Page 50 of For Better or for Ransom

Luke

Did you talk to Moon?” Luke asked Divya when they met on the street, in front of the hotel where Leonardo had been staying in the city.

“I did. They’re going to try to buy us some more time with Mesfhlixx,” the Mancunian said. “But they told me the execs are nervous. Every day the production is halted, it’s a lot of money. We’re on day two. Moon doesn’t think they’ll want to go more than a week.”

“Which means?” Luke rubbed the back of his neck.

“It’s Tuesday. We need to figure out where Leonardo is by Sunday, at the latest. So that production of The Single Dad Situation can start next Monday. Otherwise they’re just going to scrap the whole thing.”

“Is Moon worried?” Luke asked. The one actually worried was him. He didn’t see how they were going to find a missing actor by Sunday with what little they had to work with.

“About losing their job?” Divya asked. After Luke nodded, she said, “No, they’re starting to be worried about something bad having happened to Leonardo.”

A heavy knot settled in his stomach. Luke recognized it in Divya too.

“Where’s Sol?” Divya asked, as they were both entering the lobby of the hotel.

“Home. I wasn’t sure what we’d find here.”

“Nothing, obviously. The police wouldn’t have permitted us access otherwise.” Divya dismissed him. She was giving him the judgy eye.

She was probably right. He still didn’t want to risk finding something potentially distressing and Sol being there. Divya and Sol could both call him an overprotective arse if they wanted to. It wasn’t like Sol had complained when he’d suggested she stay home and help the detectives with something else.

“I asked her to do some research for us.” It hadn’t been some bullshit research either. He was well aware that, if there was anything to be found, Sol would unearth it.

Luke and Divya went to the lobby counter, introduced themselves, showed proof of identification, and got a key card to Leonardo Pascual’s suite on the sixth floor.

“Research?” Divya asked once they were alone again, inside the lift.

“I feel we’ve been approaching this whole case the wrong way from the beginning. We’ve talked to everyone possibly involved at least once, if not twice.”

“Not everyone!” Divya objected. That was true. They were still waiting for calls from Leonardo Pascual’s parents and his manager, Robert Lancaster.

“Not everyone,” Luke conceded. They’d exited the lift and were now in front of room 615, the one Pascual had been staying at for the whole run of El baño de Edipo in Barcelona. Luke handed some nitrile gloves to Divya, he slipped on a pair himself. “I just think we should stop focusing on the people and start figuring out what Leonardo's movements were before he disappeared.”

Now, he’d see what luck Divya and he had. Luke used the key card and opened the door to Leonardo’s room.

“I think you may be onto something, mate. What the bloody hell is that?” the Mancunian quipped.

···

Half an hour after Luke and Divya had entered room 615, they were joined by the police officers in charge of investigating Leonardo Pascual’s case, Mercè Roig and Manuel Mendoza.

“So this wasn’t here the first time you saw this room?” Divya checked for the umpteenth time. It didn’t hurt to be extra meticulous.

“Of course, we wouldn’t have left it here for you to find, would we?” Officer Roig was huffing and puffing. One of the forensic members on her team was bagging the print note that had been taped to Leonardo’s room mirror. “And we would have seen it!”

The unmissable note read:

You’ll never hear from him again. Stop playing dumb and being cheap.

“Can we go over the calendar one last time? You were here last Thursday, the night Leonardo disappeared. And then again the following day, Friday. But not since then?”

“We dusted everything for fingerprints, gathered all the evidence, and left.” Roig’s features appeared annoyed, her hands were on her hips. And Luke let his work partner deal with her. He had the feeling Divya would be more successful.

“And no one from the police ever came back for anything? How long was the hotel staff supposed to keep the room as it is?” Divya probably knew that the other woman’s patience was thinning.

“Are you interrogating me?” There it was, the reaction Luke had been fearing—and the reason why he’d been silent. In his experience, there was only one thing more annoying than one private detective asking too many questions to a police officer: two private detectives.