An Unwanted Guest(22)

‘What?’

‘I believe Dana was murdered.’

Matthew looks back at him as if it’s finally dawning on him. ‘Oh, God. No.’

‘I believe so, yes.’

A long moment passes, and then Matthew says, ‘You think I did it.’

‘I don’t know and I don’t want to know. But I am a criminal defence attorney and I am here to offer you some free advice until you can retain an attorney of your own.’

‘I didn’t kill her!’

‘Okay.’

‘I was asleep, I swear! I didn’t even know she’d left the room! Why would she do that? She’s never left our hotel room before. The bathroom is right here. She’s not a sleepwalker.’

And that’s just it. Why would she leave the room, David thinks – unless she’d argued with her fiancé? And then perhaps he followed her, in a rage. Lost control for a fatal moment. He doesn’t want to ask – he doesn’t want to get involved – but he does. ‘Did you two have an argument last night?’

‘What? No! Of course not. I love her! I could never hurt her!’ His voice has risen and he lowers it again. ‘There must be some reason she left. Maybe she heard something out in the hall. I don’t know. All I know is that I slept through all of it.’

‘You had no disagreements about anything, about … money? A pre-nup, perhaps?’

Matthew shakes his head dismissively. ‘No. Neither of us wanted, or needed, a pre-nup. We were in love – that’s the truth.’ He asks desperately, ‘Do you really think someone killed her?’

‘It looks that way to me,’ David says.

Matthew turns back to stare at the fire, fresh tears spilling from his eyes. ‘Dear God.’ He covers his face with his hands for a moment until he regains control. Then he removes them and turns to David. ‘If someone deliberately killed her, then I want to know who, and I want to know why.’ He looks back at David. ‘It wasn’t me, I swear.’ He is clearly tormented.

David observes Matthew shrewdly. He’s almost convinced the man is innocent. ‘Okay. But here’s my advice, anyway. Don’t say anything to anybody about this. Just – say nothing. It may not be a bad idea to stay up here in your room until the police get here. And when they do get here, if they caution you, and arrest you – and even if they don’t – say nothing. Get yourself a good attorney.’

Matthew has turned even paler. ‘What about you?’

‘I don’t think so. But I can recommend someone, if you like.’ David gets up to leave. He knows that with no phone service, there’s no one that Matthew can call, no one he can talk to. He’s isolated here. ‘Are you going to be okay?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘I’m here if you need me,’ he says. He means it. ‘I’ll check in on you again in a bit.’

Matthew nods and turns back to the fire.

David lets himself out.

Matthew hears the door click closed and turns to look. He’s alone again.

He stands up suddenly and begins to pace. He’s overcome with grief for Dana, but he’s also frightened and agitated by what David Paley has said. Dana is dead! And the attorney thinks he did it. If he thinks so, the police will think so, too.

He suppresses a sob as he paces the room. He told the attorney that he and Dana hadn’t argued, and now he thinks he’s made a mistake. He and Dana had argued, tension about the impending wedding erupting out of nowhere. They’ve both been under a lot of stress.

Dana had brought up his mother again – complaining that his mother has never approved of her, never thought she was good enough. Dana got like that sometimes – more often, recently – emotionally overwrought, a little insecure. Looking at her, you would never be able to tell that sometimes she lacked confidence, but occasionally she revealed it to him. It didn’t bother him. He was used to people – friends and girlfriends – being intimidated by his wealthy, powerful family.

He’d denied it, of course. Said that she was being oversensitive, that of course his mother approved of her. But he was tired of having to say the same thing over and over. Especially because it wasn’t exactly true. His mother did think he could do better, and she’d had the audacity to tell him so, on more than one occasion. She’d tried to get him to wait, thinking he would tire of Dana, thinking that he was simply taken in by Dana’s beauty and that his feelings for her would change. He’d made it clear to his strong-willed, wealthy matriarch of a mother that he loved Dana and that he was going to marry her. But it was wearying to be constantly caught between the two women, unable to entirely please – or appease – either one of them. Last night, his exasperation had got the better of him.

He wonders suddenly if anyone heard them arguing.





Chapter Eleven


Saturday, 8:00 AM


THE GUESTS FILTER slowly from the dining room into the lobby, subdued, avoiding the staircase, some of them still holding coffee cups.

Henry is cursing his luck. If only the snow had not turned to driving ice in the night this would have been a rather fabulous winter wonderland. He could have gone cross-country skiing all day, worked off some of this godawful tension. Now he stands close to the front windows of the lobby and looks gloomily out at the ice – coating everything like glass – and feels cheated. This hotel isn’t exactly cheap and everything seems to be conspiring to make him have a miserable time. He makes the mistake of glancing at his wife, who is watching him.