Chapter 3
The next morning, she was up at her usual time, even the comfortable bed couldn’t break her habit of rising with the sun. After a leisurely meal in the breakfast room, a stunning glass enclosure that had clearly been added after original construction, she ended up back in her room with nothing to do. She’d already spent hours the night before wandering around the internet looking for information about both Marshall and Simone.
She found plenty of information about Marshall and his family, but nothing about Simone, not even a Facebook or Twitter account. It made her slightly uncomfortable that the woman appeared to be a ghost, everyone had some presence on the internet, even if it was just a basic profile, but there was absolutely nothing about Simone. What she really needed was a reliable source of gossip, but she had no idea where to find someone who could tell her what she wanted to know.
Frustrated, she closed her computer and looked at the clock, it was only ten, she had hours left to kill before Seth might be able to get in contact with Marshall and set up a meeting. Standing at the window looking out at the downtown area, she considered her options. She could do something educational — there were museums and art galleries all over the city. Anchorage had a rich history and she knew very little about the town. Then Seth’s suggestion popped into her mind, a trip to the spa sounded appealing, she’d never been to one before and Seth had said that he’d pay.
The more she thought about it, the better the idea began to sound — she wouldn’t go crazy, maybe just have her nails done. When she got on the elevator and the doors closed, she almost pushed the open-door button feeling guilty about spending Seth’s money. But then she thought about it some more, Seth was always generous with his money, and she was doing him a favor, a paid favor but a favor none the less.
If he hadn’t suggested it, she would have never considered going to the spa, but he had so she was going to go. She pushed the button for the lobby, suddenly excited about the prospect of being pampered a little, something she rarely allowed herself. When she walked into the spa she felt out of place, unsure what to ask for or how to behave, but the nice woman behind the counter swept her into the back as soon as she gave her name.
“Oh, I’m so glad you decided to come in today. Mr. Montgomery called and said that you might, he said to give you the full treatment, that you’re supposed to consider it a bonus.” The woman said, handing her a cup of coffee and a sweet roll.
“Seth called you?” Heather asked, taking the food from the woman, wondering what she thought about a married man paying her spa bill.
“Don’t worry he explained everything…well not everything, but he said that you were here working for him on a secret project. It’s all very exciting, we don’t get much excitement around here.” The woman said, with a laugh. “I’m Marci by the way.”
“It’s nice to meet you Marci. I have to tell you though, what I’m doing isn’t really all that exciting.” Heather said, shaking her head. “Leave it to Seth to make something bigger out of it than it really is.”
“Well, I still think it sounds exciting, but we have a lot of work to do, so let’s get started.” Marci said, pulling Heather to her feet. “We’re going to have so much fun today.”
“I think I’ll just get my nails done.” Heather said, as she followed Marci to the nail station.
“Nonsense, Mr. Montgomery said the works and that’s what we’re going to do. Sit down here, we’ll start with the facial. Have you ever had one before?” Marci asked, pulling Heather’s wavy hair away from her face. “You have nice skin, we won’t need to do much and we should put some highlights in your hair. If we go a shade lighter than your regular color will compliment your dark skin.” Marci was getting excited and Heather knew that she wouldn’t take no for an answer so she gave in.
An hour later, Heather was sitting with her feet in a wonderfully hot whirlpool of water, her face covered with some kind of mud, and cucumbers over her eyes. She was drifting on a cloud, more relaxed than she’d been in a long time, and Marci had promised her a massage next. She had no idea how much Seth was paying for this, but it was worth every penny, her guilt had long ago faded with the pampering she was receiving.
Thinking of Seth reminded her of why she was here and the thought of the impending meeting with Marshall made butterflies erupt in her stomach. More than anything else, she wished that she knew more about Simone, had at least some idea about the woman’s past. It made it very difficult to evaluate the situation when she was this clueless.
A loud, demanding voice interrupted her thoughts, “What do you mean I’ll have to wait ten minutes. Do you even know who I am?” The woman said, her voice rising to a high brittle pitch at the end.
“I’m sorry, but there isn’t anything I can do, we just don’t have an open chair right now.” Marci said calmly, although Heather doubted she felt anything but calm.
“Well, it seems to me that it should be easy enough to fix that problem.” The woman sneered, “Move someone.”
“I’m sorry but I can’t do that. If you’ll just have a seat we’ll be with you as soon as we can.” Marci was clearly losing her patience.
“I want to speak to your boss. What kind of place are you running here? If this was any kind of a hotel I would have been able to get someone to come to my suite.” The woman’s voice was reaching painful levels, and then Heather heard a loud bang.
“Mam, I’m going to have to ask you to leave. I own this spa and that kind of behavior isn’t going to be tolerated.” Marci’s voice was dead calm but Heather knew that she’d reached her breaking point. “Please, don’t make me call security.”
“I’m going to the hotel manager, he’ll set you straight, to think that a paying customer would be treated like this….” The woman’s voice faded into the distance.
When Marci came back around the corner she was smiling, “I can’t believe you’re smiling after that. You said there was never any excitement around here.” Heather said, setting the cucumbers that had been on her eyes back in the bowl next to her.
“Wait until she gets to the hotel managers office and finds out that he’s my husband.” Marci said, then laughed. “Mark will sweet talk her until she calms down, but I promise you she’ll be going to a different spa.”
“Who was that anyway?” Heather asked, curious.
“Simone someone or the other, I can’t remember her last name, but I guess she’s some kind of an actor or something. Some guy put her up in the hotel, Mark wouldn’t tell me who but now I’m tempted to find out.” Marci said, then noticed Heather’s reaction. “Do you know her?”
“No, but I’d like to find out more about her, it’s part of the reason I’m here.” Heather said, then took a risk and told Marci what she discovered so far.
When Heather left much later that afternoon, still full from a gourmet lunch, and a little bit wiser about Simone, she went straight to her room and called Seth to give him an update. “She was so rude I wanted to go out and smack her.”
“Well, I guess your little trip to the spa paid off. That doesn’t sound like the woman Marshall described to me at all, to hear him talk she’s a quiet little mouse who doesn’t know just how talented she really is.”
“I think your brother is only seeing what he wants to see or our little friend is playing him. Does he know that I’m here?”
“I told him, but I’m not sure he even heard me, he was too busy talking about Simone.” Seth said, with a sigh. “If I were you I’d watch out for her. Maybe we should move you to a different hotel.”
“Are you crazy? Marci, the lady who owns the spa is going to introduce me to the head of housekeeping, she’s got all the good gossip. I think I might wait to see Marshall until I’ve talked to her.” Heather said, thinking that this was the most exciting thing she’d ever done, Heather Whitcomb, private detective.
“I’ll leave the decision up to you, but watch your back.” Seth said, then hung up.
Simone turned from the window and began to pace the room, she’d been in Anchorage for almost a month and it didn’t feel like she was any closer to her goal than when she’d gotten here. It had been fun at first, staying in the fancy hotel, the shopping spree, and the trips to the spa had kept her occupied, but now it was all getting old. What she really wanted was the big payoff that she and Marco had come here to get, but it was clear that it wasn’t going to happen any time soon.
When they’d concocted this scheme in that dirty hotel room in Rio, she’d been so sure that it would be easy to separate Marshall Montgomery from his money. All the research she’d done on him had supported that, but apparently it was going to take more work than she’d thought. The man had been more than willing to put her up in the hotel and cover the cost, but it felt like he was dragging his feet on the play, happy for the time being to bask in the attention she gave him. It was getting more and more difficult to play the part though, meek was not her style.
The blowup she’d had in the spa the other day had been the culmination of weeks of frustration, and she hoped that Marshall wouldn’t hear about it. If he did, the game would be up and they’d worked too hard to leave empty handed. Part of her frustration was because she and Marco had to be separated, she’d managed to sneak him into the hotel a couple of times, but it wasn’t nearly enough to satisfy her. The longer she was away from Marco, the more frustrated she was becoming.
Marco had made it very clear from the beginning that she wasn’t going to sleep with Marshall, but she was beginning to think that it might be the only way to get him to fork over the money. He was clearly half in love with her and sex would only cement those feelings, but Marco had adamantly refused to share her with anyone, so she’d have to keep up the pretense of virginity for a while longer. The fact that Marshall even believed her story was proof of what an idiot he was, but she had to admit that her acting skills were better than she’d thought so maybe some of the credit should go to her.
When she’d stumbled across the article about Marshall Montgomery online they’d made fun of him at first, but the more she’d read about him, the more she realized that this might just be the way to get what she wanted, what she deserved. A little research had quickly shown her that not only was the man filthy rich, but he was also obsessed with being a star and it hadn’t taken long for her to come up with a way to get her hands on some of his wealth.
When she’d first suggested that they make Marshall the target of their next scam Marco had laughed at her, but then she’d explained what she had in mind and he’d become interested. His discovery of the old abandoned theatre had made it impossible for them to walk away from what would surely be easy money.
“We have to do this. It was meant to be.” She’d said when Marco told her about the old theatre.
“I just don’t know how we’re going to make it look like I own it.” Marco had said, the crease in his forehead deepening.
“Well, start with finding out who owns it.” She said, sarcastically.
“Okay don’t get snippy. Give me a minute, these things take time.” Marco had said, furiously typing away on his lap top.
Thanks to his hacking skills, they’d discovered that the theatre was owned by a recluse man who had been through the Vietnam War and on his return had boarded up the theatre and moved to the outback.
“I could just pretend to be him. He hasn’t been seen in years.” Marco suggested.
“Right, like someone is going to believe that you’re him.”
“Well, I could be his son.” He’d suggested.
“That might just work.” She’d said, her dreams of South America finally beginning to look like they might come true.
Marshall pulled into a parking spot and turned off the engine wishing that he didn’t have to go through this charade. After all, he was twenty-five and it was his money. It made him feel like a little kid to have to go to the board of trustees at the bank and beg for his own money, money that in only a few years would be his to do with as he pleased. Thanks to his father’s death a few years ago, he’d had to do this several times, but there was so much more at stake this time and he had a feeling that he was going to be laughed out of the room when he gave them his pitch.
No one took his acting career seriously, but Simone’s play would change all that, would finally show everyone just how talented he was. If his father had still been alive things would have been different, he wouldn’t have had to beg, his father would have just given him the money, if for no other reason than to just make him go away. He may not have given Marshall much besides money, love and affection something the man didn’t seem to understand, but he’d never hesitated to give Marshall anything else he wanted.
Deep down Marshall knew that the lack of love and affection from his father was probably the reason that he craved the adoration of his fans. If his mother had lived things would have been different, and although he couldn’t remember much about her, he knew that she’d loved him. But she’d been gone for a long time, much of that time he’d spent in boarding school, shoved out of his home by a series of step-mothers who wanted little to do with a little boy that wasn’t theirs. The one and only woman besides his mother who had loved him had been the nanny who had come to live with them after her death, but she’d only lasted for a few years.
Pushing thoughts of his lonely childhood from his mind, he focused on the task in front of him, convincing eight stuffy old men to give him the money to produce his first play. Of course, if they said no he had a backup plan, one he didn’t want to use, but would use if he was forced to. The bank had been more than happy to discuss a loan with him, after all his trust fund was as solid as it had ever been thanks to his brother Seth who had turned the family company around and saved it from total destruction.
Taking out a loan to finance the play seemed like a waste of money to him, the interest rate shocking, but if he was forced to go that route he would. Simone had been patient with him so far, but he could tell that she was beginning to doubt him, she never said so but he could feel it. Just thinking about her made his stomach do flip flops, she was everything he’d ever imagined he’d want in a woman. Sweet and innocent, but very talented, she’d shown up in his life just when he was at his lowest and lifted him up.
He’d be eternally grateful to her for that, but that was only a part of the reason he’d fallen in love with her. Unlike so many of the women who had been in his life, she wasn’t after anything from him, in fact she’d brought him something, a breath of life. When he’d insisted that she stay at the Plaza, she refused, explaining that she’d be much more comfortable at a cheaper hotel and he’d had to force her to buy some new clothes — the one’s she owned were practically rags.
It was clear that she adored him as well, the longing looks she gave him always made his heart beat faster. When he’d discovered that she was still a virgin, it had sealed the deal, she was the woman that he was meant to marry. If she was a little hesitant to take their relationship further, he could understand why — she’d waited a long time to find the right man. But he was willing to be patient, to wait until she felt the same way he did, it would be worth it in the end, and in the mean time they had a play to produce together.
Heather looked over her shoulder before she pushed open the door to the staff dining room then smiled, it might just be possible that she was taking the private detective thing too far. But it was fun, and Heather was never one to turn away from fun, especially when it was part of the job she’d been sent to do. She spotted Maria, the head housekeeper, almost immediately. She was hard to miss among the younger employees with her grey hair.
She’d liked the woman the minute she’d met her the day before, and was looking forward to talking to her. After nearly forty years of working at the hotel she’d seen just about everything there was to see and had access to all the rooms in the hotel, not to mention all the gossip. Marci had done her a huge favor introducing her to the woman, who once she heard that Heather was on a secret assignment was just as excited to help as Marci had been.
Maria waved her over to the table where she was sitting, “Right on time.” She said, when Heather sat down.
“I hate being late.” Heather explained. “How long have you been waiting?”
“Not long, I got here early so we could have a table away from everyone else.” Maria said, a big grin on her face. “I haven’t had this much fun in a long time.”
“So, what have you found out?”
“Well, from everything I can gather, it appears that Simone Peters is not the sweet innocent little darling you described. It was easy enough to get information out of the staff after her little tantum in the spa. From the minute she stepped into her room she’s been a nightmare for the staff, no one said anything because they all thought she was some kind of celebrity.”
“That’s exactly how she sounded in the spa, like everyone should bow down to her.”
“Who is she?” Maria asked, sure that Heather would know.
“I have no idea, I’ve searched and searched for her online but I’ve found nothing. That’s why I need your help.”
Maria loved a mystery and being involved in one was so much better than reading one. “What can I do?”
“I was thinking that if we could get her fingerprints we might be able to find out who she really is, because I promise you she isn’t Simone Peters. No matter how small the village was that she’s supposedly from, there would be some record of her somewhere.” Heather had been thinking about the fingerprints since she’d left the spa the day before and knew they were the answer.
“That’s perfect, you can run her fingerprints and find out who she is.” Maria was already figuring out how she’d get the prints. “I could leave a glass in the bathroom when I clean her room, then pick it up after she’s used it.”
“She won’t have a clue.” Heather said, relieved that Maria was willing to help. “Maria, you can’t tell anyone about this, it has to be a secret if for no other reason than I think it might be illegal in some way.”
“I know how to keep my mouth shut. Besides is it my fault if a glass she uses accidently gets left in your room?” Maria said, with a wink.