“Here’s what’s going to happen, I need to look for Mr. Takac, but I can’t leave you alone. I also can’t take you with me. So, I hate to do this, but I’m locking you all in the conference room and going to look for Mr. Takac. The chef and the maid already brought the food and some drinks in there already.”
“You can’t lock us all in there. We’ll be sitting ducks,” Johnny said angrily.
“We want to know where Robby is too. We could help you llok for him,” Rayna was trying very hard to stay calm.
“Miss Marie, trust me. I want all of you in the conference room, now.” The chef, the maid, the man from the counter, and the young boy went into the conference room unquestioningly. Rayna looked at Johnny for a moment and then grabbed his hand.
“Come on, Johnny,” she turned and began to pull him.
“But, Rayna...” Rayna spun around and put her finger to Johnny’s lips.
“No, Johnny. We have to do this for Robby. If it will help Robby, we have to.” There were tears in Rayna’s eyes and Johnny couldn’t say no. He put his arm around Rayna’s shoulders and walked her into the conference room. McCaid followed them to the door.
“Mr. Bancroft, may I have the keys?” The man from the counter tossed him a large ring of keys. “Thank you. I’ll be back soon.” McCaid closed the door and locked it from the outside. Johnny helped Rayna into one of the overstuffed chairs on wheels. He pulled another chair next to her, sat down, and turned her to face him.
“Rayna. Ray, look at me, Ray.” Rayna slowly lifted her face him in the eyes. “He’s okay, Rayna. I know he is and Rayna, Rayna look at me. None of this is your fault.”
“You don’t know that Johnny. You don’t know that,” Rayna said through clenched teeth.
“What do you mean this isn’t her fault?” the chef spoke up suddenly. “What’s her connection to all of this?”
“It’s a long story, that I’m sure you really don’t really want to know,” Rayna said, looking up at him.
“I think we have the right to know.”
“Leave her alone,” Johnny said, anger flashing in his eyes.
“I don’t think I was talking to you.”
“Lay off, Tony.” Mr. Bancroft said.
“Well, if she has anything to do with all of this, don’t you think we deserve to know.”
“Tony,” Bancroft warned, Tony walked towards Rayna and spun her chair around.
“Well, little miss rock star, don’t you ever think you are more fucking important than any of us. You’ll die the same as all fo us. Now talk.”
“Fuck off,” Johnny stood up quickly.
“Oh, you think you’re some big rock star too. Well look how far it got your friend.” Rayna could feel the tension building between Tony and Johnny, that last comment had cut to the core. If someone didn’t do something soon, they were going to beat the hell out of each other.
“Stop it! Just fucking stop it,” the young boy screamed. “My sister and grandmother are dead, their friend is missing, and two other people are dead. Have some fucking respect.”
“Marco, such language,” the maid scolded.
“Sorry mama, but Tony is just making me so angry.” There were tears streaming down his face.
“Oh baby, come here.” The maid stood up and opened her arms. Marco stood and walked into hug. “Shh, shh, baby. It’s okay. Mama’s here. Mama’s here.” She stroked his hair and looked up at Tony. “Tony, you leave that poor girl alone. She’s feeling guilty enough as it is, she doesn’t need your help.”
“But, Aunt Trella...”
“No buts, Tony. Now just sit down and eat something.” Trella walked Marco over to a chair and sat him down. She pulled a tissue out of her pocket and handed it to him. Johnny and Tony glared at one another for a moment and then sat down. The whole room sat in silence, watching their food get cold.
Robby woke up, his head aching very badly. He couldn’t move and he couldn’t see anything. He attempted to call out but his mouth was taped shut. He pulled on his arms and legs, but they were tied to something. From the feel of it, he guessed that he was tied to a bed.
“The last thing I remember is walking into my room to get drinks. I wonder what happened,” Robby thought to himself. Robby heard the door click open.
“Oh, we’re awake now, are we? Well, I’ll have to take care of that.” Robby struggled against the ropes to no avail. He felt the rag cover his nose and seconds later he passed out.
“How long has he been gone?” Johnny asked, as he paced back and forth across the room.
“About an hour,” Bancroft said, looking at his watch.
“Oh god, does anybody have a corkscrew?” Rayna asked, fighting with the cork in a wine bottle.
“Rayna, now isn’t the time to be drinking,” Johnny scolded.
“Fuck you, Johnny. You’re not my father and right time or not, I’m drinking this. If I can get the fucking cork out.” Rayna was in no mood to be told what to do. Johnny rolled his eyes, took the bottle from her, and pulled the cork out.
“Here,” he said, shoving the bottle at her. “Happy now.” Rayna yanked the bottle from his hand, took a swig, and glared at him.
“An hour is an awful long time,” Marco said thoughtfully.
“Maybe we should go look for him,” Johnny offered with a shrug.
“Okay genius, how are we going to get out of the locked room?” Tony said spitefully.
“Well,” Rayna said, running her finger around the top of the wine bottle. “If I were the owner of the place and I knew I was about to be locked in a room with a killer on the loose, I would grab the spare keys.” Jaws dropped at Rayna’s insight and they all turned slowly to look at Bancroft.
“What!” Bancroft said.
“Well, is she right?” Tony raised his eyebrow.
“So what if she is, we are not leaving this room,” Bancroft glared at Rayna.
“But we’re locked in here,” Tony was obviously confused.
“Right and the killer’s locked out there,” Bancroft pointed at the door.
“Not necessarily. The killer could be locked in here as well,” Rayna was full of ideas that night.
“If they are, why haven’t they killed us yet,” Bancroft apparently thought she was an idiot or drunk.
“Well, don’t you think it would be rather suspicious if you were the only one to survive the slaughter of all the people locked in this room,” Rayna said, taking long drink of the wine.
“So, what do you think, Bancroft, are you going to let us out or not?” Johnny asked, grabbing the wine from Rayna and taking a long drink.
“I thought now wasn’t the right time to drink, Johnny,” Rayna glared at him. Johnny shrugged Rayna’s comment off.
“Let’s wait thirty minutes. If he’s not back in thirty minutes, we’ll go look for him.”
“Thirty minutes then we look for him. You are not going to back out of this.” Johnny stared at Bancroft waitng for a response.
“No, I’m not going to back out on this,” Bancroft assured him.
Rayna felt the problems of the world lift from her shoulders, as light as her head was. She knew that she shouldn’t be getting drunk right now, but she was pretty sure that something would come along and kill her buzz pretty soon anyway. Even through the drunken haze, her mind was constantly running with possibilities of where Robby was at the moment. Bloody scene after bloody scene flashed through her mind, punctuated by a long drink of alcohol.
Johnny knew he was being a hypocrit, but he couldn’t help it anymore than Rayna could. He didn’t know what he would do without Robby and he still didn’t know how they got mixed up in this mess. It was like some twisted episode of Scooby Doo, where all of the gang was showing up dead. It felt so wrong, it just felt so wrong. He reached for the bottle Rayna gripped tightly.
Rayna followed the bottle into Johnny, leaning heavily against his chest. Johnny took a long drink of the wine and put his arms around her.
“It’s amazing how close, how dependent people can become in times of crisis, even when they had only recently met,” Johnny and Rayna thought simultaneously. Rayna wrapped her arms around Johnny’s waist, and squeezed her eyes tight against another nightmarish vision.
Time practically lurched to a stand still, while the group waited to leave the room. They all sat lost in their own thoughts, counting the minutes.
“Oh mama, oh my baby,” Trella prayed silently, crossing herself.
“If only there was something I could have done. If only I could have been there,” Marco’s thoughts ran with if only’s. If only he knew that it wasn’t his fault.
“That bitch is holding something back, and what about that other big shot rock star, what’s he got to hide?” Tony’s short temper flared closer and closer to explosion.
“Why me? Why my hotel? Why here? Why now? Why?” Bancroft’s hotel had already been losing business and he didn’t think that this would help much.
It was a good thing they weren’t socializing, their concerns ran the gauntlet from self-serving to guilt, anger to confusion. Talking would have only served to heighten the pre-existing tension in the room.
Johnny kissed Rayna on the top of the head and squeezed her tighter, trying to hold on to reality.
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