Not a Suicide

Althea and Mark did not speak until their shifts were done. They both leave silently and in a hurry. They must be shocked at what happened this early in the morning. Minutes passed, and Penelope arrived and started talking about what happened. Lanie just listened to her but her mind was in another place. When Manager Yra instructed them to go back to work already and stop talking about the news because it would scare the guests more, that was only the time when they composed themselves and went back to work. They did not do that much for the whole day. The guests were not roaming around that much and some guests refused to call room service.

At 10 p.m. Lanie saw Mr. Lancaster and Kieffer go out of the elevator.

'It's already late, what did they talk about that they finished this late? Is it about the news this morning? It affects our guests after all.' Lanie thought.

"Good evening," she greeted.

"Good evening, Ms. Vergara. Your shift ends tomorrow morning, right?" Kieffer asked. She only nodded but her eyes were focused on Mr. Lancaster who still was not glancing at her. He was so busy on his phone.

"Be careful when you go home, Lanie," Kieffer said sincerely before tapping Mr. Lancaster's shoulder and leaving them alone there. But before she spoke, his phone suddenly rang causing him to leave her there alone.

"You are rude. How can you not at least greet her?" Kieffer told Tyler. "If you only saw her face, she looked like a kitten who did not pet." He continued.

"Lieutenant Alvarez is investigating the crime. That was not a suicide, right? Someone killed him. I saw some pictures of the crime scene and there were no signs that the victim was abused or any other violence." Kieffer said to Tyler who was still not talking, causing Kieffer to look at him. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"If that Lieutenant was the one who is assigned to the case, I think he will involve Lanie in this." He stated that made Kieffer stare at him. Thinking of this, Alvarez already knew who Lanie is and what is her connection to these people. He will probably do that.

"Not if he will close the case by telling it was a suicide." Kieffer reasoned.

"So, he will make her his bait, huh?" Tyler smirked.

"But what if he is thinking otherwise? What if he will not use her as bait instead he will help her? Instead of bait, she might be the fishing rod for Alvarez." Tyler did not talk back to that and he just focused on the road.

"I am still wondering why Mr. Lopez killed himself. He is happy in his life, successful business, and has a blooming love life. When we look at it, there's no reason for him to take his own life." Penelope suddenly said when they were taking a break in the pantry. Lanie gave her coffee and sat beside her.

"Sometimes, the people we think have a happy life are the ones that are sad," Lanie spoke. Penelope looked at her so Lanie continued speaking, "Maybe, Mr. Lopez was like that. Sad and feel empty inside and happy on the outside. That's why he decided to do that. The world is filled with sad faces disguised as happy faces these days." Lanie stared at the coffee she was holding. She heard Penelope sigh.

"What if it was not a suicide?" Penelope said out of nowhere. Lanie looked at her in shock but Penelope remained looking at her coffee. "What if someone killed him and that suicide thing was just a set-up?" She continued. Lanie gulped and nervously drank her coffee. They became silent for a while until she stood up, "Or maybe, that was a suicide. Gosh, I spoke too much." She said before leaving Lanie. What she said made Lanie think deeply. There's a possibility that she was right. That Mr. Lopez's death was murder and not a suicide. Lanie searched again for his death, she read some articles but all of those said that it was a suicide and it is already confirmed by the autopsy of the victim. He poisoned himself. There were no marks or bruises that would show any other violence. She stopped scrolling when she noticed something.

"Mr. Gary Lopez, the owner of Villa Love, found dead in room 89 of Luna's Hotel..." She read once again. Room 89. Her hands started to tremble as she remembered the binary numbers on Mrs. Hossler's table. Is that... What does it mean? She closed her eyes tightly as she slowly realized the real reason for his death. How many people need to die just to get what they want?

After her shift, she decided to go to the coffee shop. She was in deep thought when her phone rang. Lieutenant Alvarez was calling her 5 times now. She didn't want to answer it, she had too many things to think about today. The call ended and a message came that made her leave the coffee shop and went to the place where Alvarez is.

From: Alvarez

It was a murder, not a suicide.

When she came to the Police Station she saw Alvarez outside tapping his foot on the ground and checking his watch. When he saw her running, he immediately walked toward her, "Get in the car." He said, rushing. When they entered the car, he drove immediately. Lanie looked at the road and noticed that it was on the way to her apartment. She immediately got it. They need some place to talk because it is a serious matter. When they entered her apartment, he let out a heavy sigh. He looked problematic.

"What are you talking about?" She asked. He sat on the sofa and put a flash drive on the table. She got her laptop and checked the content of the flash drive. There were two videos in it. She clicked the first video; it played the CCTV video from the hotel where Mr. Lopez checked in alone. She looked at Alvarez who was now dazed. She checked the second video and gasped at what she saw. The video showed that Mr. Lopez entered the hotel together with Mrs. Hossler. They both checked-in in the same room because she saw that the girl at the counter gave only one hotel key card. At the end of the video, Mrs. Hossler left the hotel alone. So, they fabricated the footage on the news.

"This is crazy," Alvarez said.

'Should I say to him that I already know that Mrs. Hossler killed him?' Lanie debated on herself.

Alvarez suddenly looked at her with that serious eyes, "Tell me, and please be honest with me, Lanie." He said seriously but his eyes were now begging.

"Is Mrs. Hossler one of those people?" He asked, which made her eyes water. Alvarez needed to confirm it even though the Hosslers were included in his father's files. If he gets the confirmation he wants, then Mr. Lopez's death was not just because of the poison but because of something else.