Chapter 10 - The Guest Nobody Believed
We found Ruth Bell at a modest inn three blocks from the beach. She answered the door wearing a blue sweater and a guarded expression. I introduced myself and apologized before I asked her for anything.
“You own that place?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“Then why did they treat me like garbage?”
“Because people in my hotel failed you,” I said. “I'm trying to understand how far that failure went.”
She studied my face. Finally she let us in.
Ruth had kept every receipt, every message, and the printed confirmation for the anniversary suite. She said she'd heard two people arguing in the corridor just before security arrived.
“One woman was younger,” Ruth said. “She was yelling that they couldn't leave anything in the room.”
“Could you recognize the voice?” Martin asked.
“Maybe. The man said, 'It's not there.' Then she said, 'Check the lining.'”
I felt a chill.
“Lining of what?” Daniel asked.
Ruth opened her handbag and brought out a folded canvas pouch.
“My husband made this for our travel papers. It was in a bedside drawer. They searched the room, but I slipped it inside my sweater because it was the last thing he made for me.”
Inside the pouch was a hotel stationery envelope, addressed in Thomas's handwriting: TO RUTH, IF YOU EVER NEED IT.
Ruth looked from me to Daniel. “Your husband handed it to mine years ago. He said to keep it somewhere safe. I promised I'd bring it back if he asked.”
“And you came here for the anniversary,” I whispered.
She nodded. “I was going to ask the front desk to give it to you. Then those people came.”
With trembling hands, Ruth opened the envelope. There was a storage-unit key and a photograph of Pier Nine's construction crew.
May you like
On the back, Thomas had written a single sentence.
IF CHARLES COMES FOR THE HOTEL, START WITH THE MAN IN THE RED HARD HAT.
