Fighting to Survive (As the World Dies #2)(45)

***

After missing Juan at the elevator, Travis headed down to the lobby and found him nowhere in sight. Confused, he walked toward the front desk and found Peggy printing out what looked like a map of their area.

“Peggy, have you seen Juan?”

“Uh-mm...no. Not recently.”

Travis leaned against the counter and thought for a second. “Can I see the duty roster?”

“Sure,” Peggy answered, and handed it to him. She began to use a highlighter to draw circles around areas on the map.

“So Juan didn't just come down to see the roster?”

“No, no.”

Travis sighed with relief. Maybe Juan wasn't trying to track down Jimmy.

“Something wrong?” Peggy’s big eyes regarded him curiously. “I saw him stalking around earlier this morning before everyone got up bitchin’ about Jimmy. He looked at the roster then.”

“Shit,” Travis exclaimed, and quickly found where Jimmy was supposed to be. Juan’s temper was building up to an explosion.

“What's wrong?”

“Nothing,” Travis lied, heading back to the elevators.

As he listened to the whir of the elevator rising, he stood in quiet frustration. Couldn't they have just a nice little period of no major drama? Couldn't they just f*cking enjoy the hotel without all of this? Hell, he couldn't even enjoy being with Katie this morning. He was already in work mode.

The doors slid open and he strode out swiftly. Ahead of him, a door was propped open and the early morning rays were filtering into the long hallway in a stream of light. Juan walked out into the hall and stood there, looking angry.

“Juan, you didn't do anything--”

“He's not f*cking at his post,” Juan answered. “I told you he was a *.”

Travis lifted an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“Not there. We have no coverage in the front of the hotel. The f*cker is off picking his ass.”

Travis walked into the hotel room and looked around. There was a chair near the window, which was open, and the curtains were pulled back. A table was strewn with soda cans and an ashtray.

Moving toward the window, he looked out. The street had a few of the shambling-type of zombies wandering around.

“I told you he is a f*cking * that doesn't give a shit about anyone or anything,” Juan ranted behind him.

Travis looked directly downward and froze. “Shit, Juan. What did you do?”

“Huh?”

Below him, in a bush, was what remained of Jimmy struggling to get up.

Juan leaned out next to him. “Oh, man.”

“Juan,” Travis said again, very softly, “What did you do?”

“Nothing! I swear. I got in here and he was not at his post!”

Travis rubbed his brow.

“I did not throw him out of the gawddamn window, Travis!”

“Then who did?” Travis asked. “Then who did?”





3. Judgment is Drawn


Travis stood in the corner with his arms folded across his chest. His face was solemn and his gaze intense. The Mayor, Peggy, Curtis, and Juan all sat around the Hotel Manager’s office in an uncomfortable silence. Jenni and Katie stood near the door, both of them looking very pensive.

Nerit strode in, her rifle over one shoulder, and looked at Travis. “It’s taken care of.”

Bill followed her in holding a notepad and looking very official. “Okay, we hooked the body after Nerit put him down and dragged it up to a balcony. I examined it and even though there was extreme damage to the corpse, I was able to conclude that there was no sign of trauma other than some abrasions on his knees and hands. I think he was pushed out the window fully conscious. There was no sign of head injury other than his eyes and parts of his face missing.”

Manny fidgeted, then said, “Could he have fallen?”

“I might have considered that a possibility if not for the fact that we already had one murder,” Bill answered.

“I didn’t do it,” Juan said softly.

“I hate to say it, but you are the most likely suspect right now, Juan. Both Ritchie and Jimmy were people you had a beef with,” Bill said.

“We all had issues with Ritchie to some extent and Jimmy did piss off a lot of people yesterday,” Travis pointed out.

“It could have been me,” Jenni said defiantly.

“True. We could have two different murderers on our hands, but the fact remains that two people were pushed out of the safety of our fort and left to die at the hands of the zombies,” Bill said in a very serious tone.

“I can deal with this if you want, Manny” Curtis said to the Mayor.

“No offense, Curtis, but I think Bill should deal with this. He has a lot more experience than you and he is an outsider so he isn’t biased,” the Mayor answered.

“No one is an outsider anymore,” Katie spoke up. “We’re all intertwined in each others lives. There could be many more people with a beef against both of the victims. We can’t just go after the first convenient suspect. You need a solid case before any action is taken to make sure we’re not just on a witch hunt. You need a solid case.”

“Spoken like a true prosecutor,” Bill said with amusement.