Murder With Reservations by Elaine Viets Page A

back in the lobby, asking for the ice machine,” Denise said. “Sondra will call me when he goes up to his room. He’s staying in 210.”
    “That’s on this floor,” Helen said, panic clawing at her insides. Suddenly the housekeeping room seemed small and suffocating. She wanted to rabbit down the stairs and out into the fresh air. The past and all her mistakes were too close. “I have to get out of here. I can’t come back to the hotel until he checks out, and he won’t leave until he finds me. What am I going to do? I’ll have to quit this job. I like it here.” That last sentence was said with a slight tremble. Helen realized it was true.
    “You don’t have to leave,” Denise said. “We’ll protect you.”
    “How am I going to get out of here without Rob seeing me?”
    “We’ll sneak you out while he’s in his room. There’s no reason for you to quit work. We’ll bring you up the back stairs and you can clean on three. He won’t go up there.”
    “But he’ll see me when I leave,” Helen said.
    “Not if you take the stairs. Only the health nuts use them. Most guests take the elevator. We can get you safely in and out.”
    “Don’t forget you’re a maid,” Cheryl said. “No one notices us. That smock is your cloak of invisibility.”
    There was a squawk on Denise’s walkie-talkie. “Subject heading for his room,” Sondra reported.
    Denise waited a few minutes, then grabbed a stack of towels. “Reconnaissance,” she said. “I’ll be back.”
    She returned shortly, without the towels. “Your ex has the Do Not Disturb sign on his door. It’s safe to leave.”
    “What happened to your towels?” Helen said.
    “Guy letting himself into 212 wanted extras,” Denise said.
    Helen stood up, surprised at how good she suddenly felt. She wasn’t afraid anymore. The other maids would protect her. She would survive.
    “Let’s get you out of here,” Denise said. She opened the door and studied the hall. “We’ll make a run for the stairs on the count of three. One. Two. Three.”
    Denise and Cheryl surrounded Helen like trained bodyguards. They briskly crossed the hall to the stairs and threw open the door without stopping. Helen ran down to the parking lot. Once outside, she breathed in the humid air. She was free.
    “I’ll drive you home,” Cheryl said.
    “I’d rather walk,” Helen said. “Thank you both for your help. I appreciate it.”
    “Any woman would do it,” Denise said.
    But Helen knew her own mother wouldn’t help her. She’d send Helen back to Rob’s lying arms. She’d say it was Helen’s wifely duty to put up with his infidelity. She’d endured her own husband’s tomcatting, and she expected her daughter to do the same.
    Helen found a pay phone two blocks from the hotel and called Margery. “Rob’s staying at my hotel,” she said.
    “On purpose?” Margery asked. “By accident.”
    “He hasn’t come to the Coronado,” Margery said. “Come home and relax. We can see any cars that pull into the parking lot. There’s no way he’s getting by me.”
    On the walk home, Helen was acutely aware of small, odd scenes: A bright burst of red flowers. A brown lizard with a throbbing orange throat. A dignified old woman in a motorized wheelchair, her Boston terrier riding at the helm. Could Rob take her away from this rich, colorful life? Then she remembered Rhonda, whose lover promised to take her away to something better. She hoped the troubled maid was enjoying the lush life.
    Margery met her by the gate to the pool. Her landlady was wearing purple espadrilles and ruffled shorts the color of an old bruise. “There’s no sign of that buzzard,” she said. “I’ve been on the lookout for him. Peggy’s on the alert, too. Even Pete’s watching. We’re all out by the pool. There’s someone I wanted you to meet.”
    “Please don’t tell me Cal’s back. I can’t face him right now.” Helen had had an embarrassing romantic interlude with the long-term