She waved a hand. “He doesn’t even really know who I am. I just said that I knew you. He was the one who brought up SureFired,” she said, taking another bite. “He was blabbing on and on. He said that his stock options look great, and that they’re going to save lives and –”
“Hm.” Marty sat back down. “So you didn’t ask him to prove that I’m innocent or anything?”
“Of course not.” Lucy let out a sigh. “You were right. He wasn’t helpful at all.”
The room door opened and Marty instinctively darted behind a wall.
“Hi Lucy,” Claire’s voice called out.
The door clicked shut and Claire came into view.
Lucy gave her a hug, then pulled away and looked at Claire’s face. “What’s wrong? Were you crying?”
Claire shook her head and let out a breath. “It’s nothing. We just had some issues with the hotel.”
“What kind of issues?” asked Marty, stomach sinking.
Claire frowned. “I don’t want to worry you, but it’s those two FBI agents again. They decided they wanted to stay at the hotel.”
Marty grabbed his bag and swung the strap over his shoulder. “I have to go.”
“Hang on,” Lucy said, grabbing his arm. “They don’t know that you’re here, right?”
“They seem to be getting pretty close,” Marty said.
“Where are you going to go?” asked Lucy. “How are you going to do it without them spotting you?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know, but it’s not safe to stay here.”
Claire put her hands on her hips. “I may not be any good at owning a hotel, but I will keep you safe, Marty.”
For the first time since she’d walked back in the room, Marty had a chance to really look at Claire. Her eyes were red, and there was a smudge of black makeup under her eyes. She had been crying.
She didn’t deserve to have this stress on her. He needed to go.
“Look,” he said softly, “I appreciate everything you’ve done for me, but I can’t stay here and get you in trouble. I just can’t.”
“You are not getting me in trouble,” Claire said firmly. “Sit down and eat your dinner.”
A laugh burst out of Lucy. “Oh, now you’re getting it.”
Marty felt the urge to laugh, too, at the absurdity of it all. Lucy had run off to Seattle, lying to Claire and him, to go on a date with David, but now Marty was the one getting in trouble!
The only sensible thing would be for him to leave them both in peace, but they refused. It was infuriating.
He watched as Claire wandered around the room – to the desk, then back to the front door, then taking a seat on a chair before speaking again. “I still don’t think that they have any information about you or me. Otherwise, they’d have a search warrant and they’d find you quickly.”
“That’s true, but I can’t stay and –”
Claire shook her head. “No.” Her voice was soft, but firm. “You’ll stay here. I’ll keep an eye on them. We’ll see the attorney soon, and we’ll figure everything out. Together.”
Marty didn’t know what else to say. Lucy thrust a box of fish and chips into his hands and started telling them about how she’d almost missed the ferry.
Family made no sense sometimes. He sat back and took a bite of fish.
It took less than fifteen hours for their plan to fall apart.
After the fish was gone and the last fry was eaten, Claire retired to a room across the hall from Marty’s, while Lucy stayed in one next to the elevators for better visibility. Since it was her second room at the hotel, she had to make up a name and settled on Marilyn Monroe, in an apparent jab at David.
