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Greg doesn’t say anything else as he moves around the room. He opens the fridge, closes it, and checks the trash. Lifting the basket, he pulls out a torn piece of what looks like a paper bag.
“That green swirl is part of the hospital logo.”
“Well, this answers whether she returned or not. This must be part of the bag that would have had her meds in it.”
“So, she came back here, packed her stuff, tidied her room, and left, even though she went to all this trouble to come here to warn us about the shit going down? I’m not buying it. The only reason she would have run like that was if she was scared.”
“The door has definitely been jimmied at some point. In this place, that means nothing. Those marks could be months or hours old. But what if Avery did leave, just not of her own accord? I agree that the cell phone is a little too conveniently placed. My first instinct is to assume she left, but you’re right. That just doesn’t fit.”
“And making the bed? With her shoulder being the way it is… It’s just not worth it. She won’t get billed extra for leaving her bed unmade, so why bother?”
“Someone forced her to leave.”
“No signs of a struggle, though. So either she complied with them or…”
“She was unconscious when they took her, and they staged the room to look like she checked out.”
“Fuck. I’ll call the police.”
“No, wait. If we call the police, Avery will definitely end up getting flagged in the system. If the people she works for haven’t found her yet, they will the second we call this in. And we don’t know for sure it was them that took her yet.”
“It’s a risk we need to take, Ev. We need this room dusted for prints and access to any video footage.”
“I can hack into the video feed. That’s not an issue. And I have a guy that can dust for prints for us. It might take a little longer to get the results back, but it will be safer this way.”
“Unless she’s getting fucking tortured,” he snaps, making my hands fist.
“If they wanted her dead, we would’ve walked into a bloodbath. They didn’t need to move her to kill her. This place would have offered them the anonymity they’d love. And given the people that are in and out of here, the suspect list would be endless.”
“I hope you’re fucking right, Ev.” He pulls out his cell phone before looking at me. “I’ll give the guys a heads-up. You call your contact and get him to come down here. I’m going to see if anyone around here saw anything.”
“Check to see if anyone in reception remembers her leaving and if she left alone.” It’s a long shot, but worth a try.
He nods, holds the phone to his ear, and heads out.
I pull out my own phone and dial a number I know by heart.
“Yeah,” the rough voice answers.
“Paul, it’s Evander. I need a favor.”
“Of course you do. You can never just call to shoot the shit, can you? What do you need?”
“I need a room dusted for prints. I can’t call the cops on this one because I need to keep the possible victim a secret for now.”
“Shit, Ev. Do I even want to know what you’re dragging me into?”
“Probably not, but I can’t call anyone else.”
He mutters a curse before a soft feminine voice in the background murmurs something.
“Fine. Where are you?”
I reel off the motel’s address.
“Are you serious? Do you have any idea how many prints I’m likely to find in that place?”
“I’m not asking for a miracle. I just want you to run what you find and let me know what pops up.”
