mostly just stand against the wall and talk among ourselves. Not a lot to do, and the food is pretty good. Hot girls there too, sometimes, if you’re interested.”
“Nope. Married.” I waggled my fingers to show off my very plain wedding band.
“Oh yeah? Got any kids?”
“One. Little girl. She’s six.” One so far, anyway. I added calling Mira to my mental to-do list, once we got to the hotel.
Forty minutes of idle chitchat, several harrowing turns down side streets to avoid traffic, and a few cuss words I’d never even heard before, we arrived in front of the Masurao Grand Hotel.
As I stepped out of the Town Car I had to chuckle, looking up at the elegantly designed sign. Tai gave me a curious look, so I pointed up at the name. “Masurao. It means warrior.” The guy gave me one of his “oooookay” looks and grabbed my suitcase out of the backseat. Guess I was the only one interested in Japanese trivia.
More precisely,
“And he shall come forth from the land of bread and honey!” It was impossible to tell if the man was old or young, but if I had to guess, I’d say he was more than sixty. Steel-gray hair hung from his head in long dreadlocks, interwoven with bits of brightly colored yarn and string. His clothes were thrown on with no rhyme or reason, in equally garish hues, in more layers than the mild California weather warranted. His skin was dark in a way I’d come to associate with Haiti and Jamaica, though he had no accent that I could discern.
The old man caught my hand before I could react, just holding it between his palms, patting gently. His skin was leathery and dry, but not in an unpleasant way. “He shall walk the earth, and he shall know no rest, so long as steel is in his heart.”
“Um…yeah, thanks for the tip.” I carefully extracted myself from his grasp, and just then the doorman noticed my predicament.
“Felix! Go on, get out of here. I told you yesterday you can’t bother the guests!” The man gave me an apologetic smile. “Sorry about that. He’s one of the local eccentrics, always spouting mixed-up proverbs and stuff. He’s harmless, really.”
I watched the strange fellow shuffle off down the sidewalk, muttering to himself. Mixed-up proverbs, indeed. Sounded like he’d confused the Bible with the old
Tai came back to see what was keeping me and frowned when the doorman explained. “Crazy old man. They need to put him in a home somewhere. Come on, we’re late and she’ll be pitching a fit.”
The interior of the hotel was stunning, every bit worthy of the moniker “grand.” The lobby had been done with a nod to Asian flavor, bamboo and paper screens abounding, but it was done subtly, fitted in between modern lighting and furniture.
We passed through a circle of flickering light on the elegant tile floor, and I looked up to find myself beneath a skylight, many floors above. The light danced and moved, and it took me a moment to realize that there must be water on the glass, breaking the sunlight into tiny rainbow bits.
“It’s a reflecting pool,” Tai offered, seeing my interest. “There’s a big garden on the roof, with waterfalls and everything.”
“Wow.” What else could I say? I was impressed. Hell, even my luggage felt shabby, compared to this place. “Oh hey, I shipped myself a package here. I need to make sure the desk is expecting it.”
“Yeah sure, this way. We gotta get you on the approved list anyway.”
All the pertinent details arranged—and the concierge gave me an up-and-down look like he thought I was single-handedly bringing back the plague—Tai and I headed up to the penthouse suite on the uppermost floor. The bodyguard showed me how to swipe my key to allow me access to the restricted floor, much to the ill-concealed amusement of the bellhop, following along with my one lonely suitcase.
“This’ll be your room.” Tai opened a door with his own keycard, which made me frown a little. I didn’t like the idea of someone else having a key to my room, but apparently everything on this floor responded to one. “Sometimes, some of Gretchen’s friends stay in the others, but there’s nobody in them right now. She got ticked and tossed a bunch of them out a couple of weeks ago.”
“Lovely.” I dumped my backpack off for the time being and even tipped the bellhop. See, I can be civilized! “Let’s go meet her then.”
As we stepped into the hallway, the double doors at the end flung open, and a harried-looking attendant pushed a cart out, the plates on it full of barely touched food.
Tai shook his head a little. “Let me guess, her rare steak was too rare and her three-minute egg was in thirty seconds too long?”
“And later, her porridge will be too cold and her bed will be too hard.” The waiter just rolled his eyes, and the two men exchanged fist bumps before he wheeled the rejected food back toward the elevators.
The bodyguard caught the door when it would have closed, and gestured me inside. “Welcome to the penthouse, Jesse Dawson.”
The penthouse was everything you would expect of a room tagged with that designation. Spacious, sumptuous, elegant, extravagant. It seemed to be a central sitting room, with several doors leading off. I mentally mapped them as the master bedroom, a second bedroom, a second bath, and off to the side there was a kitchenette and a full dining room with a twelve-seat table. The living room—which looked nothing like
I might have noticed more, had there not been a topless woman standing in the middle of the room. Okay, she wasn’t
“Is it Take a Homeless Guy to Work day, Tai?” A small smattering of chuckles sounded from around the room. I
