Flashback

she knew it was relatively quick, it seemed like forever before they had arranged a new room. On the concierge level this time, no doubt as part of their effort to placate her, because they had no way of knowing that this little inconvenience was the very least of her current worries.
She was anxious to get started on trying to contact her brother and coming up with alternative means to try to confirm G.C.’s whereabouts and health. She just managed to stop herself from shooing the anxious woman and the bellman out of her new room. Only the memory of her mother’s imperious manner in doing such things made her speak gently.
“Thank you very much, this is fine. But if you don’t mind, I have a lot of work to do….”
Alex didn’t think it was her imagination that both of them grabbed at the chance to decamp. Must have been the sight of the latex glove, she thought.
With an effort she slowed herself down and secured the piece of newsprint first, sliding it into an evidence envelope she retrieved from her traveling kit. She made herself not look at it again, knowing she had to focus.
Then she grabbed her phone again and dialed the only number she had for her brother. He’d told her that, because he traveled so much, it made sense to just keep a cell phone. For a long time, Alex had thought that his true reason for the cell was that he was never sure which bimbo he’d be with when, but now that he was involved with Tory, that was hardly likely. No man alive could keep up with more than one woman if that one woman was Victoria Patton. And not simply because she was a star reporter rapidly rising to international reknown.
She smiled despite her worry. She’d once wished that Ben would run afoul of an Athena woman, just so she could watch the fireworks. She’d had no doubt who would win, and that it would probably be the best thing that could ever happen to him.
And now that he had, and the Athena happened to be Tory, she was even more sure that it would be the best thing. If he didn’t blow it. If he hadn’t forgotten how to be a genuine good guy during all his running around after women all over the planet.
Of course, if anybody could straighten him out, it would be Tory. And not the least of Alex’s enthusiasm was based on the fact that if they married, having a woman who was like a sister to her as a legal sister of sorts, would be a lovely situation.
“Don’t blow it, bro,” she muttered as his phone rang. And rang.
It finally went to voice mail, an invention she was beginning to hate. Even the recorded message wasn’t Ben’s voice, but just a stock announcement of the number she’d reached. She left a message that she hoped sounded urgent but not panicked.
She thought for a minute, decided this was too important not to pursue all avenues and called Tory. After a brief exchange of pleasantries and updates, she cut to the chase.
“Is my brother with you?”
“No, I’m at work,” Tory said, sounding puzzled.
“Have you seen him today?”
“Umm…”
Alex had been so focused on the situation from her end, and her desperation to make sure G.C. was all right, that she hadn’t realized what her question implied, given who she was talking to.
“Tory, right now I don’t care if you’re having wild, monkey sex with him, I just need to reach him.”
“Whoa.”
Yikes, Alex thought at Tory’s odd tone of voice. Maybe the monkey sex was really happening. She’d give a lot to see the look on the green-eyed, black-haired beauty’s face right now.
“Uh…I saw him this morning,” Tory finally said.
“Was everything all right?”
“Fine. What’s wrong, Alex?” Tory asked, her quick reporter’s mind seizing on the urgency Alex was trying to hide.
“I’m just trying to unravel a nasty joke,” she said. “Do you know where he is now? He’s not answering at his cell number.”
“He said something about a meeting,” Tory said, “but I don’t know with whom or where.”
The sex must be really good for Tory to turn off that inquiring mind of hers, Alex thought, and then grimaced. She knew her brother was undeniably sexy to women, but he was still her brother and she didn’t want to dwell on his sex life. Especially given that she was fighting her own battle in that arena of late.
Thanking her friend, Alex hung up while wondering why on earth she was so stubborn about sleeping with Justin when everybody around her seemed to be having a fine time, sexually.
She was going to have to address that, and soon. Enough hiding. But first she had to resolve this immediate situation.
She put the phone down on the table and stared out the window for a moment, trying to fight off the memory of that shaft of sun spotlighting that ominous piece of newspaper, left carefully arranged so that it would be one of the first things she’d see when she came back into the room.
Something else hit her then. How had whoever it was known she would even see it? Wouldn’t the logical thing for her to do be to go directly to the new room, unpack her bags and see if anything had been overlooked then? How had they known to place that article there, how had they known she would insist on going back to the room herself?
She didn’t like the implications, but she put her misgivings on hold for the moment. G.C. was her first priority now, and until she knew he was all right, nothing else mattered. But she wasn’t sure yet how to handle this veiled threat without causing more fuss than she wanted just now.
There had to be a way to verify he was okay. None of the Cassandras were in D.C. at the moment, so they couldn’t help. Involving her mother, the perennial overreactor, was out