The woman went on her way and the other girl dashed up. "Miss Kadira...there's a c-call from upstairs. Mr. Henri said there's b-been a m-m-mur..." The rest of the sentence was lost in a multitude of sniffles.

"I'll take it in the back office..."

Quick steps brought the Egyptian inside and a swipe of her hand knocked the newspapers off the desk. She snatched up the candlestick phone and spoke into the mouthpiece, "Henri, what is going on? Jenny looks scared to death. If this is some sort of a prank then I swear I'll---"

"Start swearing, then." The detective's voice was hard and he actually sounded sober for once. "Listen, Kadira, there's been a murder. One of the guests is dead. The police are coming. When they get here, send them up. Tell the rest of the staff to cooperate and cable the Owner. Again."

And with that, the house detective rang off, and left Kadira standing there, with the blood roaring in her ears. Well, no time to be standing around getting the vapors, she thought. The mask of composure dropped for an instant and she allowed herself the luxury of one deep sigh, before she set her chin to implacable and marched back out to the front desk.

"Jenny, try to pull yourself together. I'm not in the habit of hiding trouble from people, but I will not have mass pandemonium around here. Understand?"

The operator nodded and sniffled a little less.

"Good." Kadira nodded in approval. She fished around in the pocket of her gown and produced a hankie, which she handed over to the other girl. "Now, stay here. I'm going to talk to the rest of the staff and instruct them that they are to cooperate with the police."