Chapter One
Someone Got There First
Nessa Fennick had travelled all afternoon to be alone. Someone had got there first.
There was a man's bag beside her bed. There was a man's jacket on one of her chairs. There was a man in the bathroom, saying, "I think you've got the wrong room."
She remained in the doorway. "That's a very confident diagnosis from inside my bathroom."
He appeared fully dressed, with his sleeves rolled back and a small towel in his hands. His hair was dark and wavy. His expression suggested that she was an unexpected item in a delivery he had already signed for.
"Room Four?" he asked.
"Yes."
"Then one of us has a problem."
"I was hoping you would take that on."
The man looked at her suitcase. It was citron yellow and had acquired a dark scuff during the journey, which Nessa had decided to regard as character. It stood firmly between them. She put a hand on its handle in case it was thinking of surrendering.
"Did Jory give you a key?" he asked.
She held it up.
He put the towel down and took an identical key from his pocket. They regarded the two little brass objects. Hers had a yellow paper tag. His had a mint one.
"Perhaps yours is decorative," she suggested.
"It opened the door."
"Mine too. We shall have to judge them on personality."
For the first time, his mouth moved toward a smile. It was an attractive mouth. This struck Nessa as irrelevant and faintly underhand.
