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Chapter Three: The Guided Tour - Part Three
Lenten
Lenten knocked on Suite 315’s door, Mei at his side. This was the sixth time this month that Juniper Emmer had complained about some strange noise coming from the back corner of her closet. But every time they’d come to check on it, not only had the noise stopped but they couldn’t find any sign of a source for it—if it even existed. It was simply a courtesy call.
The Elysium prided itself on impeccable service.
“Juniper,” Lenten called from the hall, “we’re here to check on the noise.”
When no answer came, he craned his neck, placing an ear to the door, at the strange tumbling clatter coming from inside the room. He knocked again. “Juniper?”
He fished into his pocket for his hotel master key that dangled from a gold chain like a pocket watch, slightly worried when a response still didn’t come.
But when he heard a high-pitched giggle followed by a disturbingly familiar chuckle, any concern he might have felt fled. His cheeks flushed a bright, hot red.
“Oh.” He shook his head as his jaw stiffened. “Flax,” he hissed, his voice strained, irritated, and hotly embarrassed.
“Be out in a second, boss,” a smug voice rang out happily before being shushed between laughter.
Lenten sighed and covered his blushing face, even as he heard Mei’s quiet laugh. Lenten felt his jaw tighten further.
Flax, a particularly rakish guest, slid out of the partially opened door, a wide, satisfied smile plastered on his face. Lenten heard Mei’s gasp, saw the strategically bunched-up pile of clothes clutched in the tall, nude man’s left hand, and stiffly kept his unblinking gaze above the grinning man’s waist even as he felt his already heated face grow hotter still.
“Boss,” the lean man greeted impertinently with a mock bow of his head, his black eyes glittering with humor. Turning, he caught Mei’s eye and raised a well-arched eyebrow. “Ma’am.”
Lenten straightened to full height, his shoulders tensing in the uncomfortable stance. He coughed and tried to force his voice not to waver. “We have standards at this hotel, Flax, which include certain codes of dress and conduct,” he said in a voice that—thankfully—wasn’t quite as unsteady as he felt, moving to place himself firmly between the man and Mei. “You can’t just do whatever you want. You know that. You can’t run around dressed,” he paused, thinking that didn’t sound quite right, before continuing on anyway, “like that.”
Flax let his gaze drop down low before he cocked an eyebrow at Lenten, his mouth twitching with amusement.
Lenten shot him a scolding look. “You know what I mean.”
“No shoes, no shirt, no service;” Flax drawled breezily, as he moved past the other man, “got it, boss.” He swaggered down the hallway, back turned and completely unconcerned with his nudity. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got lunch to start. Let it never be said I slack off on the clock, boss. I’ll see you and the missus later. Mei,” he said with another nod, prompting yet another girlish giggle from Mei and another gritted frown from Lenten. “Juniper,” the rogue called over his shoulder.
Lenten turned from the shamelessly strutting man back to the doorway, which was now cracked slightly open with Juniper leaning dreamily against its frame. “See you,” the languid woman cooed coyly.
Lenten watched the woman follow the rise and fall of the other man’s gait, a quiet, contented sigh escaping her lips.
He coughed. “Juniper?” And then again. “Juniper.”
It wasn’t until Flax had turned down the hall and out of her line of sight that she peeked up to face him. “Lenten, Mei, I’m so sorry about that,” the buxom blond apologized breathily, clutching at the corners of the fluffy, white robe she’d hurriedly wrapped her full-figured form in.
“If you would rather,” Mei said softly, “we could come back later at a more convenient time.”
“No, no,” Juniper said with a wave of her hand, “of course not. Flax just stopped by my room to check on the noise, but, uh, he couldn’t figure it out either.”
“Right,” Lenten said as she stepped back to allow him and Mei through. “Of course.”
“But he did hear it,” Juniper announced triumphantly. “Flax, that is. He heard the noise this time too.”
Lenten looked back at her. That was a first, a witness. “The noise is coming from the closet, right?”
“Yes,” Juniper said as she ushered them to the familiar walk-in closet. “Same as before, but this time it was louder than it usually is. It’s quieted down since then, but it’s still there. Creepy stuff. It sounded like talking, but damned if I could understand a thing.”
“Talking?” Lenten said, arching an eyebrow as he knelt down in the back corner. He lowered his head, almost certain that this would turn into yet another fruitless search.
But then, he did hear something. It was slight.
Bringing a finger to his lips, he looked at the two women hunched over him. He moved on his hands and knees, his pants catching on the thick carpet, searching for the noise.
There.
Lenten listened to it for a second, letting his mind focus in on it and finding it strangely familiar. “Mei,” he said, beckoning her to him.
“What is it?” Juniper asked, excited to finally be believed.
He shifted to allow Mei access to the sound. “Mei would know best, but I think it’s Chinese.”
“Chinese?” Juniper squeaked. “What’s Chinese doing in my closet?”
“That,” Lenten said, pushing the wide array of hanging clothes aside, “is a good question.” He touched the plain, white wall, but found nothing odd.
“Well,” Juniper hurried, “what’s it saying?”
“Like I said, Mei would know better than me,” Lenten said, taking off his glasses to squint at the wall, “but my rough translation would be: ‘his only wish was to see his sister.’ ”
“Sister,” Mei whispered.
Lenten turned. She was kneeling down, one hand resting on the wall and the other digging into the carpet. Her glazed eyes gazed out at nothing and her body seemed pulled tight. “Mei?” Lenten said, laying a worried hand on her tense shoulder.
She flinched and turned to look up at him, her black eyes confused. Then she blinked and was back. “Uh, yes,” Mei said, standing up, “there are two voices. One is the granddaughter of a man who died, telling her great aunt that her grandfather passed peacefully. He’d only wished that before he had gone that he’d been able to see his sister again.” She stepped around Lenten and Juniper into the suite again. “But he couldn’t.”
“Oh,” Juniper sighed, “that’s so sad.” She tiptoed after Mei voraciously voyeuristic in her bunny slippers that squeaked as she stepped. “What else?”
“Her great aunt was glad her sister had vanished,” Mei continued sadly. “Glad her brother hadn’t lived to see her return to shame their family, if she dared. She prayed, wherever her sister had gone, that she stayed there and never came back.”
“Anything else?” Juniper asked.
“More importantly,” Lenten interjected from still inside the closet, “what is it doing in your room?” He walked out of the closet. “Juniper, we’ll need to get a good look around your closet to figure out where the voices are coming from and, until we can get rid of it, we’d be more than happy to transfer you to a different suite.”
“Oh, that’s okay, really,” Juniper breathed. “Now that I know I’m not crazy, it’s kind of exciting. Do you think my closet’s haunted?”
“Haunted?” Lenten asked, blinking.
“Yeah,” she said, shrugging, “you know, like, ghosts. How cool is that?” Excitedly, she clapped her hands. “We could do a séance!”
Mei and Lenten just stared at the woman, unsure of what to say. “If you’d rather stay in this suite,” Lenten continued after a long moment of silence, “you’re more than welcome. But, we’d appreciate it if you’d let us look at your closet later.”
“Sure,” she answered. “Come back anytime you want. It’s much more fun knowing what they’re saying. Like a soap opera or one of those telenovelas.”
“Those are in Spanish,” Mei said.
“Spanish, Chinese, it all sounds the same to me,” Juniper said with a shrug as Lenten and his companion stepped out into the hallway. “Come back soon. I’m dying to know what happens to the granddaughter and the sister.”
When the door was shut behind them, Lenten turned to Mei. “Strange that even after all these years, this old place can still surprise me.”
“Hmm?” she asked, distracted. “Oh, yes. Very strange.”
He looked at her out of the corner of his eye. She had her head down, and with her hair pulled back like that, he could see her worried expression. Her lips were pursed and her brow furrowed as her eyes blinked furiously. He smiled, trying to lighten her mood. “Don’t tell me you’re afraid of ghosts.”
“Pardon?” she asked, confused, looking at him bewildered. “Oh, the voices. No. No, it’s not that.”
He tilted his head. “But it is something, right? You look upset.”
“No,” Mei replied with a quick shake of her hand. “No, I’m not. It was just,” she bit her lip and shrugged before sighing. “I don’t know. It’s nothing, I suppose.”
“You’re upset,” Lenten said, shaking his head. He knew that he shouldn’t have taken her along. “You’re thinking of your brother, aren’t you?”
“My brother?”
“You seemed...sad in the closet.” She turned her head looking at him questioningly. “I thought maybe you were remembering him.”
She stared at him silently for a moment, blinking, her eyes still clouded with confusion. “No,” she murmured finally, “no, I wasn’t.”
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