AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Sean – ”
“No, Rachel. Stop turning over rocks – you might not like what you find underneath them.”
“Sean, please – ”
“I’m sorry. I can’t help you.”
He put on his noise-canceling headphones and turned back to his screen so he didn’t have to look at me anymore.
When Sean wouldn’t help me, I left work and went straight to Lars’s hotel.
The desk clerk recognized me immediately. I’d spent enough nights at the hotel that I recognized all the staff, so most of them knew me, too.
“Hi,” the clerk said brightly.
“Hi,” I replied with a tense smile. “I was wondering if you could help me. My boyfriend – Lars Henriksson, he’s in Room 708 – he’s been away on a business trip, and I wanted to know if he’s back in town.”
The woman winced apologetically. “I’m sorry, ma’am… I’m not allowed to give out that information.”
“I understand, but I’m afraid something might have happened to him. He went away on a business trip and I haven’t heard from him in three weeks.”
She kept wincing. “I’m just not authorized to – ”
“Well, then, can I speak to someone who is.”
I sounded angrier than I meant to be – misery and insomnia will do that to you – but as a result, she immediately called the hotel manager and talked to him in hushed tones.
The manager came down the hall 60 seconds later and smiled politely. “We can go talk in my office if you like.”
“Thank you.” I turned back to the girl. “I’m sorry I was short with you. I’m just horribly worried.”
“I understand,” she said, though I thought I detected more pity in her voice than anything.
She knows he cheated on you! my mother’s voice screamed in my head.
That’s ridiculous, I argued back silently. Lars would NEVER cheat on me.
I followed the manager to his office. Once inside, I took a chair, and he sat on the other side of his desk. “Now… I understand you’re inquiring about a guest of the hotel.”
I explained again how I was worried that something might have happened to him.
“I understand,” he said, “but if you believe that he might be in danger, the best course of action is probably to file a missing persons report with the police.”
“All I need to know is if he’s checked back into his room yet,” I said icily. “That’s what the police would ask you.”
“Yes, but that would be the authorities asking for the information. As you can understand, the hotel values the privacy of its guests. We can’t give out information to anyone who asks for it.”
I’d anticipated this might happen, so I’d devised an alternate strategy.
I didn’t like doing it… and I knew it could potentially come back to bite me in the ass…
But I was desperate.
I grabbed a pen and notepad on his desk, wrote on it, and slid it over to him.
“I want you to call that number.”
He sighed. “Ma’am – ”
