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Rachel always seemed to show up where she shouldn’t be, but this time Elisa was the one stuck out there without a reasonable excuse. The last thing she needed was to be accused of stalking Rachel.
She got out of the car anyway.
Adrenaline pumped through Elisa hard enough to rattle her teeth. She didn’t blink as she watched for Rachel’s door to open. Elisa silently begged the universe to be on her side just this once, as she maneuvered around the car Rachel parked right in front of the door under the bigLobbysign. Elisa glanced inside the car and saw the tag hanging from the rearview mirror. A parking pass. If it was for the motel that definitely meant Rachel was staying here... but why?
In three broad steps Elisa was at the lobby door. She opened it and lurched inside. She was out of breath with her nerves spun up by the time she looked up at the room in front of her.
The lobby was a small room with a desk at the far end. The amenities consisted of a computer and a television. Therewas a chair and grass-green carpeting. The inside basically matched the rundown look of the outside of the building.
The woman sitting behind the desk frowned. She looked to be in her forties with curly black hair. She wore a guarded expression. “What are you doing?”
“Sorry.” Elisa could only imagine how ridiculous she looked. “I need some information.”
The woman’s frown deepened. “Okay.”
“The person in room nine... what’s her name?”
The woman made an odd noise. “I can’t tell you that. It would be against the rules.”
She didn’t sound very firm in that position, so Elisa took a risk. “What if I gave you a hundred dollars?”
The frown disappeared. “Cash?”
She’d clearly played this game before. That made one of them. “Yes.”
The woman held out her hand and Elisa rushed over to fill it with twenties. There was probably a smart way to do this to ensure she got the information she paid for, but Elisa needed to move fast. She was way out of her depth, and the longer she lingered the greater the chance Rachel would show up.
“So?” Elisa asked.
The woman hit a few keys on the computer in front of her. “Jane Dickson.”
Who the hell was that?
“She paid cash for three weeks. She’s been here for more than two. Hasn’t made any local or long-distance calls and spends most evenings somewhere else.”
Elisa wondered if that last bit was actually on the monitor. “Do you have a copy of her license or anything like that?”
“Doubt it. If we do, it’s in the safe and I don’t know the combination.”
Of course not. “Anything else?” When the woman stayed silent, Elisa tried again. “If I gave you another hundred would you have more information for me?”
“No.”
“Okay. Thanks.” Elisa didn’t run to the car, but she didn’t walk either.
She unlocked her car and almost dove in. Just as she started it, the door to room 9 opened. Panic bounced around the inside of the vehicle. It was so thick, Elisa almost choked on it.
She ducked, hoping she’d dropped out of sight on time. Equally hoping the car door wouldn’t open next to her. When she heard a door open and shut, she tried to gauge the distance. It sounded like the lobby door, but who could be sure?
Elisa didn’t wait. She put the car in reverse as she sat up. She pulled into a break in the traffic, trying not to draw attention. She made it onto the road before she looked in the rearview mirror and saw Rachel step out of the lobby door and stand in the parking lot.
Elisa didn’t think Rachel saw her, but it didn’t matter. Elisa had come for specific answers and ended up with more questions. Somehow she knew even less about Rachel than when the day started.
Chapter Thirty-Three
Elisa had avoided their calls and visits, letters and emails. Now she stood at the door to the office of Ashburn and Tanaka, the private investigators, and tried to get her brain to signal her hand to turn the doorknob.
Three minutes later—she knew how much time had passed because she felt every second tick down inside her—she heard footsteps on the other side of the door before it opened. A woman stood there. She wore a navy pantsuit with what looked like a regular cotton T-shirt underneath. She was one of those women whose age was difficult to peg. Probably fortyish, with long black hair.
