Page 16 of Forever

Locatelli turned to Magnus. “Did you order something?”

“A last meal.”

“Was that really necessary?”

“She deserves a final meal. I don’t tell you how to do your job, so don’t tell me how to do mine.”

“Excuse me?”

Magnus ignored him and threw open the door. “Who the hell are you?”

Tanner was standing there in a chef’s hat.

Wait…Tanner?!

Chapter 5

Friday – A few seconds earlier

Matt

“Should we just knock and say housekeeping?” Rob asked as we stared at the door with Magnus King’s name on it.

“What kind of shoddy hotel has housekeeping coming around this late at night?” Tanner said. “Utterly ridiculous.”

“Do you have a better idea?”

“Obviously.” Tanner pointed to his chef’s hat. “A late night snack.” He knocked on the door and yelled: “Room service!”

“What the hell are you doing?” I said. “We didn’t come up with a plan yet.”

“I find it better to just act on impulse. I rarely plan anything. It always works out okay.”

Of course everything worked out okay for him. Because he knew some kind of weird technique that put people to sleep almost instantly. Or killed them. I still wasn’t entirely sure.

“You don’t have any food trays,” Rob said. “Magnus is obviously going to know you’re lying. Besides, won’t he know you’re not the chef at this hotel?”

“Magnus King is rich. He barely pays attention to who’s on staff.” Tanner shrugged. “Look at me. I have no idea who cooks my meals on a daily basis.”

“Isn’t it Nigel?” I asked.

“Oh. Right. Yes, probably. But I don’t know the particulars. He may hire it out for all I know.”

I was pretty sure he made everything. Or else he wouldn’t have asked me how much meat I wanted in my lunches. I shook away the thought. What the hell was I thinking about right now? “But won’t he recognize you? You said you’ve been working on setting him up with someone.”

Tanner shrugged. “He definitely won’t recognize me. I just have one of those faces that blends into a crowd.”

“Do you though?” I asked.

“Of course. Trust me, he has no idea who I am.”

“But you just said you were helping him…”

“Forget about that. And don’t mention it to him. I blend in. Trust me. It would be rather impractical to stand out everywhere I went.”

“Then you should stop wearing neon green tuxes with zigzags all over them,” Rob said.

“That’s not me, Young Robert. How many times do I have to tell you? Look at the very normal tux I’m wearing right now. And definitely don’t mention the colorful tuxedos or man bun to Magnus. It will confuse the poor lad.”

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