Near Dark (Scot Harvath #19)(99)

At the end of the meal, the manager came over to see how their lunch had been. They complimented him on the food and then he leaned in and said something to Dominique in French.

Smiling, she then relayed the offer to her clients. “Where are you staying tonight?”

S?lvi looked at Harvath and then back at their guide. “We actually hadn’t gotten that far. We were just going to drive around Normandy until we found something.”

Dominique’s smile broadened. “Well, now you don’t have to worry. They just had a cancellation here, upstairs. It’s only for one night, but it’s yours if you want it.”

Harvath hadn’t planned that far ahead yet. Once Nicholas had pinpointed Aubertin, he wanted to be ready to roll. With that said, there was no telling how long it could take. In fact, Nicholas had warned him not to expect a quick fix. It could be hours, or it could be days.

The idea of getting back in the Land Rover just to go to another hotel didn’t make much sense—not when they were already here.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” the guide continued. “Unbelievably romantic. More than half the tourists will be gone by five o’clock. I can meet you for another drink, we’ll go listen to vespers in the abbey at six-thirty, then you two can have dinner and walk the ramparts together. After a good night’s sleep and a hearty breakfast, we’ll meet at Utah Beach. How does that sound?”

“It does sound appealing,” Harvath admitted. “I’m still a little jet-lagged.”

He was also holding out hope that spending more time with the woman might result in getting a little more information out of her.

At the moment, and until they had something solid from Nicholas, they had nothing to lose.

“I guess we’ll do it,” he announced, sealing their decision.

“Wonderful. You can check in and take a power nap, while Mrs. Owen does a little shopping?”

“Or,” said S?lvi, “I can take the Passeur back to our car to grab our overnight bags.”

“And when you get back, then you’ll do some shopping.”

S?lvi smiled, raised her champagne, and the two women clinked glasses.

Calling the manager back over, Dominique told him that they would take the room. She then looked at her watch and apologized, explaining that she was going to have to get going if she was to meet her next clients on time.

Harvath settled up with her, added a nice tip—as S?lvi had promised—and they made a rendezvous for drinks that evening.

After she had gone and they had paid for lunch, the manager accompanied them to the front desk, where he handed them off to a young desk clerk, before disappearing back into the restaurant.

Though they had been introduced as Mr. and Mrs. Owen, the clerk didn’t bat an eye when they filled out the registration card with the names on their fake passports. Had the clerk questioned the discrepancy, a hint that they were both married to other people would have been all that was necessary. This was France after all. It wouldn’t have been the first time paramours had tried to keep their identities secret while checking into a hotel.

Accepting two key cards, they went upstairs and checked out the room.

Dominique hadn’t been kidding. It was romantic. Incredibly so.

The room maintained the overall La Mère Poulard color palette evident on the fa?ade of the building, as well as throughout the restaurant. The draperies were gold, the chairs and carpet red, and the soft bed linens a crisp white.

None of it compared to the views over the water through the large, open French windows. For a moment, Harvath was almost able to forget that this was an assignment.

“Is this going to be okay?” S?lvi asked.

“It’s great,” he replied, still looking out.

“Hey,” she chastised him, “I’m not talking about the view. I’m talking about this.”

Harvath turned to see her pointing at the queen-sized bed. Unlike their room in Sirmione, here there was no couch.

“Setting aside for the moment that a true Norwegian girl would have gotten us upgraded to a suite, I guess I’ll just have to trust you to respect me.”

“Me?” she replied. “To respect you?”

“Yes. My modesty and my virtue.”

She shook her head. “We’re going to need to light a lot of candles at the abbey tonight.”

“That’s okay, I saw an ATM outside.”

“Very funny. How did it go with her phone?”

“Perfect,” said Harvath. “Remind me to start putting my wallet in my front pocket when you’re around.”

S?lvi smiled. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“It is, and you should.”

“How long until your people have something?”

Harvath checked his phone to see if he had any messages from Nicholas. So far, there was nothing. “Tech is always unpredictable,” he said. “Sometimes the hardest jobs are the easiest, and the jobs you think will be the easiest are the hardest.”

“Well, you get your beauty sleep. I’m going to go get our bags.”

“I’m happy to come along and help.”

“Don’t worry about it,” she said. “You want me to grab your black one, right?”

“They’re all black.”