In Death 12 - Betrayal in Death

remember... Barry!" Blowing out a breath of relief, Hilo nearly smiled. "Yes, I'm sure she had a young man named Barry. He's on the bellstaff here. I remember because she was over the moon when he was able to switch to night shift. That way they had more time to spend with each other."
    "Do you know his last name?"
    "No, I'm sorry. She always lit up when she chattered about him."
    "Any spats recently?"
    "No, and believe me, I'd have heard about it. When one of them has a fight with a boyfriend or a girlfriend, we all hear about it. I'm sure... Oh. Oh!" The color that had crept into her face drained again. "You don't think he... Lieutenant, the way Darlene spoke of him, he seemed like such a nice young man."
    "It's just a routine question, Hilo. I'll want to talk to him, you see. To find out if he has any idea who might have hurt her."
    "I see. Of course."
    Both women looked over when the door opened and Roarke stepped in. "I'm sorry. Am I interrupting?"
    "No. We're finished for now. I may have to talk to you again," Eve told Hilo as she got to her feet. "But you're free to go now. I can arrange to have you taken home."
    "I've already taken care of that." Roarke crossed the room, took Hilo's hand. "There's a driver just outside. He'll take you home. Your husband's waiting for you. I want you to go straight there, Hilo, take a soother and go to bed. Take all the time you need. I don't want you worrying about work until you feel up to it."
    "Thank you. Thank you so much. But I think work might help."
    "Do what's best for you," Roarke said as he took her to the door.
    Hilo nodded, then looked back at Eve. "Lieutenant, she was a harmless little thing. Harmless. Whoever did this needs to be punished. It won't bring her back, but he needs to be punished. It's all we can do."
    It was all, Eve thought, and never quite enough.
    She waited until Roarke had finished a murmured conversation with what she assumed was the driver, then shut the door.
    "Where'd you disappear to?"
    "I had a number of things to see to, arrangements to make." He angled his head. "You don't care for civilians on your crime scenes in any case. There was little I could do there."
    "And a lot to do elsewhere?"
    "Do you want an accounting of my activities and whereabouts, Lieutenant?" Letting the question hang, he walked to the friggie bar and, opening it, selected a small bottle of white wine.
    As he poured out a glassful, it occurred to her that the way she'd asked didn't sound very chummy. "I just wondered where you were, that's all."
    "And what I was up to," he finished. "It's my hotel, Lieutenant."
    "Okay, okay, let's step back." She raked a hand through her hair while he coolly sipped his wine. "It's the second time in a few weeks you've had an employee hit at one of your properties. That's hard. Of course, if you factor in that you own half of the city -- "
    "Only half?" he interrupted with a glimmer of a smile. "I'll have to speak to my accountant."
    "Anyway, I could stand here and tell you it's not personal and you shouldn't take it personally, but that's pretty much bullshit because it is personal to you. I get that, and I'm sorry."
    "So am I. For what happened here and for almost looking forward to taking it out on you. Now that that diversion's been avoided, I'll tell you again, I had a number of things to see to. The event downstairs being one."
    He held out his glass of wine, but, as he'd expected, she shook her head. "The Palace and the upcoming auction are about to experience a media crisis," he continued. "Reporters salivate when a murder takes place in a well-known hotel, and you add all the star power downstairs and you have one hell of a story. It needs to be spun as quickly as we can manage. I also wanted to see that Hilo was taken care of."
    "It made a difference," Eve said quietly. "It'll go easier for her because you took the time."
    "She's worked for me for ten years." And for him, nothing else had to be said. "Word's already spread through the staff, and some panic needed to be avoided before it could set in. There's a young man on the bellstaff. Barry Collins."
    "The boyfriend."
    "Yes. He's taking it hard. I had him taken home. And before you slap at me for it," he said even as she wound up, "he was with two other of the bellstaff, dealing with luggage from an incoming medical convention during the time of the murder."
    "And how do you know the time of the murder?"
    "Brigham saw to it I was informed of the contents of the security