The Hotel -14

When I got to the entry hall I saw Felicia at the reception desk. "Can you call your bartender for me?"

"Sure. Why?"

"One of our women, Tessa, hasn't come down for breakfast and she's not in her room. The last time I saw her, she and the bartender were chatting each other up, so…"

Felicia grinned. "I'm not surprised. Vern thinks he's a lady's man." She picked up the house phone and called him. It was obvious from what she said to him that he was alone, which she confirmed as soon as she hung up. "He says he invited her to his suite for a nightcap, and she accepted, but that's as far as it went. She left about half an hour later, saying she had to be up early this morning because of rehearsals."

"Okay. Thanks for checking." I returned to the dining room to be greeted by inquiring expressions from everyone. I told them what Vern had said.

"So somewhere between leaving him and getting to her room she what? Changed her mind and took a walk, or something?" Phil asked.

"She must have gone to her room because the door was unlocked," Caitlin pointed out. "Even if it was only to get a jacket, she would have locked up when she left."

"Felicia told me one of you is missing," Edwin said with concern as he came into the room.

My first thought was he looked damned sexy, as he was wearing jeans and a turtleneck that fit him like a glove. I immediately shelved that as inappropriate at best at the moment. "Yes," I replied. "Tessa, one of our actresses. She's not in her room and her bed hasn't been slept in, according to Caitlin."

"That's worrisome." He smiled briefly. "Felicia said she checked with Vern and she was there but left. I locked the outside doors around midnight or a bit later, as always."

"Do you have a security system?" Marsh asked.

"Of course, and I armed it," Edwin replied. "It didn't go off."

"Then she's got to be somewhere in here," Phil said.

Edwin smiled dryly. "That would be the logical conclusion."

"Is Vern certain she left your half of the hotel?" I asked him.

"Give me a second and I'll find out." Edwin took out his phone, turning away as he called Vern. A moment later he hung up, telling us, "He escorted her to the door between our suites and the hotel proper, and locked it afterward."

"We need to look for her," Kirby said, beating me to the punch as he got to his feet. "We can split up in pairs. Maybe she decided to explore and fell down the basement stairs, or something."

Edwin nodded. "I'll send Logan to check the basement and have the maids look into all the guestrooms on the second floor, just in case she decided to see what they're like and…who knows, pulled a Goldilocks on us." That brought a brief laugh from a couple of the guys.