That's Not My Suitcase

by Laina Turner

  Both Wendy and Amanda leaned in closer.

  “Real gold?” Wendy asked.

  I nodded, taking a sip of the wine the waiter placed in front of me. “Thanks,” I said to him and then turned my attention back to the ladies.

  “I’m fairly certain it’s real. I mean I could be wrong but the way it was packed indicated valuable. So I thought it best to put it in the hotel safe until we get this luggage snafu figured out.”

  “Good idea. You don’t want to be liable if something were to happen,” said Wendy.

  “Exactly!” I said and then picked up a menu. “Let’s order. I’m starved.”

  Dinner was excellent, as was the company. I felt like I had known these ladies forever. I found myself glancing around the dining room hoping to catch a glimpse of Steve but to no avail. I was a little disappointed and looked forward to seeing him in the morning for coffee. Though I scolded myself for being a little too eager, was I going to act like this every time a man paid attention to me?

  “More coffee ladies,” the waiter asked.

  “None for me thanks,” I said, and Wendy and Amanda said the same.

  “I don’t think I could eat or drink another bite,” said Wendy.

  “Me either. I shouldn’t have had that last bite of crème brûlée but it was so good.”

  “Why don’t we go walk it off on the beach,” Wendy suggested.

  “I’m beat. I think I’ll call it a night.”

  “See you on the beach tomorrow then?”

  “Absolutely!”

  “Great. Goodnight, Sterling.”

  “You too, Wendy. Amanda.”

  I walked down the hall to my room, yawning. I was exhausted again. It must be all the fresh air. I looked at the room numbers and only had a couple more doors to pass before getting to my own. I fished my key card out of my purse and slid it in the slot. I pushed the door open and flipped the glowing light switch by the door to turn the lights on.

  “What the hell!” I said out loud, though there was no one around to hear me. The room had been torn apart. Suitcases upended, drawers on the floor, and even all my clothes that had been hanging neatly in the closet were in a pile on the floor. I stepped backwards out the door letting it close behind me and hurriedly walked to the hotel phone by the elevator. I called the front desk who said they would send security right away. I waited for what seemed like an eternity, but what was probably just a couple minutes, until the elevator opened and out walked two security men.

  “Thank goodness you’re here. I think someone broke into my room!” I said frantically.

  “Please wait here, ma’am,” one of them said. “What’s your room number again?”

  I gave it to them and a few minutes later they were back.

  “No one is in there ma’am.”

  Oh hell, I hadn’t even thought about that when I had walked in. Thank God I walked right back out, though I had done that so I didn’t touch anything. Not because I thought someone could be in there.

  “Are you sure someone was in your room?”

  “Yes, I’m sure,” I snapped. “I’m not in the habit of leaving my clothes on the floor or dumping them out of the drawers. My room is not how I left it a couple hours ago before I went to dinner.”

  “OK ma’am,” the one doing the talking said. “Then you should probably come with us to call the police.”

  “The police?”

  “Yes ma’am. You will want to file an official report in case something is missing.”

  I sighed. I just wanted to go to sleep but he was right. This vacation was like a yo-yo. One minute amazing, the next minute I was about to pull my hair out because something unexpected happened.

  I was kept waiting for almost an hour before the island police showed up. I hoped that wasn’t an indication of how busy they were. The hotel staff was nice and brought me coffee while I waited.

  The police finally arrived and starting talking to me. I told them about the suitcase I had that didn’t belong to me and I was having a hard time explaining why I had opened someone else’s package, the contents of which were still in the hotel safe, the police had made sure to verify. They made me feel guilty and I hadn’t done anything wrong.

  “So why did you open the box, why not just leave it?” the police officer asked again.

  “I didn’t want some unknown thing in my room! And I’m glad I did or that valuable piece of art could have been stolen,” I said, somewhat defensively.

  I had to admit I was getting a little nervous at being in a foreign country, now being questioned by the police about opening someone else’s luggage, which wasn’t a criminal offense or at least I didn’t think it was.

  I needed to call Nadine, she would know what to do, but I didn’t want to ask them if I could make a phone call. I felt it would make me look more guilty. Plus, I didn’t want to worry her. I just didn’t understand why they kept questioning me. I didn’t take anything. I was the one whose room got broken into. I was the victim.

  “And you’re saying you don’t know who the luggage belonged to or how it got switched with yours,” the police officer questioning me asked for the millionth time. He made me feel like he didn’t believe me and with every time he asked me eventually, he would get a different answer. Or maybe I felt that way because I watched too much Law and Order on TV.

  “No I don’t. Trust me, I would rather have my shoes than to deal with this. Now, what about my room getting broken into? Do you think someone was looking for their missing luggage?”

  He ignored me when another policeman came and whispered into his ear. I couldn’t remember his name. Rudolph or something maybe?

  “Excuse me,” he said to me and left the room, only to come back a few minutes later. I was desperately wanting a drink or a piece of cake, something, to calm my nerves. The coffee was just making it worse. I was already jittery and didn’t need the caffeine.

  He just stared at me for a few moments, which further unnerved me.

  “You’re free to go!” he said abruptly, completely catching me off guard as that wasn’t at all what I expected to hear.

  ”What?”

  “You’re free to go.”

  “Just like that? But what about my room?”

  “The hotel will put you in a different room. Right now yours is a crime scene and you can’t go back in there. Here is my card, if you see any suspicious people hanging around. Call me.”

  “But …”

  “You’re free to go,” he interrupted and then stood up and walked out of the room, leaving the door open.

  I followed him out where the other police officers, some hotel employees, and to my surprise, Wendy, were standing.

  Wendy rushed over and hugged me. Even though I had just met her, I was relieved to have someone here I knew, even if not very well. It made me feel less alone in this scary situation.

  “Ma’am, I will take you to your new room. Please follow me,” said one of the concierge staff I recognized from earlier.

  I didn’t say anything, just followed him with Wendy in tow. He opened the door and ushered us in.

  I looked around at a stark empty room.

  “Where’s my luggage? Are you going to bring that up later?”

  “No, ma’am. At least not right away,” he said looking very apologetic which led me to believe I wasn’t going to like to hear what the reason was for no luggage.

  “The police won’t let us take anything out of your room. Not until they finish their investigation. Please know the hotel extends its deepest apologies for your misfortune and an account has been set up for you at the hotel store to purchase whatever you may need.”

  I sighed. Yelling and screaming in frustration would make me feel better temporarily, but it wouldn’t change the situation and it certainly wasn’t this kid’s fault.

  “Thank you,” I sighed again, resigned to the now common occurrence of not having clean clothes.

  He handed me the room key and said, “Is there anyth
ing else I can do for you?”

  I shook my head, “No, thank you.”

  “Have a good night ma’am,” he said and then left, closing the door behind him.

  I walked over and flopped on the bed. “Calgon, take me away!”

  Wendy laughed. “I may not have Calgon but I have the next best thing.” She pulled a bottle of merlot from her oversized purse. Then she pulled out a corkscrew from her purse to pop the cork, grabbed the two glasses sitting on the desk by the ice bucket and poured us each a glass.

  As I looked at her in amazement, she said “I slipped the bartender a twenty.”

  I laughed, “Well I’m thankful!”

  After a few sips, Wendy finally asked, “So what happened?”

  “I thought you already knew and that’s why you were waiting for me.”

  Wendy shook her head. “No. The young man who brought us up here, he must be friends with our waiter, because I came back down to the dining room to get another piece of that scrumptious cheesecake to take back to my room, no judging, and the waiter came and asked me if you were OK. When I said I had no idea what he was talking about, he said he had seen the hotel security with you. I went to the front desk and they just told me there had been an incident and you were talking to the police, so I decided to wait for you. Definitely worth giving up cheesecake for and getting wine instead. I wanted to make sure you were OK.”

  “Glad I could help.”

  “What did happen?”

  I quickly ran down the series of events for her.

  “Now I’m here without any clothes for the second time and wondering who it was who broke into my room.”

  “Do you think the person whose suitcase you have was looking for the statue?”

  I had been wondering the same thing, but how would they have gotten in.

  “But then why wouldn’t they just ask me for it?”

  “You said the police were really questioning you. Maybe it was stolen property?” Wendy suggested, excitement tainting her voice.

  “You’re crazy. Probably kids looking to rip off rich tourists. Unfortunately for them, they picked the wrong room, ‘cause they didn’t get much. Unless they like lady clothes and why would the police question me? I didn’t steal it. I turned it into the hotel. A thief wouldn’t have done that!”

  “It just seems odd. Plus, it’s much more fun to think you are in possession of stolen goods.”

  While I had a hard time wrapping my brain around the fact that someone would put something as valuable as that Buddha in a suitcase and fly it commercial, thinking the piece was stolen property seemed ridiculous as well. I was very appreciative of Wendy’s company and was glad she hung out with me just to chat and finish off the wine or I really would have gone crazy thinking about all this.

  “Sure I can’t get you anything else?” she asked as she was about to leave.

  I shook my head. “Nope. You’re welcome to come shopping with me tomorrow in the hotel store. See what we can find without some obnoxious logo on it.”

  “Sounds like fun!”

  “Thanks for everything, Wendy!”

  Chapter 6

  The sun woke me up and I rolled over grabbing my phone to check the time. It was eight-thirty. I rolled back over on my back for about two seconds and then it dawned on me, I was supposed to have coffee with Steve. Crap! Not that I was having coffee with Steve, that I was looking forward to, but rather crap, it was already eight-thirty and I had a wardrobe problem.

  I had thirty minutes, now twenty-seven, to shower, get ready, shop or put on yesterday’s clothes and make it to the beach café.

  I called the front desk to inquire about the store to only find out they didn’t open until ten. So now I had two less minutes and one less option.

  I made a quick call to Wendy and jumped in the shower. I heard a knock on the door as I was stepping out.

  “Just a minute,” I called, and grabbed the hotel robe to throw around me, and then opened the door, hoping it was Wendy, not a stranger who was going to see me in this state. I wasn’t disappointed.

  Wendy walked in hands full of hangers. “Here you go! Lots of choices,” she said, laying the outfits on the bed.

  “Oh Wendy, you’re a life saver!”

  “Can’t have you meeting a handsome man in last night’s outfit. Now you only have fifteen minutes to get ready so I’m leaving, but I expect a full report later. I’ll be in the same spot as yesterday, working really hard at doing nothing.”

  “Thank you again, Wendy,” I called as the door closed behind her. I owed her big time.

  I scanned the choices and quickly settled on a fuchsia sundress that was made from stretchy material. I was probably about ten pounds heavier than Wendy, so the stretchier the better and the sundress wouldn’t cling to all the wrong places. I slipped it on and ran a comb through my hair before slapping on some gel Wendy brought. I was going to have to let it air dry. Without more time that was my only option. I would also be sans make up but at least I was clean and in clean clothes. It was an improvement on last time he saw me and would just have to do. The way I saw it, if he hadn’t been scared off the first night then he would definitely see this as an improvement.

  With three minutes to spare, I walked out of the hotel room and headed down to where I was meeting Steve.

  I spotted him quickly. Pleased with myself that I was only four minutes late and I blamed two of those minutes on the elevator. I made my way to the table where he was sitting and sat down. There was a pot of coffee sitting on the table which Steve grabbed to pour me a cup.

  “Sorry I’m late,” I said, taking the coffee gratefully. I wasn’t fully alert until after at least one cup of coffee.

  Steve looked at his watch. “A few minutes doesn’t count. Especially while on vacation.”

  I smiled. “Thanks. Crazy night last night.”

  “Should have had dinner with me. I’m pretty boring so your night wouldn’t have been crazy.”

  I laughed, “It wasn’t dinner that was crazy, it was after dinner.”

  He raised his eyebrows and looked at me funny and I realized how what I said sounded.

  “That didn’t come out right. It wasn’t that kind of crazy.”

  Now it was his turn to laugh.

  “You don’t seem the crazy night type.”

  “Are you telling me I seem boring?” I said playfully, enjoying our banter.

  “Not at all. In fact, I find you far from boring. So what made it crazy?”

  For the second time in as many days I recounted the story to someone who was practically a perfect stranger and yet it didn’t seem that way. I was quickly making friends and I liked it. It was fun having people to talk to. I realized how much I missed the circle of friends Brian and I used to hang out with. I briefly wondered if him and his now wife were now hanging out with them. The thought hurt a little but I put it out of my mind. Being here I had proved to myself I could make new ones.

  “So wait. You mean to tell me you don’t have any luggage now? What a vacation this has turned out to be. I’m sorry to hear you’ve had such bad luck.”

  I shrugged. “Could be worse.” I said it initially because I didn’t want to come off as a complainer, but then I realized it was true. Yes, there had definitely been some obstacles to this vacation, but the upside was I had met some amazing people and I’d still had fun in spite of the issues.

  “Are you just waiting now to get your clothes back?”

  “I guess. The police think it was just a random burglary and I had nothing in my room of value except my laptop and that wasn’t stolen. In fact, it’s the only thing they let me get from my room.”

  “Hmm, so do you think they were after that statue?”

  “You sound like Wendy. She had some crazy idea that it’s a stolen artifact and now the thief is trying to get it back. I think she’s been reading too many mystery books.”

  “She might have a point?”

  I wanted to call him crazy like I had
Wendy last night, but then wondered if I were the crazy one, since they both thought the same thing. It just seemed like something from a book or movie, not real life.

  “You really think so?” I asked, trying to be more open-minded to the idea.

  “Who knows, but we can try to find out!”

  He got his iPad which had been sitting on the seat next to him and went to Google. “Stolen Buddha statue,” he said slowly as he typed the words in. “Let’s see what Google says.”

  “Yes, because Google knows everything, according to my kids anyway,” I said.

  “It pretty much does,” he said ruefully.

  “Whoa!” he said, as his search pulled up. He peered at it and then pushed the iPad toward me.

  “Look at this.”

  Pulling it closer so I could see better, I could see why he had been surprised. He had found an article that talked about a Buddha statue that had been stolen from a private collection in Miami. The police in that case were quoted in the article as saying there had been a string of art and jewelry robberies in the area and were looking for a group of three, maybe four people. The police said they had a few leads but nothing they wanted to divulge at the moment. The article went on to talk about the other items that had been stolen in the last fifteen months ranging from a large gilded cross to an ornate jewelry box. The thieves seemed to focus on smaller items of high value from high end homes.

  I looked up from reading with an astonished look on my face.

  “You really think this could be the same statue? Doesn’t that sound just a little crazy?”

  “How many gold Buddha statues do you think are around here?” Steve said.

  “I guess not many?”

  “Probably not.”

  “You really think I was on a plane with someone who stole this statue from that place in Miami and our luggage was accidentally switched. I was never good at statistics in college, but doesn’t that seem just a little far-fetched?”