Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Chapter 9: Bond. Giraffe Bond.




Edward was very upset after the short meeting with his security manager. He didn’t go into details, but I had the feeling that something wasn’t right in the hotel. He insisted I stayed for dinner, even when I tried to excuse myself and leave. I didn’t want to disturb him more than he already was, so I suggested it’d be better if I left him to deal with his casino problems in peace. Apparently not one of my best ideas, he got more nervous, and I had never seen Edward like that. He looked frightened. I couldn’t imagine what kind of thing could scare a man like him, but of one thing I was certain, it couldn’t be good.

He ordered room service, and showed me around while we waited for our meal.

All the pent house of the Twilight was assigned to his private quarters, aside from a section on the east wing that housed an independent deluxe suite, but the layout was great, and they functioned as completely separated areas. Each part had their own terraces that faced different streets, and in Edward’s side there was even a swimming pool.

I couldn’t picture him in one of our local crowded beaches, so I guessed it made sense. Still, the thought of him bringing random girls to his private oasis made me feel uncomfortable.

What? You thought he was really a monk like Eva suggested?

I wasn’t really expecting him to live isolated on the top of his tower, like an improved, modern version of Quasimodo, but the more I knew about him, the less my mental image of him seemed to fit in his life.

He’s got a gorgeous dinning room with a small kitchen area on one side, and a good stocked bar on the other. Everything looked modern, and expensive, but so opposed to the Edward I knew that it seemed out of place.

Same thing happened with the rest of the rooms he showed me, from the living room to the study and the game room. Even his bedroom felt wrong. It was big, luxurious…and dead. Everything was generic, as in high-end hotel kind of generic, expensive and soulless.

How dared he try to imply I was the only one with problems?

He lived at a hotel, and even with the excuse of being the owner, there wasn’t a trace of him in his entire place.

All the rooms were beautiful and sterile, there were no framed photos, books, or knick-knacks, nothing that said a person lived permanently in there, and not somebody who was just passing by and would be gone the next day. To my best knowledge, his suitcases could be packed inside his closet.

I felt bad for him.

When the food arrived, the waiter went with the delivery cart directly to the dining room, while Edward took my hand, and led me to the table. The waiter was very formal and polite, and considering the way he moved in the suite, I wondered if Edward usually ate there alone. The man seemed surprised the moment he saw me, and though he quickly schooled his face back into its relatively expressionless state, I could catch a glimpse of it.

Interesting! Not so many romantic dinners for two at the Twilight’s penthouse…

Even my inner voice sounded more relaxed after that discovery.

Edward looked restless throughout our meal, barely smiling and putting too much effort in the conversation. I wondered what he wasn’t telling me. By the time we finished, he started stalling again, as if he didn’t want me to leave. He even sent somebody to pick my shopping bags from his car and bring them to the room. I thought he was crazy, because why would I want the bags up there, to have to carry them down again when I left? I didn’t mention it because he seemed a little more relaxed once they brought the bags. Perhaps he had some OCD tendencies I haven’t noticed before.

Finally we made our way to the elevator, but he stopped once again to make a call. The other person should have been waiting for his instructions, because they only crossed a few words.

The thought of the elevator made me a little excited, but Edward’s demeanour that evening didn’t let my hopes raise too much. Besides, carrying all the bags would have made difficult to try anything, not that I doubted the man was talented, but I was aware he wasn’t a porpoise.

He didn’t even glance at me on the way down, all the time speaking on his cell phone.

When the elevator came to a halt, and the doors opened, I discovered that we weren’t in the underground parking lot, but in a corridor that led to the entrance hall.

A huge man dressed in a dark suit with an earpiece in place approached us. It seemed that he was the one Edward had been talking to in the elevator, because he patted his back, and told him he had everything under control.

Another burly man dressed in a similar fashion walked toward us, nodded, and escorted us to the main door.

I was so curious about what was going on, that I haven’t even considered my clothes. I felt a little self-conscious when a few people looked in our way, but the Bond movie Edward and his staff were enacting had me way more engrossed.

The two guys flanked us as we walked into the street, and got in a black Mercedes.

Edward and I sat in the back, while burly-guy-number 1 went back into the hotel, and burly-guy-number 2 got in the driver’s seat.

I had always been a patient person, and I did’t usually tell others how to manage their business, but this situation had me in the middle of the action, and I wasn’t precisely a Bond Girl to be honest.

I couldn’t stand it anymore.

“Edward, what’s going on?”

“Don’t worry, love, everything’s ok.”

“Why don’t you tell yourself that, Edward? I think you missed the memo.”

He sighed, and shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

I felt bad, because I knew I was being bitchy, but I always got bitchy when I was anxious. Besides I might have been the one making him uneasy, but he was acting as if we were in a spy movie, and didn’t even consider sharing his reasons with me.

“We had a problem earlier, Bella. We’re still investigating it, but it appears that somebody planted a device to run electronic interference; we lost the sections 5 and 8 of the surveillance camera system for at least 20 minutes.”

“Was it a robbery?” I gasped, and covered my mouth with my hand. The idea of being in the middle of a casino robbery wasn’t appealing at all.

“No. We have a different camera system in those sections; they’re wired to our own surveillance room, the police department, and the security company. The odd thing’s that the cameras compromised are not placed in any area that moves money, or has anything to do with the casino itself. As a security measure, we closed all the other entrances, leaving only the main one to watch.”

“So you think that…”

“I can’t be sure of anything, not till the investigation is over. But the only reason we could come up to explain this, considering the cameras involved, is that somebody wanted to get in or out of the hotel without being seen.”

“A kidnapper? An assassin?” I was terrorized by that thought.

“Calm down, love,” he tried to sooth me taking my hand in his. “I wouldn’t go so far, there are a lot of crazy things that could happen at a casino hotel, and most of them wouldn’t make sense to you at all. For all I know, it could have been a guest with geeky tendencies pulling a stunt to have something to tell to his friends, it has happened before. Or there’s always the chance of corporate espionage…”

Oh, fudge! And I was about to tell you to put the popcorn down that there was no movie…

Edward helped me with the shopping bags once we arrived to my house, and asked me if I was ok. I wasn’t anywhere near fine, but I lied to avoid adding more problems to him.

He hugged me tight, and left.

I went to my bedroom, changed into my sleeping shirt, and tried to sleep, but I couldn’t help thinking about Edward. Was he all right? Was he even going to sleep that night? Was he safe? What if the assassin theory was the right one? What if somebody was there trying to kill Edward?

I jumped out of my bed, and started pacing frantically through my room.

There was nothing I could do to.

I couldn’t call him to make sure he was ok, because I risked waking him up if he was already sleeping, or interrupting him, if he was gathered with his security staff.

And he’ll realize you’re a pathetic little girl with stalkerish tendencies…

I started unpacking my shopping bags to busy myself doing something other than worrying.

I had already hung the jackets in my closet, when I stumbled upon a small backpack purse I didn’t recognize inside one of the bags.

A black leather backpack that clearly belonged to a woman. The problem was that the woman wasn’t me…



No comments:

Post a Comment