Elisabeth Crabtree - Pink Flamingo Hotel 01 - Death by Pink Flamingo by Elisabeth Crabtree Page A

something or other,” she said waving her hand around, clearly uninterested in that part of his life. She leaned forward excitedly. “Here’s the important part. He’s not married and he was asking a lot of questions about you.”
    “Such as?”
    “Oh, the usual. What’s your status? Are you seeing anyone? What have you been up to since high school? You know, basically, your entire life history from the moment he left until last night.”
    “And what did you say?”
    Victoria leaned back. “I played it cool.”
    I crossed my arms. If I knew my friend and I did, I was reasonably certain she did nothing of the sort. In fact, I was positive Jesse learned enough about me in a few minutes conversation with Victoria to write my biography. My friend, at heart, was an incurable romantic. “How cool?”
    She studied her fingernails again. “I told him the basics and that you weren’t seeing anyone.”
    I leaned my head back. “And?”
    She dropped her hand. “And that we were very upset when he left and he should have said good-bye or at the very least written a note.” Her brown eyes flashed angrily. “The nerve of him, thinking he could waltz back into our lives. I told him off.” She changed expressions and smiled happily. “I also said that we were the forgiving type and you were free next Saturday.”
    “Did you find out what he’s doing back here or why he left?”
    “No, he was really evasive about it all.”
    My eyebrows lifted. “And you still made a date with him for me?”
    She looked at me as though I was crazy . “It’s Jesse, not some stranger I met online. We grew up with him.”
    “It’s been a long time, Victoria. He could have changed for the worse, for all we know.”
    Victoria tilted her head to the side. “You know something I don’t?”
    I shook my head, wondering how I was going to be able to keep Sylvia’s death a secret for much longer. On the bright side, there was no way this day could possibly get any worse. Feeling more exhausted than I’ve ever felt in my life, I wearily stood up, walked to the hidden wall safe behind the desk and entered the combination. The door popped open. Oops, spoke too soon.
    “Well, don’t worry,” Victoria said from behind me. “I’m sure Jesse hasn’t become a deranged maniac since he was last in town … Anna, what’s wrong?”
    My heartbeat began to race as I felt along the interior of the safe.
    The empty safe.
    “Are you sure Sylvia put it in here?”
    Victoria stood up. “Absolutely. I watched her do it.” She peered into the safe. “Maybe she stole it.”
    I snorted. “Sylvia? Don’t be silly.” I couldn’t imagine Sylvia stealing Victoria’s necklace. The woman had been a stickler for rules. It would have gone against her entire fiber of being to do something illegal. “Sylvia may be a lot of things but a jewel thief wasn—isn’t one of them.”
    Victoria lightly stamped her foot. “Oh, I can’t believe it’s gone. Do you have another safe that I don’t know about?”
    “ No, I’m so sorry, Victoria. I don’t know what happened.”
    She lightly patted my arm. “Oh, don’t worry. I’m sure Dad has it insured. Besides, Sylvia probably just moved it somewhere.” She glanced back at the safe. “For some reason. Why don’t you give her a call?”
    “Yeah … I’ll do that.”
    “Wait a second.” Victoria’s eyes lit up. “You know what?”
    “What?” I asked, suddenly worried as to what my best friend had in mind.
    “Actually, this sounds like a case for our new detective!”
    I slammed the door to the safe shut a bit har der than I intended. “Oh good. That’s just what I was thinking.”

 
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    CHAPTER SIX
     
     
    “Diamonds as big as cabbages.” Victoria leaned across the reception desk and smiled up at Detective Luke Casey as she described her missing necklace. She leaned closer and examined his eyes. “Hey, you know, I have a sapphire necklace that’s the exact same