Built in 1939, the Charleston Place Hotel was a mixture of old and modern. When you stepped onto the marbled floor of the lobby, the hotel felt like old wealth. A large chandelier hung from the middle of the ceiling. It almost felt like going back in time, a time before even I was born. Despite the expensive marble and mahogany woodwork, the guest counter in front of me held touches of the twenty-first century. Three computer monitors peeked from the top of the counter.
Off to the side, I caught sight of a large flat screen television mounted on the wall in the middle of a sitting area. The furniture was elegant, but not too stuffy as to discourage guests from lounging.
I walked up to the desk where a young man dressed in a crisp white shirt and blue blazer greeted me. He had to be no older than my Leesa, mid-twenties. His eyes were a sharp blue and a faint mustache grew above his lips. He stretched his mouth wide to display perfect white teeth. “Are you checking in, ma’am?” The young man’s drawl was definitely Southern but refined.
My eyes focused on his crisp reddish bow tie before grinning at him. “I’m actually looking for Rosemary Gladstone.”
His smile shifted slightly. Rosemary was his boss, the hotel staff manager. “Sure, she was in meetings earlier, but I will check to see if she’s available.” He picked up the phone. “May I tell her who’s asking for her?”
“Eugeena Patterson. I’m here about my son’s wedding reception.”
The man’s smile brightened. “Oh, yes. We’re the perfect place for a wedding reception.”
The young man dialed Rosemary, and I turned my head to examine the hotel lobby more closely. Guests were bustling in and out the doors, probably to head downtown to explore the shops and restaurants nearby. A doorman wheeled two oversized rolling pieces of luggage while a lady walked alongside. A man brought up the rear, hefting a large duffel bag in his arms.
The young man behind the counter caught my attention. “Mrs. Patterson, Rosemary will be with you in a few minutes.”
“Thank you.” I walked away just as the woman sauntered to the counter. She appeared exuberant, a smile spread across her face. I overheard the woman say, “We’re here to check-in. We’re on our honeymoon.”
How nice. Cedric and Carmen were quite okay with not having a big wedding. Had they even thought about the honeymoon part? Right now, I needed to make sure they made it to the wedding part.
I glanced around, people were lounging in the seating area. It certainly didn’t appear to look like a crime had occurred here earlier this morning. I took a look around the hallway where I knew the elevators were located. This morning, Carmen walked in armed with Darius’s room number which was on the eighth floor. Room 828. Carmen mentioned he added the info to the back of his business card. Seemed rather bizarre the more I thought about it. The man was certainly forward.
I tried not to let it bother me, but for some reason now that I was here, I felt some kind of way that Carmen would meet the man in his hotel room. She was clearly upset at the sight of him yesterday.
Was it only because I was there with her? If she was really that scared of him, why meet him in his hotel room?
“Eugeena, how are you?”
I turned as a woman about my size came up to me. I’d known Rosemary Gladstone since we were school girls. She hadn’t changed much other than to gain weight. Instead of letting her gray hair show, Rosemary opted to color her short wavy hair honey blonde. Once a former homecoming queen as well as a beauty pageant contestant, her caramel skin still looked beautiful despite being in her sixties.
She reached over to hug me. “It’s been awhile. I’m still amazed you decided to spend your retirement years continuing to work with kids. Amani talks about you all the time. Speaking of the afterschool program, hasn’t that started today?”
“Yes, I have two other workers volunteering their time today. I so enjoy Amani and all the students. I don’t miss getting up early in the morning to teach but hanging out with the children in the afternoon has been a blessing. We need something to keep us young.”
“I know about that, most of my staff are young enough to be my grandchildren. But you’re here for something really exciting. I bet you are so thrilled Cedric is getting married. Looked like he would be a bachelor for life.”
“Oh, I know. Leesa is actually in charge of the reception, and she’s really interested in holding it here. I’m sure the bride’s parents will love the place.”
“Well, let me show you the rooms we have. When is the wedding?”
I sucked in a breath. “October twenty-second. They really didn’t want a big wedding, but between our families, we convinced them to include us in their nuptials. Our invitation list is around seventy-five and RSVPs are starting to come in.”
Rosemary’s smile wavered. “Wow! That’s really short notice, Eugeena. I tell you what, let’s look at the rooms. Since you came to me instead of my event planner, I will try to work something out. We’ve been friends too long for me not to be a part of this family event.”
I clasped my hands together. “Thank you. Lead the way.” I followed Rosemary, feeling a bit guilty. When the right time came, I would have to ask her questions that pertained to my other intentions.
We walked in the opposite direction of the elevators, down a long hall with tall windows that looked out onto a fountain and garden. I noticed several people crowding the hallway.
“Do you have many conferences at this hotel?”
“Oh yes, we host one to two conferences a week. Charleston has always had a string of tourists, but we have a lot of entrepreneur and business type conferences who like our hotel.”
“Really, what kind of conference is going on today?”
“Hmmm, my event planner, Kathy Ross would know more, but the one that’s here today seems to have a lot of financial advisors. I’ve had so many people come up to me and my staff asking us about investments and retirement funds. I guess they’re here to drum up some business too.”
I almost stopped in my tracks, questions swarming my mind. Was this why Darius was here?
Rosemary pulled open the doors to a room down the hall from the conference attendees. I followed behind her. “So how long do these conferences go these days? I think I went to a few when I was teaching, but they were only two or three days.”
Rosemary nodded, “That’s about the average length. At the most, a conference may go four or five days, but that’s not always the case. This one started Monday and ends tomorrow. In fact, if you want to come back, one of the rooms I wanted to show you is not occupied after tomorrow morning. This one,” Rosemary cut on the lights and swept her hands out, “has a 150-person capacity. It’s one of the smaller rooms we use for receptions. As you can see, the chandeliers make it very easy to convert the room to a romantic setting.”
Eugeena stepped further into the room, trying to keep her mind on the task at hand. “This is a beautiful room. Would we work with your staff for catering?”
Rosemary pulled out brochures and handed them to me. For some reason, I hadn’t noticed her clipboard. A memory of Rosemary being the student council president of our class sprang to my mind. This woman had always been prepared which explained how she went from desk clerk to top management over the years.
I flipped through a brochure, taking note of the rental price. “Thank you, Rosemary. Like I said, Leesa ultimately will work out the details. I’m mainly helping Carmen with the ceremony details — the cake, her bridal party and her dress.”
“Oh my, you really are busy. That’s quite a bit of assistance there.”
“Well, I wanted the best. Speaking of the best, we love this hotel.” I dropped my voice and drew closer. “When I called earlier, someone mentioned you were meeting with the police. Is everything okay?”
Rosemary’s expression went from jubilant to stressed. “Who told you that?”
Not wanting to get anyone in trouble, I said, “I don’t remember who I spoke with. But you know my neighbor, Amos Jones, used to be a policeman. I think he heard something too. Did something happen this morning?” I added quickly, “I mean should we be worried about anything?”
Rosemary sighed and looked around the room as if someone was hiding in the corner. She turned and closed the door behind us. “This really doesn’t have any bearing on the hotel. We do our best to provide a quality service to our guests.”
I stepped in closer. “Something happened to a guest? Was the guest someone at this conference?”
She nodded. “I guess you will probably hear this on the news tonight. It’s not like we can keep it quiet. Reporters have been floating in and out of here all day. Guests know something is going on, but we’re not trying to scare anyone away.” Rosemary held her hand to her chest as if trying to prevent an oncoming heart attack. She finally admitted, “We had a tragic incident that resulted in the loss of life this morning.”
She could’ve just said someone was murdered. Rosemary always had an interesting spin on situations. I also knew how much she loved her job and this hotel. An incident likes this was a nightmare. I tried to show surprise on my face.
Rosemary continued, “He must have been taking a vacation here. He arrived before most others in the conference last week.”
“Really? You noticed him? You have hundreds of guests.”
Rosemary blew out a breath. “Well, he was hard not to notice. He was a very handsome guy and word gets around. He was also kind of particular. He liked his room cleaned every day and he ordered room service every morning. The same thing. Same time. The longer a guest stays, the more the staff notices them.”
“That makes sense. Do the police know what happened to the guy? That must be awful for your staff to have to clean up the room. I mean was there a lot of…”
Rosemary trembled as if she felt a chill. “It was not a pretty sight. Right now, we’re not allowed in the room. We have to basically order all new carpeting. It’s making me crazy because it was one of our suites. Suites are very popular with businessmen who travel frequently. This guy was a world traveler, believe me. We’re scrambling now to make changes since we only have a few suites.”
“A suite. Sounds like a person needs to have some money. I wonder why someone would kill him.”
“I don’t know, but he was attending this conference. I think he may have been one of the speakers, which is probably why you may hear about him on the news.” Rosemary’s voice dropped to a whisper despite the fact we were the only two in a very large room. “Nothing like this has ever happened here. The conference coordinators asked us to keep it as quiet as possible, but I’m kind of worried.”
I touched her arm. “Don’t worry, Rosemary. Your hotel is a Charleston landmark and provides top notch service. When I walked in, I didn’t notice a thing. I doubt your guests did either.”
“It’s quieted down now, but it was a different story this morning.” Rosemary raked her hand through her hair, her eyes turned up towards the ceiling in frustration. “I can’t be too upset. The cops had to do their job.”
I could hear people out it the hallway. “Sounds like the conference is letting out.”
Rosemary glanced at the dainty, thin gold watch on her wrist. “Yes, looks like they finished early. Maybe I can show you that room now.”
Back to business for Rosemary. I wanted to ask more questions, but my idea was to see what she knew which was more than I thought. I wondered if Detective Wilkes knew the man was registered for the conference. Of course, if she was a good detective she would know.
Would the detective look into who might have been hanging out with Darius Randall? She claimed the murderer struck with passion. With a caseload of murder cases, would the detective cling to a very scared and confused Carmen as her suspect? Determined to shut and close the case.
I followed Rosemary across the hall through a swarm of suited men and women, all looking blurry eyed, probably from staring at presentations all day. I glanced back to see a young man and woman sitting at a table that probably served as the registration table.
Suppose Darius Randall’s killer was here at the conference right now?
My throat tightened at the thought. The conference ends tomorrow. That meant if Darius Randall was killed by someone here at the conference, they would be leaving tomorrow. Or could he or she have left already?