Christy Barritt - Squeaky Clean 04 - Dirty Deeds Read Online Free PDF

would be like for her to be laying on a table in a sterile room with strangers examining her most inward parts. It didn’t seem like a very graceful way for life to end. But, I supposed by that point, modesty didn’t matter any more.
    We scurried into the lobby of the resort, and Clint took off in a jog toward the elevator. “I’m going to check her room.”
    “Do you have a key?”
    Clint put the brakes on. “No, who is her roommate again?”
    “Gabby,” Riley said.
    I was? I was rooming with a girl who was potentially missing. It was like the world was just begging me to get involved.
    I’d agreed to have a roommate in order to save money, which was the same reason why Riley was rooming with Lane. Derek and Jack the Dipper were staying together, and Lillian was staying with a colleague from work.
    Riley slid a key card into my hand. “I didn’t have a chance to give this to you yet. I checked us in when I got here.”
    I raised it in the air. “Let’s go.”
    Clint repeatedly hit the UP button on the elevator. “Come on, come on, come on!”
    Finally, he sprinted toward the broad, winding staircase only a few feet away. Just as everything else in the hotel, the stairs were grand and ornate with velvety red carpet, which was the color of blood.
    I’d been around too many crime scenes.
    Riley and I looked at each other before sprinting after him. We made it up three flights of stairs—but the place had high ceilings, so these weren’t just normal stairs. The ceilings in this place had to be at least 15 feet high.
    I hated to admit it, but I was huffing and puffing by the time I reached room 3412. With a steady hand, I pushed the card into the little slot on the front of the door. The light turned green. I twisted the knob and nudged the door until it swung out.
    I stood there a moment staring at the room, waiting to hear a sound indicating someone was there. As of now, all I could see were some high-back chairs and a built-in bookcase.
    Clint darted ahead of us. “Jackie? Are you there? Jackie?” He ran from door to door, frantically jerking open each one. I assumed those were closets, a bathroom, and two bedrooms. I’d never stayed in a hotel suite like this one before.
    Clint opened the last door and moaned.
    Riley and I rushed toward him. I had to blink several times before everything came into focus.
    Clothes were littered all over the bed. The TV had been smashed. Cosmetics dotted the floor.
    Someone had been in here. Looking for something or trying to send a message? I wasn’t sure.
    “Jackie … ” Clint muttered.  He fell back into a chair, almost as if everything overwhelmed him to the point where he couldn’t hold himself up. “What happened?”
    I surveyed the room, looking for something—anything—that would give me a clue as to what was going on. Had there been a struggle? My gut told me no.
    If you asked me, someone was trying to make a statement.
    I stepped over a gutted bag of cosmetics and paused by the dresser. What I saw there made my blood freeze.
    “Uh, guys. You’re going to want to see this.”
    I pointed to a note left on the wood there.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER 4
    Clint buried his face. His body language screamed “distressed” as he sat on the couch in the living area of my suite. The rest of Riley’s friends had been called, and now they stood in a semi-circle around Clint.
    He raised his head, nearly crumpling the note in his hand. A couple of tears splotched the words. “A ransom note? A ransom note! Why?”
    I tiptoed closer and tried to take the note from him before he destroyed any evidence with his tears. Insensitive? Perhaps. But I really only wanted what was best.
    I carefully plucked the note from his hand and slid it into a plastic bag that was supposed to be used for laundry. I caught Lillian staring at me like I was stealing tissues from a grieving man.
    “There could be prints,” I explained.
    Shouldn’t she know that? I was pretty