The rest of the weekend was a total blur to me, but I at least remembered to put in the wishes, that no one would ever try to deliberately hurt me, and I had also managed to make arrangements with the hospital to give Mike the bouncer top notch care. It felt like the least thing I could do. Other than that, I stayed inside my apartment and dealt with the situation like I did with most problems. Thinking about it rationally, and avoiding more anxiety by indulging in online gaming. I figured the attacker had been after Mr. Salvio, and most likely he wouldn't be back unless Mr. Salvio was too, and that made me feel a bit less worried. Still, I could use some increased security and played with the idea of hiring a body guard.
When I woke up on Monday morning, I was still a bit of a wreck but also realized there was a lot for me to deal with and no more time to hide. First of all, I needed to get back in touch with Mr. Salvio and try to salvage the deal. I had already reached out to him explaining I had nothing to do with the attack but had not received any reply, or even a confirmation that they had seen my message. I was going to call his assistant Eva again as soon as I got to the office, but that would have to wait though because just when I dressed, I got a message from Sam in the reception that there was a Detective there to meet me. I told her I would meet him in the restaurant and then quickly went down to my usual breakfast table.
Sophia was just about to serve me coffee when the Detective arrived and to my surprise it was definitely not a "he". This was a tall woman with brown hair pulled back into a tight bun. My initial thought was that she had to be an amazon and I tried my best not to stare too obviously at her impressive frame as she walked up towards me. When she reached my table, she stretched out a hand to greet me and I quickly stood up and welcomed her.
"Morning Officer," I blurred out, just realizing my mistake.
"That's Detective, but please call me Davis," she said with a thin smile.
"Of course," I continued and felt my cheeks start to blush as I gestured for her to have a seat.
"Can I offer you some breakfast or a coffee?"
"Coffee's fine thank you," she said and reached into a side pocket of her tailored jacket and placed a small tape machine on the table.
"I hope you don't mind, this is all just a routine interview," she said and gestured towards the machine.
"Not at all," I said, "I'm just afraid I won't be of much help here at all."
She started the interview by letting me go over the events once more, and we only paused when Sophia came to serve her the coffee. I started to feel more comfortable as we went on, but in the end, I didn't have much to give her except my description of the guy attacking us. He had also been caught on our security tapes and I was happy to arrange a copy for her. Before she left though, I noticed a slight change in her posture as she seemed to gather her thoughts for a moment.
"What about the man you were meeting with, what can you tell me about him?
"Mr. Salvio," I said and paused, "he used to own this place."
"Witnesses claim the attack was aimed at him initially, is that your assessment as well?" she continued.
"I think so," I said, "but I can't be sure. Everything went so fast." I don't know why I hesitated. It was obvious the guy had been after Mr. Salvio.
"And what is your current relationship to Mr. Salvio?" she asked after another brief paus.
I was starting to wonder what she was getting at now, and I realized a year ago I would probably been a nervous wreck by now but instead I was getting more curious and wanted to know more what she was after.
"I'm really sorry Detective," I said and offered a quick smile, "but I hardly know the man. I bought this place through a real estate agency and never really met him before."
"So, the meeting was about the hotel?" she continued to pry.
"Not at all," I said, realizing I was now giving her far more details about my own business than I had intended, "we met to discuss a business proposition. I work at an IT company and we happened to have a perfect solution for his business."
She once more shifted in posture and started to look right at me with even more interest. I felt like she was onto something but as things were, I figured I should just stick to the simple truth and that would eventually get her off my back.
"You own this hotel, and work in IT?" she asked, and I first thought she sounded impressed but soon realized she was prying again. The last thing I needed now was the police investigating me.
"Yeah," I said with a slight sigh, "my dad's a stock broker and I have just followed his advice and stayed in school, and away from the parties. This place is looks to be quite the investment so far and I really hope you will find this guy so we can put this incident behind us. I'm also in a bit of a hurry for work. I have a boss, believe it or not." I ended my speech with a smile and it seemed to have worked because Davis reached to stop her recorder.
"I'm sorry," she said. "You've been a great help, if I could just ask you for one more favor."
"Yes," I asked.
"We have been trying to get in touch with this Mr. Salvio, but not had any luck so far. Do you have any way of reaching him?"
"I only got the contacts for his assistant," I replied as we stood up, "I can send them to you once I get to the office.
