It Runs in the Family

“Darn lucky that my parents got us a suite. It seemed inevitable that RJ and Prissy would ‘reconnect’ tonight. Still, I don’t know why I couldn’t share with Robin while RJ got his own single room,” Ellie Ridge rambled, showing that she’d clearly had a few drinks already. “So, how’s your night going?”

“Busy. Plenty of newsworthy events happening,” Daisy replied, faking a smile. It’s not that she didn’t like the college freshman; she just wasn’t in the mood to make small talk.

“Oh, that’s right! You’re in charge this year, aren’t you?” Ellie queried, lightly grabbing the dirty blonde’s arm.

“No, Ramsey’s our editor,” Daisy corrected.

“Ah, that’s right. Ramsey’s newspaper royalty,” Ellie said, holding in a hiccup. “Oh! You know that I’m attending Sandbar, right? Well, my new teammates couldn’t believe how cute a name we had back here for your paper. They looked up some of my old matches on The Buzzy Bee and thought it was adorable.”

“Wow, that’s swell, Ellie,” Daisy replied, barely holding back the sarcasm. Fortunately, the ping saved her. “Looks like my floor.”

“Happy New Year, Dais! I hope you aren’t sharing a suite with your brother, too,” the tall volleyball player joked as the elevator door opened.

“No, Dex is stuck with Seth,” Daisy said, neglecting to add that she had Norah as her roommate for the holiday. “Bye.”

Once off the elevator, Daisy dropped the friendly expression she’d **** while conducting idle chit-chat. Barely glancing at the room direction signs, the high school journalist marched down the hallway. She bypassed every single room until she reached the end of the hallway as the door to the far stairwell opened, revealing the face of her protégé.

“What the hell, Norah? Why are we up on the sixth floor, and what did Dex do now?” Daisy rattled off while searching the stairwell for her brother. “Where is Dex? What’s the situation?”

Ever since Daisy met Norah, she’d known the younger teen to always be direct and upfront about any information and issues. So when her fellow reporter hesitated before detailing the situation, Daisy knew that her little brother had created a mess.

"We arrived outside of Alfie Fewings' room with a plan. Dexter placed my cell phone opposite the door for Room 404. Unfortunately, the stairs closest to the elevators and his room don't allow for a good vantage point to conduct surveillance, as these stairwells at the far end of each hallway do. Even with my phone in place, I…we wanted to be able to see who approached Alfie's room before they suddenly appeared on Dex's phone," Norah recounted, all business finally. "Our setup proved advantageous as Alfie approached not from the elevator but from the inner stairs. We witnessed him reach his room door with a satisfied expression. However, just before he used his keycard, his expression shifted before he slapped his forehead."

“He forgot something,” Daisy interjected.

“Yes, that was what I surmised. That’s the reason I rushed down the hall to tail him, leaving Dexter behind to monitor Room 404 both visually and on his phone.”

“Which I’m guessing my brother didn’t do,” Daisy guessed, sighing.

“Eventually, yes. I decided the circumstances warranted using my secondary phone to keep Dex updated.” Norah chose to ignore Daisy’s frown. “Alfie exited onto the sixth floor. He headed straight to Room 608. I nearly got caught as he only stayed in the room for barely a minute. I’d just passed the door when he came out, so I carried on to the end of the hall and pretended to use my own keycard for the last room. Once he reentered the stairway, I resumed my pursuit.”

“So what did my brother do?

“Keeping him updated turned out to be a mistake. Dex had already started to ascend the far-end stairs. Despite my explicit instructions not to, Dex entered Room 608,” Norah revealed.

“Wait, how did—Oh, no!” Daisy exclaimed, opening her purse.

“Yes, during the argument between Ramsey and her mother, you apparently handed Dexter the master keycard.”

“Dammit, is he still in there?” Daisy questioned, turning to glance out at the hallway.

“After I learned that Dex had entered the room, I called Odette,” the younger journalist replied instead.

“What?!”

"As I speculated, Odette had already downloaded the entire room bookings for the night," Norah revealed, surprising Daisy. "She assumed correctly that we'd call back for more information."

“Yeah, that does sound like Odie. I just hope she also didn’t download the guests’ credit card info,” Daisy added with a heavy sigh. And the stuff I put with so Rammy doesn’t freak out. “So, who’s staying in that room?”

“A name we’re well familiar with in the office. Archer Bowe,” Norah revealed, flashing a momentary smirk.

“Archer? What the hell do Archer and Alfie have in common…Oh! Olena had Alfie plant a camera or more in Archer’s room,” Daisy said. While some parts were assembled into the puzzle, not all were. “Wait, why would Olena care enough about who ends up in Archer’s bed tonight? He’s like, uh, twenty-five? No, twenty-four. What’s Olena’s play here? And why is Daphne Garrow involved?”

“It turns out that I didn’t need to call Odette to find out who’s staying in Room 806, as Archer returned while I was on the phone with her,” Norah continued.

“Oh, no. Please tell me that Dex–”

“Like sister, like brother. Dexter is currently hiding in the closet.”

“For Bee’s sake!” Daisy cursed, clenching her fists.

“Yes, hopefully extracting Dexter doesn’t entail the same cast and effort as it did for you,” Norah stated.

“Oh, no, no, no! We can’t ask Fawn for any more help. Not after she and her friends helped Ramsey and me. It’s too embarrassing,” Daisy admitted. “We’ll have to cause a distraction ourselves. I can’t imagine Archer is done with the party downstairs. Maybe he’s just using the bathroom, and he’ll…Archer brought someone with him, didn’t he?”

“That’s the intriguing development,” Norah noted with a nod. “I’m not sure why she is involved...oh.”

Daisy watched as her understudy pulled out her work phone. I’ll need to give her a reminder not to use that for these missions. If Ms. Resto saw what’s on there, we’re cooked.

“Ah, Dexter is making his escape.”

"What?" Daisy exclaimed, already whipping the stairwell door open. Watching her brother attempt to exit the hotel room stealthily, she marched down the hall, planning to berate her brother for doing something stupid. It didn't matter that she'd done a similar act; Daisy was responsible for her little brother. "What were you thinking, young man?"

“Hey, I think somebody is having sex in there,” Dexter said, gesturing over his shoulder to the now-closed door. “It sounded hot and heavy, but I didn’t want to risk taking a look. Who did Archer pick up?”

"Give me that," his sister ordered, snatching the master keycard from his hand.

“Annette Baris,” Norah said, quietly dropping the bombshell.

“What?!”

“Who?” Dexter added, looking confused.

“Beyza’s mom is in there with Archer?” Daisy questioned in shock.

“Beyza,” Dexter hissed.

“Yes, Beyza's mom is the person with Archer,” Norah repeated slowly.

“No, Beyza!” Dexter hissed again, only this time adding a head-nudge.

The other two teens looked down the hallway in time to see Beyza checking the room number of the first door she passed. Daisy immediately swung around to find a way out. The stairs were quite far away, so her eyes landed on the door to Room 607.

“I checked. It’s empty for now,” Norah responded, reading her mentor’s expression.

“In here,” Daisy directed, using the purloined keycard to enter the room opposite Archer’s.

Despite Norah’s assurance, Daisy still had concerns when she turned on the room’s light. Fortunately, raised voices didn’t follow. Dexter peeked inside the main section of the hotel room to find both double beds empty and undisturbed.

“I wonder who’s staying in here,” Norah said.

“You could call Odie again,” Dex suggested.

“No!” Daisy hissed, turning away from the peephole for a moment. “Odie’s supposed to go home and avoid any more trouble. I don’t need you calling her again. With my luck, she’d show up here as it’s starting to sound fun.”

“Yeah, she might do that,” Dexter agreed.

“Shit!” Daisy hissed, peering out of the doorhole. Then, with wide eyes, she turned to look at the two teens. “Beyza’s using a keycard to enter the room.”

“This room?!” Dex asked.

“No, your sister means Archer’s room, dummy,” Norah replied, waving her hand at him in disgust. “What’s happening now?”

“Beyza just went inside, and the door is closed. Holy crap! You don’t think…mom and daughter?” Daisy questioned. “I mean, wow!”

“Hmm, that would match with Archer’s reputation,” Norah acknowledged.

“But Beyza? I know her mom had a reputation growing up, but she’s never seemed wild,” Daisy added. “She only got a mention on Nosy Nectar because of her breakup with Sean Tarver, which wasn't as important back then as it seems now."

“I don’t get…Holy shit! Is Archer going to fuck both of them?!” Dexter shrieked, finally putting two and two together to reach an improbable fantasy.

“And you’re leaving him with me to run things next year?” Norah said to Daisy.

“Hey, I’m getting sick of the digs,” Dexter shot back.

“Shut up!” Daisy hissed. “Beyza is coming back out. Aw, she’s crying.”

“Was that Olena’s intention all along?” Norah asked, thinking it seemed odd.

“I almost forgot about Olena’s involvement,” Daisy admitted.

The whole prospect of Archer having a threesome with a not-surprisingly mother and her unlikely daughter had distracted Daisy from their main interest for a minute. Later, she’d feel some embarrassment over that slip-up.

“Poor girl,” Daisy added, watching Beyza rubbing away tears.

When the other teen began to walk away, the senior reporter cracked the door. Daisy wanted to ensure that Beyza would be alright in her upset state. However, she quickly pushed the door almost closed as a new voice sounded in the hall.

Daisy couldn’t be entirely sure about the conversation happening, as she only heard bits and pieces of it. However, from what she could tell, a man inquired about Bezya being upset. Despite rebuffing his asking for answers, Beyza appeared willing to accept his offer to get away and sit down for a few minutes. Then, realizing Beyza and the man were walking away from their location, Daisy opened the door and leaned her head out to peer down the hallway.

“Norah, get out there and tail them,” Daisy ordered, stepping back into the room. “Beyza’s walking off with Griffin Green.”

“On it,” the sophomore acknowledged, exiting the room.

“Griffin Green? Wait, doesn’t his brother work at the Flyer?” Dexter asked.

“Very good. He’s one of their reporters. However, Griffin’s more of a skeezy schemer. He and Blaine Bagby like to add as many notches to their bedposts as possible.”

“Oh, you mean like screwing girls?”

"Dex, how are you so oblivious to this stuff? Your best friend is Seth Francy!"

“You’re the one who’s always telling me not to listen to Seth!”

“Quiet,” Daisy ordered her younger brother while grabbing her phone. “I want to see what Griffin has been up to tonight.”

Annoyed with always getting dismissed or talked down to by Daisy and Norah, Dexter decided he needed to take the initiative more often. Doing so right now led him to survey their current hotel room. Almost at once, his eyes zeroed in on the garment lying on the floor between the two beds. Picking it up, he whistled in surprise.

“Wow, look at this!” Dexter said, holding up a piece of sexy pink lingerie.

“Huh? Oh, dammit, Dex! Don’t go all pervy by going through these people’s dresser drawers,” Daisy scolded her brother.

“I didn’t! It was right here on the floor,” Dex protested. Then, he made a point that his sister admitted to be a good one. “Shouldn’t we know whose room we broke into? What if they come back soon?”

“We didn’t break in here. We merely entered without permission,” Daisy replied, playing semantics with what they’d done. Still, she agreed with her brother enough to open the closet door. “Ah, that’s Polly’s.”

“Polly Gettinger? No way! Polly’s not, you know, big enough for this,” Dex argued, holding his hands out in front of his chest.

“I’m talking about the coat in the closet. I recognize it as Polly’s,” Daisy clarified. “That’s probably her mom’s.”

“Oh…Oh! Yeah, that makes sense,” Dex admitted, recalling Mrs. Gettinger as being rather busty.

A buzzing sound caught both of the Kirby siblings’ attention. Checking her phone, Daisy raised an eyebrow.

“Norah said that Griffin took Beyza into a room just down the hallway.”

"He's staying on this same floor?" Dexter questioned, finding it odd. The 6th-floor rooms weren't suites but were slightly larger than those on floors 3-5. That meant they cost more, and he didn't think the Greens were wealthy.

“Yes, he took Beyza into Room 619,” Daisy revealed.

“Hey, that’s by my room!” Dexter exclaimed. “Well, Seth and I are in 615.”

“Of course you are,” Daisy responded through gritted teeth.

Unlike her brother, whose well-off friend’s mother paid for the nicer room, Daisy and Norah were all the way down in Room 308.

“Pretty lucky for this Green guy to bump into Beyza near his room,” Dexter started to say before he realized something was off. “Hold on a second. Why would he even be on this side of the hotel?”

“Huh?”

“The hotel has four stairways and a few elevators for guests. So if his room is near mine, on the other side of the elevators, why would this guy be walking towards this way? Even if he didn’t want to use the elevators, he skipped three different stairs that he could’ve used.”

“You…You’re right!” Daisy replied, blinking her eyes in surprise. “Griffin running into Beyza wasn’t a coincidence. It was planned.”

“Why would Olena want Beyza running into Griffin and Archer with her mom?”

“Hmm,” Daisy sounded while mulling it over. Luckily, she decided at that moment to look out the peephole again. It proved to be fortunate timing. “Oh my.”

“What?” Dexter asked, hurrying over toward his sister and the door.

“Archer’s about to get another guest. She also has a keycard.”

“He is? She does? Who is it?”

“Aubrey Dunford,” Daisy said before realizing she might need to elaborate for her brother. “She’s a senior over at Zurbrugg. Aubrey hooking up with Archer wouldn’t be a huge shocker, but she doesn’t look thrilled to be going into that room.”

Pulling back from the peephole, Daisy started to run over the facts. How did all these people factor into Olena’s plan? What sort of a plan was it? It all had to mean something, but what?

“Okay, something is off. Olena’s not known to be a scheming bitch to most people. That’s because she’s always careful about how she goes about it. So why did Olena get careless and meet Daphne Garrow downstairs and not in a room?”

“I don’t know. Maybe she was in a hurry,” Dexter suggested.

“Precisely! So if we keep going along that line of thinking, it means that either Olena didn’t have this plan in place already, or it had to be adjusted,” Daisy speculated. “So maybe the people she’s using are last-minute additions. Why did she bring in Daphne and Alfie to work for her while also using Beyza, her mom, Archer, Griffin, and now Aubrey? What do they have in common?”

“Uh, you said that Odette saw that Olena’s family reserved the room that Alfie ended up in, right? So did she do the same for Archer or Griffin?” Dexter threw out the idea.

Daisy didn't answer. Instead, she motioned for Dex to keep watch through the peephole while she walked further into the Gettingers' room. Pacing back and forth, the experienced reporter and people-watcher pondered the connections. She rang through all of Olena's past schemes that they had in their records, along with Alfie's alleged hobby work. Staring at the room's walls, a possibility suddenly popped into her mind.

"I might have something," Daisy announced, typing on her phone. "The white-haired witch isn't as sneaky and smart as she thinks."

“What is it?”

“I’m telling Norah to keep an eye on Griffin’s room. I want you to head back down to the fourth floor and keep using Norah’s phone to watch Alfie’s room,” Daisy listed.

“But what’s the plan?”

“We need to get Beyza out of that room and fast.”

“Are you going to use the keycard to go in there and drag her out?”

“What? No!” Daisy shot down his guess. “We need to get her out of there without Griffin, Daphne, and Olena knowing we were behind it.”

“But how are you going to do that?” Dexter asked again.

“We’re in a hotel, right? People often get confused and bang on the wrong door. Even more so on New Year’s Eve when they’ve had too much to drink,” Daisy pointed out. “So we need to find some of the most obnoxious people to bang on Griffin’s door until the mood is broken.”

“The mood?”

“Yes, the mood. Don’t you realize what Griffin plans to do with Beyza in his room?”

“Uh...eww!”

“Okay, get down to your position, and don’t do anything without asking for permission. Got that?” Daisy waited until her brother agreed. However, she suddenly had another idea. “Wait, I want you to do one more thing while on the way downstairs.”

Dexter listened before nodding. Then, walking out the door, he asked his sister where she planned to go.

---

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK

The door opened to reveal a shocked and worried strawberry blonde.

“Dais! You know you can’t be here. If my mom finds out, I’m in deep—”

“Don’t worry. I’m not here for you,” Daisy interrupted.

She walked past the pajama-clad Ramsey and into the hotel room. Two younger teens were sprawled out on a bed. Open bags of chips and other junk food surrounded them, while the nightstand held multiple empty soda cans.

“You can’t be here,” one of the kids said, barely looking up from the screen.

“How would you like to earn ten bucks by playing a different game?” Daisy asked.

“Twenty,” Samson O’Dell responded.

“Twenty? You don’t even know what I’m asking,” Daisy complained.

“Dais, what’s going on?” Ramsey inquired.

“Oh, right. Cover your ears, Rammy. You can’t know about anything of this. Complete denial is required on your part if your mom starts asking questions. Cover them!”

Unsure about following her friend's order, Ramsey reluctantly covered her ears with her hands. Still, she watched Daisy, Sammy, and her cousin Reed like a hawk.

“Fine, I’ll give you a twenty. Just get in the bathroom and put on some real clothes.”

“Do I have to?” Sammy whined.

“Look, this will only take ten minutes tops, and I’m giving you twenty dollars. So move it!” Daisy commanded, causing Delilah’s brother to hop off the bed.

“What about me?” Reed asked.

"Dammit," the dirty blonde cursed. Reaching into her purse, Daisy pulled out a ten-dollar bill. "You stay here so that your cousin can keep on 'babysitting' you. And not a word to anyone about this, got it?"

“Seriously, what’s going on?” Ramsey questioned, uncovering her ears as a hastily dressed Sammy rushed out of the bathroom.

“Don’t worry, Ram. You might wake up to one hell of a story in the morning,” Daisy teased, shooing Sam out of the hotel room.