“How?” she demanded.
Dallas hesitated. “It might be a cliché, but killers do sometimes return to the scene of the crime. Sometimes, they’re sick bastards who come back to enjoy the kill all over again. Sometimes they come back to watch the cops and see what they’ve discovered. There’s every chance the killer was in that alley this morning. But say he wasn’t. That newswoman shot a lot of footage, and you’re bound to be in it. Just as a precaution, rent me a room.”
She stared at him, but he couldn’t tell what she was thinking. She was too damn good at keeping her face expressionless.
“I have good locks.”
“You could have the best locks ever invented,” he told her, “and if someone wants to get in, they’ll get in.”
She moved ahead of him and unlocked the door. She went inside without looking back to see if he followed, but she didn’t slam the door on him, either. He followed her to the reception desk, where she opened a drawer and produced a set of keys.
“The whole house is empty, right?” he asked her.
“At this moment? Yes.”
“Then I’d like the Melody Chandler room, please.”
“What?” she asked.
He let out a sigh that he hoped didn’t sound as impatient as he felt. His start with Hannah had not been a good one, and it didn’t seem as if they were going to get along any better now.
“I told you,” he said quietly, “I’m from here. This was Melody Chandler’s home. She lived here when the man she loved, Hagen Dundee, died trying to save passengers off the Wind and the Sea when she went down. When I was a kid, I took a ghost tour and the guide pointed out her window. I’d like to stay in her room.”
“I sleep in Melody Chandler’s room,” she told him.
“Ah,” he murmured. “Then give me her father’s room, the Ian Chandler room.”
For a long moment she stared at him.
“Please,” he said. His tone was gruff, and he realized that even when he was trying to be polite, he sounded like an ass. And he didn’t know why. What was it about her that brought out this side of him?
He couldn’t help it. He pictured Jose Rodriguez. Dead.
And he pictured Adrian Hall where she, too, had lain dead in a pool of her own blood.
He pulled out his wallet to produce a credit card.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. “You’re staying here for one night to make sure I don’t get killed. I’m not going to charge you.”
“Don’t be silly. I’ll put it on an expense report.”
“You want to stay here—stay here. If not, leave. I won’t charge an officer of the law for doing what he sees as his duty.”
“Fine. Keys, please.”
She slammed a set of keys down on the desk. “I give a ghost tour at eight. I never take more than sixteen people out. They start arriving around 7:30 p.m. We’re here for about thirty minutes, starting from eight. I’m back at about 10:30.”
“Great. Sign me up.”
“I’m fully booked for tonight.”
“Consider me a special guest.”
“I only take sixteen.”
“Then think of me as an annoying fly following you wherever you go.”
She looked at him, her face giving everything away this time. She was tense and exasperated.
“Don’t you have some investigating to do? You’re not going to find Jose’s murderer by following me around.”
“Jose?” he asked. “You’re talking as if you knew him. As if you two were on a first-name basis.”
“Why shouldn’t I use his name? It was Jose, right?” she demanded, her voice as tight as her jaw.
“Yes. His name was Jose,” Dallas said. He pointed at the desk. “Are those my keys?”
She nodded, still staring at him.
He took the keys. “Keep the doors locked at all times, at least until this guy is caught.”
“What about people coming for the tour, or, eventually, guests, who arrive at all times during the day?”
“Let them ring the bell.” Unwilling to argue anymore, he started upstairs before he remembered he didn’t know where he was going.
He started back down.
“Turn left at the landing. Ian Chandler’s room is the first one on the left. You’ll find it easily enough. All the rooms have plaques by the doors that identify them.”
“Thanks,” he said gruffly, but he didn’t move. He didn’t know why he was hesitating.
“Hey,” she said.
“Yeah?”
“Why did you want Melody Chandler’s room?”
“I heard the legend growing up. She’s still supposed to haunt the room.”
“And you want to see a ghost?” she asked.