is about people who come to Alaska. Well, I mean, I suppose I should understand. We’re used to so much darkness and so much light. But Miss Carson, she just couldn’t believe that I could do anything about there being no coffee. The concept of ‘hotel policy’ meant nothing to her!”

Thor thanked him for his help, gave him his card and asked him to call if he thought of anything else. Then they rose and asked about Misty Blaine.