A Dangerous Affair

A Dangerous Affair Chapter 34

Stephanie waited for a couple of minutes, contemplating her course of action, and then she rushed out of the door to the reception area to question the receptionists further. When she got there however, she wasn’t entirely surprised to find that Tom had already beaten her to it and was in conversation with the dark haired lady. She eyed Tom as she approached the desk and addressed Mr Harvey instead. Tom’s eyes flitted momentarily to Stephanie as he continued his conversation.

“Sorry to bother you,” she began, hoping that her politeness would make the man more inclined to give her the information she sought, “we would really like to sort out this matter with the necklace, and I saw my colleague over there hand the necklace to a blonde haired woman, so I was just wondering if you can think of any point this evening when the desk might have been left by both of you, even for a short time,” She queried.

“I’m sorry Madam, but I am not able to discuss this matter with you at this point; it is now in the hands of the police,” he informed her.

She frowned at looked across at Tom who was apparently getting information off the other receptionist. That didn’t seem fair.

“I’d just like a chance to figure this out so that we can clear our names,” she appealed to him.

“I’m sorry Madam, but there is nothing more I can say,” he replied.

She stared at him, unsure of what to do or say next, and then, from the corner of her eyes, she noticed Tom rush off into the corridor leading to the suites. She ran after him and found him waiting by the lifts. The lift door opened, but she slid in front of Tom before he could get in, and held the lift door open with one hand.

“What did she tell you?” she asked him.

“Ah ha, you’re not struggling to figure this out Steph are you?” he said, noting the lack of space between them and smiling down at her.

“Well, if you have more information on this than me just because you managed to sweet talk the receptionist, I’d say that was a bit unfair, wouldn’t you? That man said that he couldn’t give me any information because it was in police hands.”

“That’s a bit unfortunate for you Steph,” he replied.

“Come on Tom, what did she tell you?” she appealed.

“What do I get for supplying you with this information?” he said, homing in on her lips.

She narrowed her eyes at him and then smiled sweetly as she slid her leg forward to brush it against his. The material of her dress fell away at the split and his eyes darkened, surprised at her boldness.

“You already have what you want if you find the necklace first, but you wouldn’t want to win unfairly would you now Tom?” she pouted.

He reached out his hand and ran a finger lightly over her lips. “I can wait,” he grinned. “She said that the woman was in the back room looking for a parcel and she called the man in to help her, so the desk was left unmanned for a short period of time. Now you need to move aside, because I have a necklace to find.”

She smiled and moved out of his way, back into the corridor. “Thank you Tom.”

He entered the lift and she hurried around the corner. She decided to take a quick look around that area of the hotel, checking everywhere she could think of to see if she could find the blonde haired woman. At least if she was in the same area as Tom, he couldn’t get much closer to finding the necklace than her.

Stephanie spent the next fifteen or so minutes checking out all the corridors and exits in that part of the hotel, trying to establish how the woman could have possibly got out, or where she could have gone. After a while though she realised that she was retracing her steps and getting nowhere, so she stopped by the stair rail on the third floor to reassess. In her mind, she collected together all the information she had and tired to recall Tom’s conversation with the woman he had handed the necklace to. This really didn’t help her much, until her mind went on to reconsider what Tom had told her the dark haired receptionist had said about leaving the desk unmanned. The seed of an idea began to sprout and grow, filling Stephanie with confidence that she may well have worked out where the necklace was. With renewed determination, she rushed down the stairs, heading for the ground floor, with the intention of returning to the reception again. Just as she reached the bottom few stairs, leading to the second floor,she noticed Tom making his way up the stairs from the first floor. She stopped on the last step as he approached her.