Really sorry I haven't updated this in so long! This chapter's only a short one but I promise I'll get this story going again.
This chapter's dedicated to Alyson Davies. xD
And Rosie Dodd for the word 'blasé'!
The sun shone brightly across the water, reflecting layers of bright blues in overlapped squares. The pool was almost vacant of swimmers, the occasional ripple appearing across it's surface.
Instead, people were relaxing in sun lounger chairs or beside the bar.
The three hotel guests at the table near the bar at first glance seemed to blend in with the rest of the crowd, apart from the fact that one of them was balancing a laptop on his knees next to his cocktail.
They were waiting for Mickey, who'd left to pick up Albert from the airport something that was probably around an hour ago, but seemed a lot longer. It was barely possible to relax when they were waiting.
The tiny ball of worry about Albert in Ash's head had now grown to quite a reasonable size. He wasn't exactly sure what he was expecting, but he knew there must be some kind of issue for Albert to go missing for long periods of time.
Twice.
"I'll be one minute," Danny said, suddenly springing up as a young woman stalked past in a bikini. "Maybe two, actually."
Ash suppressed a snort, watching as Danny as he casually wandered up to the table where the woman was now sat with two of her friends.
He looked to his left, where Stacie was playing with a strand of her hair, appearing lost in thought. He then remembered the conversation on the plane and recognised the same element of trouble in her eyes.
"Stace?"
Immediately her eyes snapped away from the blank spot that her eyes had been her eyes had previously fixated on, to face Ash.
"What were you going to tell me the other night?" he asked.
He waited, noticing she knew what he meant straight away. She seemed to think about it for a while, then shrug.
"It doesn't matter, it wasn't important," Stacie replied, simply, painting on a smile.
Ash paused, not exactly sure what to say. He knew something was wrong. And he wanted to help Stacie, of course, but at the same time not become annoyingly pushy.
"You'd tell us if something was wrong, wouldn't you?"
"Of course," she replied, still remaining blasé.
Ash had to admit she was a good liar. If he hadn't been so sure she was hiding something he probably would have believed her.
But he was sure. And this remained an issue.
Before he could pursue her, a bleeping sounded somewhere. Both Ash and Stacie checked their phones.
"Mickey and Albert are upstairs," Ash said, flipping his phone shut.
They both gathered up their belongings and began to walk towards through the doors of the hotel lobby, where the shape of the large swimming pool thinned and eventually became a water feature.
"Should we get Danny?" Stacie asked, pausing.
"Nah, he seems to be having fun."
Ash gestured behind him to where Danny was now entertaining four women, who were all giggling. Danny looked over at his friends quickly and grinned.
"Yeah, you're right," Stacie said, laughing.
They proceeded through the entrance hall and called the elevator. Moments later, they reached the hotel room. The door was unlocked.
The second it opened, Stacie ran to hug a rather shocked Albert.
"Albie!"
"Hello, my dear!"
"Where have you been?" she said, releasing him, her relief slowly turning into annoyance.
Albert smiled. "I'm sorry, it won't happen again," he replied, shrugging off her question.
Stacie raised an eyebrow, irritated. "Albie…"
"I'll talk about it later," he assured her.
Before she could respond, the door opened and Danny strolled in, beaming.
"Albert!" he exclaimed, surprised. "Where did you go?"
"Don't ask," Stacie muttered.
Ash and Danny blinked at her, at the prospect of Stacie being angry at Albert. She and Albert were usually very close; it was unusual for her to act like this.
Mickey re-entered the room, slamming a large folder down on the coffee table and opening it. The other four grifters sat down on the sofa and arm chairs around him.
"Ok," he said, flicking the remote control and turning on the projector device Ash had previously set up. "Let's get this mark."