by Willow Rose
They had found a body.
Chapter 40
“We didn’t touch anything.”
The scene meeting me by the elevators was one out of a horror movie. A woman was sitting on her knees, her entire body trembling. She was gasping for breath, sounding like someone who’d been running. She held her hands to the sides of her head while a female deputy tried to calm her, kneeling next to her, putting her arm around her shoulder.
The deputy I had followed down the hallway stopped by the cleaning cart. He had a mournful look to him with his lids drooping sadly over his eyes that fitted the situation perfectly. He was still holding his hat between his hands, fiddling nervously with it as he walked to the basket attached to the side of the cart, meant for the dirty towels. He nodded toward it, then peeked inside. His eyes came back, anxious, and I prepared myself for the worst.
I took a few steps closer, then looked inside with a light gasp. If anyone had known me well, they might have detected a slight relief behind the horror. Not that it wasn’t awful.
But it wasn’t Cole.
The dead brown eyes staring back at me seemed to be accusing me of feeling like this, and I looked away with embarrassment.
“Her name is Elena Lopez, according to her colleagues,” the deputy said. “She has been a staff member here since two thousand and fourteen. She has a family, and we’re trying to contact them as we speak—a husband and two children. Her friend here told us that she found the cart when she went inside the elevator here on the third floor. The last time she saw Elena was on the fourth floor, where they were both cleaning the rooms. That was two hours ago.
I closed my eyes briefly, then opened them again to look at her, forcing myself to, even though it made me sick to my stomach.
“There are bruises,” I said. “Around her neck. Looks like asphyxiation. She was strangled to death.”
The deputy nodded with a slight sniffle. He seemed young, inexperienced. I wondered if he had ever seen a dead body before.
“Did you call it in?” I asked.
He nodded. “My colleague did that. They’re bringing the mobile lab.”
“You did well in not touching anything.”
I looked at the woman curled up inside the basket, while a million thoughts rushed through my mind. This could be no coincidence. There was no way it could be. It had to have some connection to the kidnapping. But what was her link to Cole or the kidnapper?
“She must have seen something,” I said and put a hand on my gun. I glared at the elevator, then at the numbers above it. The cart couldn’t have been in that elevator for long, could it? Someone would have noticed, right? Even if the guests mostly stayed in their rooms like they had been told. Someone would have seen it. No, Elena Lopez hadn’t been dead for more than fifteen minutes or so, was my guess.
The realization made my heart begin to race. Could it really be that the kidnapper was still in the building? It seemed to be the only explanation. And this woman had seen him, and maybe even the boy. This woman had been in the kidnapper’s way somehow. She was most definitely killed in affect; it wasn’t planned. And the way he disposed of the body was so desperate that it told me he had no other way. He wasn’t prepared to have to get rid of her body.
He messed up.
I turned my head and stared at the young man standing next to me.
“What’s your name?”
“Deputy Perri,” he said.
“All right, Perri. You’re coming with me.”
Chapter 41
You messed up. You’re going to be found now. They’re going to come looking for you. How could you have been so stupid?
He was pacing back and forth in his room, his hands shaking. The boy was still sleeping heavily on the bed, wrapped in a white sheet. He could hear the sirens in the distance as they approached with more cars and more deputies, not to mention all the techs that would be crawling everywhere, securing evidence in small bags and whatnot. He knew that soon the place would be crawling with uniforms, and it would be difficult for him to escape with the boy.
Even harder than before.
Why did he have to hide in the hotel? Why did he have to be so stupid?
It had seemed like the perfect plan at first to hide in plain sight, in a place where they would never return to look because they had already checked there. And at the same time to be able to follow the investigation up close and enjoy their troubled faces, and especially hers, Agent Thomas’s. It had been beyond exciting to stay so close without her knowing, but now, everything was blowing up in his face—just because he had lost his cool.
“Maybe they won’t know,” he mumbled, rubbing his chin. “Maybe they won’t come here looking.”
Yes, they will. Are you that insane? You know they will come for you now. They’ll take one look at the woman in the basket, then know that someone on this floor killed her, don’t you see? You messed up big time.
It had all gone by so fast that he had made a rash decision. He had lost control and not been able to think straight. Now, he worried that he had left a loose end, one that might lead them straight to him. He kept scanning the room, trying to make sure the cleaning lady hadn’t left anything behind, like a shoe or some jewelry. That was when he suddenly remembered that she was wearing glasses.
Where were they now?
Was she still wearing them when he placed her in the basket?
He couldn’t remember.
He shook his head with irritation. He had to keep his calm and try to think. No matter how much he kept picturing her face, he couldn’t see if she was wearing them or not. He didn’t even remember if they flew off her when he attacked her. Was she wearing them when he strangled her?
Think for crying out loud. Think. It’s really not that hard. Was she wearing those glasses or not?
He fell to his knees, rubbing his temples, trying to recall, but nothing came to him. He couldn’t remember, no matter how hard he tried. Frantically, he began searching for them on the carpet where he had knocked her down. He ran his fingers through the thick pile, going through it inch by inch, even looking under the bed and the table leaning up against the wall but finding nothing.
No glasses.
He breathed, relieved for a second when another thought hit him like a freight train.
What if she dropped them in the hallway?
The thought was beyond terrifying. If they were on the floor right outside his door, they’d lead them straight to him.
Panic erupted as he stared at the heavy hotel door in front of him. He put his hand on the handle, then paused, not knowing if he dared to go out there again. If anyone saw him pick up the glasses, he was done for. But he had to know. He had to see if they were there and remove them before someone came up to his floor. He simply had to. He couldn’t let such a small insignificant idiotic mistake bring him down. He wouldn’t allow it.
He took a deep breath, steadied himself, then opened the door. If anyone saw him with them, he’d just pretend like he didn’t know whose glasses they were, that he was actually going somewhere else, going for ice, yes that was a good one, when he found them by accident.
He stepped out and looked at the carpet outside but didn’t see anything. Then, he looked down the hall, and there, right there, by the end of the hallway, by the glass doors leading to the elevators, he saw them.
The glasses were lying on the carpet, and he could get them easily. He’d just grab them and go back to his room without anyone even seeing him.
Easy Peasy.
He took one step into the hallway, and the door to his hotel room slammed shut behind him when the elevators dinged, and someone stepped out.
Paralyzed, he saw her face through the glass doors. She was coming out of the elevator, her gun pulled.
Chapter 42
I exchanged a glance with Deputy Perri as we left the elevator. He seemed nervous but focused on the task. I would have preferred to have Brad by my side for this, but he hadn’t returned from Fi
scher’s apartment yet. I just hoped Deputy Perri was trained enough to keep his cool through all this and not lose his marbles. He seemed like a good guy, though, and I needed him mostly for backup.
I knocked on the first door.
“Police, open up, please.”
The door opened, and a young woman appeared.
“Yes?”
“We’re searching this floor again and need to search your room, please. How many people are in there?”
She opened the door fully so we could see. Two kids were sitting on the beds, their heads bent over their iPads. A man that I assumed was her husband was lying on the king-sized bed, remote in his hand, watching golf on the flat-screen TV mounted on the wall in front of him.
“Anyone come in here in the past two hours?” I asked.
The woman shook her head.
“Do you mind if I take a look?”
“Not at all.”
“You stay out here and make sure no one leaves the floor,” I said, addressed to Perri. I put the gun down by my side so that I wouldn’t scare the children, then stepped inside. I walked to the bathroom, then peeked in.
Nothing there.
I threw a glance across the room and the mess, clothes, and toys scattered all over the floor. The woman saw this and picked up a shirt, then began folding it. “It’s been a long day cooped up in here,” she said, excusing herself.
I smiled. “I have kids. Believe me; I know how it goes.”
I walked back out to Perri.
“Clear.”
He nodded, and we continued to the next room, where a man in his late sixties opened the door.
“Hello, sir, are you staying here alone?”
“Yes. It’s just me. What is this about?”
I held both hands on the gun, and seeing this, he stepped back.
“Am I in trouble?”
“I just need to take a look inside your room; would that be okay?” I asked. “It won’t take long.”
He nodded nervously, then made way for me to enter. I walked in, hurried to the beds that were made, and the bathroom that had been cleaned. I knew that Elena cleaned the odd room numbers. Her partner, Milani, had told me how they divided the floors up. With this in mind, we focused on those rooms that she had been cleaning. I assumed she had been killed while in one of them.
Seeing something she wasn’t supposed to, something that she could tell us, and destroy everything.
“What is this about?” the man asked, coming up behind me, startling me.
“We’re searching all rooms on this floor,” I said, not going into any detail. The news of the murder of a cleaning woman hadn’t been leaked to the press yet, and I wasn’t going to be the one to do that. They’d find out soon enough, and then we’d be looking at headlines along the lines of Hotel Death, or Misery Resort, stuff like that. It wouldn’t be good for the resort’s reputation to have a young child disappear and a woman murdered within twenty-four hours.
“This one is clear, too,” I said as I left and closed the door behind me.
We moved down the hallway to the next room and knocked.
“Police. Please, open up.”
Chapter 43
I knocked again, this time harder. My glance met Perri’s as nothing happened behind the door. The resort was fully booked, and all rooms were occupied. If someone didn’t answer, they were either down in the restaurant or hiding from us. My pulse quickened as I knocked one last time.
“Police. Open up, or we’ll come in.”
“We need a keycard,” I said to Perri. He walked to the elevator, then took it down to the lobby. He came back a few minutes later with a young bellboy who was holding a keycard. The boy slid it through the reader, and the small lightbulb turned green above it with a click.
“Stand back,” I said to the bellboy, then grabbed the gun with both hands.
The boy did as I told him to, eyes growing big at the sight of the big Glock between my fingers. I put a hand on the door, and pushed it open slowly, then yelled.
“I am coming in. I am armed. If anyone is in here, then get down on the ground for me, hands where I can see them.”
No answer came, and I walked in, gun pointed in front of me. Perri followed me closely.
“Hello?”
Nothing.
I walked into the bedroom and found it empty, the bed made. At first, it looked almost like no one had been in here at all until I looked closer and realized the cover on the bed was messed up.
Someone had been lying on top of it.
I walked to the bathroom and peeked inside. The tub was filled with water, but not a soul in there either.
“All clear,” I said, then lowered the gun, feeling slightly disappointed. “No one is in here.”
I took in a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. I had felt so sure there would be someone here. I was so certain that this was the right room. I didn’t know why; it was just a hint, a sensation that this place gave off.
I placed a hand on the bedcover and ran it across the bumps. That was when I noticed it. It was right there on the bed in front of me. The way the cover was messed up, it created something, an outline like an angel made in the snow.
Oh, dear Lord!
I barely breathed as I realized this. I called for Perri to come to see, then pointed at the bed.
“Tell me; do you see it?”
“Do I see what?” he asked, looking at me confused, then back at the bed. “What am I looking at?”
“The bed. Can you see what it looks like, the size of it.”
I pointed to illustrate, and that’s when Perri saw it too. His droopy eyes grew big and fearful.
“It’s the outline of a child. A child has been lying there recently.”
I nodded. “Cole.” I placed a hand on it to feel it. “And not long ago. It’s still warm. This means he must still be alive. My guess is Elena came in here to clean, then saw the boy, and our kidnapper killed her so she wouldn’t tell.”
Perri’s face lit up. “He can’t have made it far then. He must still be here in the hotel.”
“But not for long. He knows he’s blown, so he’ll try to leave. We need to get to him before he escapes.”
Chapter 44
He was panting while running down the fire escape. The boy in his suitcase was heavy to carry down each step, but right now, he was pleased just to have been able to get away from the floor and the room before they came in.
It was a close call. A little too close for his taste.
He had decided to leave the glasses where they were on the carpet when he saw Agent Thomas come out of the elevator. Instead, he had leaped for the door and hurried back into his room before they saw him.
He had packed the boy into the suitcase, along with the few belongings he had brought to the room with him, like the syringes and sedative. He had put on a black longhaired wig that he had brought for a situation like this, covering his natural hair, and then left the room, rolling the suitcase behind him, going in the opposite direction of where he saw Agent Thomas knock on a door. The problem was that she and that deputy who was with her had blocked the exits, and he had to get past them to leave somehow. Leaving the safety of his room was a big chance to take, but it had turned out to be the right thing to do.
He had hidden behind the indent in the wall in a doorway to one of the rooms further down the hallway, hoping they couldn’t see him or the suitcase poking out. As soon as they reached his room and had both gone in, he had been able to rush down the hallway and get through the glass doors and out. He hadn’t dared to take the elevator down, so he had used the fire escape instead, and now he was rushing down the stairs, hoping to make it to the garage where his car was parked.
Escape was within his reach. He was getting close now.
He turned a corner, then stopped for a few seconds to catch his breath, then thought he heard a sound, someone yelling in the hallways, and realized he needed to get going. This was no time for breaks. He had to con
tinue down. He was on the second floor now. He was getting close.
He thought he heard more yelling voices, and his blood froze in his veins.
They know! They’re coming for you!
Fear spun through his body and rushed up enough adrenaline for him to lift the suitcase in the air and take two steps at a time. He made it down the next flight of stairs, panting heavily, but somehow still mustering enough strength to go for the last one. He lifted the suitcase again, then took the last ten steps down till he reached the basement. Relieved, he reached for the door handle and opened it.
So close now, I can almost smell the freedom.
His car was parked at the end of the garage by the entrance, so he still had a little way to go, but it was within reach. It was doable. The car was stolen. They wouldn’t be able to trace it to him. He put the suitcase down and rolled it across the ground, spotting the blue car in the distance.
Just a few more feet, then you’re fine—just a few more.
He was halfway there and could almost feel the relief it would be when he placed the suitcase in the trunk, and he took off, leaving the hotel behind him. He would make it; he could just feel it deep down in his guts. Agent Thomas might have found out, may have blown his hideout, but she wouldn’t get him, no, ma’am, not on his watch. He was way smarter than her. And after this, she’d know. She’d regret to the day she died that she didn’t search the hotel better, that she didn’t catch him when he was right under her nose, right on top of her all this time. Oh, what a joy it would be to make sure she was tormented for the rest of her life with this.
She was so close, she could almost smell him, yet he got away.
He got away!