He shook his head. “The security guy does that.”
She brightened at the mention of another person. “He must patrol the place,” she said. “We’ll just explain the situation, then. Maybe he won’t even have to report anything to Dolores, if it was all a misunderstanding.”
“He drives around outside,” Asa said. “I purposely parked around the corner, but maybe he’ll see your car and investigate. And there are cameras in the main guest areas. I don’t know if they’re actively monitored, though.”
She chewed on her lower lip, obviously thinking through their options. “I could call Daniel,” she said. “Tell him what happened. He could drive up here to disarm the system, and then we could head back to Dolores’ for dinner.”
Asa doubted that would happen. For one thing, he would be very surprised if even Daniel knew the security code, vice president or no. He wasn’t exactly hands-on. But presumably he could ask Dolores, so that wasn’t even the real issue—Asa just doubted that he would drive all the way out to help.
“So call him,” Asa said.
“I can’t bother Dolores,” Lauren said. “This dinner tonight sounded important.”
Asa shrugged. “It’s up to Daniel what he does. He doesn’t have to involve her if he doesn’t want to.”
Lauren dug in her purse and pulled out her phone, stepping away to make the call. He was surprised by just how much he missed the nearness of her. He knew she was distracted by the logistics of this situation, and she’d be back to hating him any minute, but for now he was relieved she was at least talking to him again.
He should be irritated with her. It was her fault the door was closed, after all, and he had definitely not planned to spend his night at Cold World after working a long day. But somehow he couldn’t manage it. He found himself courting a fuck it, whatever happens happens attitude, which almost never boded well.
She was at the other end of the hall now, the phone pressed to her ear. He could make out bits and pieces of her conversation, but not enough to know if she was making any progress. Already the call with Daniel was lasting longer than he’d expected, he’d give the bastard that. He inched a little closer. It wasn’t eavesdropping if they were both in a shared space, right?
“I totally understand,” she was saying. “It was a long shot. I—” She broke off, and he couldn’t help but notice how tense her body language was—her shoulders curved inward, her fingers tight around the phone. It was completely at odds with the light, breezy tone she was obviously striving for on the call. “No, no, of course. It sounds like Dolores really needs you there.”
Lauren paused, listening. “Oh,” she said finally. “Sure. I guess I could—but I’m not sure that you’d understand what the—”
She turned, giving Asa a little frown. Busted. He tried to raise his eyebrows in a Well? Is Daniel coming? expression, even though it was clear by now that he wasn’t.
“Yes,” she said finally, sounding more decisive. “I’ll email them to you. Okay. You—”
She held the phone away from her ear, looking down at it as if to verify that the call had dropped. When she looked up, she gave Asa a brittle smile. “Well,” she said. “Maybe it’s time to break out the flashlights. Do you know Morse code?”
“With all due respect,” Asa said, “that seems like something you would know.”
She furrowed her brow, like she was trying to figure that one out, before shoving her phone back in her purse. She folded the papers she’d been holding into a crooked, messy square, obviously not caring how crinkled they got.
“What are you doing here after hours? Why did you prop the door open?”
“I told you,” he said. “I had an idea. I wanted to see if I could make it work.”
He could tell she was dying to ask what the idea was. And in the mood he was in, he just might tell her. But he could also tell that it was the same moment she remembered their conversation in her office earlier, the way it had ended.
She glanced at her watch. She was the only person he knew who still wore one, but it fit her. He had a feeling she liked to know exactly what time it was no matter what she was doing, was the kind of person who would check a movie’s runtime to know what she was getting into before agreeing to see it.
“They should be done with dinner around eleven,” she said. “So maybe Daniel will be able to come then. If not, we’ll figure something else out. We definitely can’t stay here all night.”