“Mr. and Mrs. Rivers, each suite is equipped with private bathing rooms and electric call buttons to summon the hotel staff. Please do not hesitate to use your call button. We are available for your convenience twenty-four hours a day. You will find your suite has a parlor room featuring a big bay window looking out on the streets below.”
“How can all of that be in one building?” Cassie asks thinking out loud. The porter stops and smiles down at her, looking at her for the first time. His pride is evident in his face when he answers her.
“Oh, there is much more to the Palace Hotel than running water, Mrs. Rivers. We have four restaurants, two for the ladies and two for the men. One private dining room for couples and the Palace Ballroom. Our hotel boasts seven hundred and fifty rooms, eight hundred fireplaces and too many chandeliers to count. We have a dress shop, barber shop, library, and a Railroad Ticket office.”
Dalton laughs at the look on her face as she says, “No more, Mr. Astor, please. It really is overwhelming. I think I shall need to absorb it slowly.” He joins their laughter, and she hears him thinking that is precisely how he felt the first time he saw it.
“Well, get ready Mrs. Rivers. Your suite is on the top floor, and we will be taking our rising rooms to get to it.” He leads them inside the glassed-in elevator and closes the door behind them. Dalton puts his arm around Cassie and smiles down at her.
“How is it powered, Mr. Astor?” She wonders, awed by its smooth movement between floors. “It's so quiet.”
“It is fluid powered, through tubes below. We use steam-powered pumps beneath the hotel to drive ours,” he replies with pride.
“Technology is amazing!” Dalton responds with a smile.
Mr. Astor leads the way from the elevator down a long carpet lined hallway. The walls are wallpapered in a stunning burgundy Victorian print and lit by gas lanterns. He opens the door to their suite and steps back, allowing them to enter first.
The first thing Cassie notices are the large curtained windows and an enormous fireplace. A red velvet couch and matching chaise with a chandelier in the center of the room.
“You will find his and her rooms and baths on each end of the suite. A private dining room for your enjoyment and if you leave your dirty clothes in the baths, housekeeping will have them laundered for you.” They stand in stunned silence staring at each other, and Mr. Porter takes his leave saying, “Please enjoy your stay with us.”
The click as the door closes startles them, and they both start laughing and talking at the same time.
“Have you ever even dreamt anything this big?” she asks moving towards the fireplace. Dalton walks to the windows and stares into the street below.
“No, my family will think I am telling stories,” he responds.
His stance by the window reminds her of why she is here. “Dalton, I owe you some explanations, and if you are agreeable, I would like to get cleaned up and maybe we could talk about all of this over dinner.”
“Of course. Take your time.” He walks into the room Mr. Astor said was his and closes his door.
She watches him go and moves silently to her room. A large four-poster bed with a small fireplace already lit fills the room with a decadent warmth. Cassie finds her trunk and packages inside a closet and her two dresses already pressed and hung up. Looking at her surroundings, she resolves to visit the dress shop while she’s here and purchase some much needed personal items and clothes. She left in such a hurry that she only brought what she could carry.
Fingering her blue cotton tea dress, she sighs. Bath, then shop she thinks. Adjacent to her room is a marble-lined bathroom with a claw foot tub. After a few seconds of inspection, she pulls a chain above the tub and it begins filling with hot water. Letting the steam fill the room, she is not surprised to find lavender water and soap ready for her use.
She strips quickly and gets into the tub with a groan. Ducking under the water, she thinks about all that has transpired and washes her hair. Standing, she scrubs her body and tries not to think of Dalton and how easy it would be to fall for him.
“Cassie! You do not deserve someone so good!” What would he think if he knew she killed Eustace and his men? She will pay for her crimes, with eternal damnation. That is the price for murder, and she knew that going in. “It would be better for everyone if I disappear when this is all over,” she tells herself.
If only her heart would agree.
Chapter 8
Inside his own bath, Dalton finds a full shaving set and soap. His clothes have also been pressed and hung in his closet. He soaks in a huge soaking tub and can only shake his head in bewilderment.
Cassandra Brown? No that isn't her name he reminds himself. She is a mystery, and he intends to solve it. Where did she get the gold? She says it's from her family land and she had the deed to it, but he senses there is more to the story. Tonight, he will get some answers. Rising from the tub, he quickly scrubs and gets dressed. He has things to arrange, and Mr. Astor will be just the man to help him, he thinks with a smile.
When Cassie exits her bedroom, she feels, silence. He is gone. “He doesn't have to tell me where he's going. We are just play acting, after all.” Clad in her blue cotton dress and shoes,
