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“Not in front of my son, no.”
I pause for a second and take her in. Her hands are fisted at her sides, but I’m not sensing anger directed at me, more frustration at the situation and the helplessness she must be feeling.
“Come with me. I need to show you something.”
She hesitates, but I turn and leave, keeping my pace slow until she catches up to me, then I speed up a little. I wait until we are next to the three rooms that are closed before talking to her in a low, quiet voice.
“I’m going to level with you here…” I pause and wait for her to tell me her name.
“Calisa.”
“Well, Calisa, you leaving today is something that might not have happened if Adrian Andino had his way.”
“Andino? You mean the owner?”
“You met him?”
“No. Only the creepy handyman guy.”
“They are one and the same. And, just saying, there is a reason he gave off a creepy vibe. What I’m about to show you needs to remain a secret because I’m about to make this bastard pay in ways you don’t want to know about.”
“Pay for what?” She looks at me as I put on one of the gloves I shoved into my pocket. I pull out the keys I took from Andino earlier and find the one on the ring that looks like my room key before slipping it into the lock and turning it.
“For this,” I tell her softly as I push the door open and step aside for Calisa to enter.
“Oh, Jesus, fuck,” she curses as I close the door and step up beside her, looking down at the dead girl.
“He did this?”
“He did. He’s a serial rapist. He chooses and rapes women who stay here, but according to him, it was the first time he killed one of them. I don’t know if that part is true or not. But I can tell you that he has a taste for it now. I could see the bloodlust in his eyes and the hardening of his dick when he talked about it.”
She turns to look over at me, her naturally tanned face devoid of any color. “You think I was going to be next, don’t you?”
“You or the other girl, yes. You were going to be the only ones left here.”
“Apart from you,” she points out.
“Yes, well, I checked into this hotel alone, so I’m sure he was shocked as hell when he broke into my room this morning to rape me, only to be confronted by my six-foot-four ex-con of a husband.”
Her lips twitch at that, but she sobers quickly, turning once more to look at the girl on the bed. “She was so young. Someone out there is waiting for their daughter to come home. They have no idea that they’ve already said their last goodbyes.”
I stare at Demi and try to imagine her face in life. A grin on her lips and fire in her eyes—all of it snuffed out by the sick whims of a man.
“My husband booked this hotel for me. I’ve never stayed here before, but he insisted. Said he knew the owner personally,” she whispers, turning to look at me once more.
I look into her glassy eyes as a tear rolls down her face.
“You think he set you up?” I keep my tone neutral, but knowing who her husband is, the thought had already crossed my mind.
“He’s a bad man,” she chokes out.
“Come on,” I say.
She hesitates, looking back at Demi. She steps forward and tugs the sheet that’s balled up at the foot of the bed, gently pulling it up to cover Demi’s body before leaning down and pressing a kiss to her forehead. I swallow a lump in my throat as I watch a mother say goodbye to someone else’s child in a moment of solidarity. Perhaps she hopes someone will do the same for her child if the worst should happen. Either way, the act of compassion stirs something inside me that I can’t ignore.
She steps back and turns, her legs shaking as she walks back over to me. “I couldn’t leave her like that,” she tries to explain, but I shake my head. I get it.
I hold out my hand to her, and she takes it as I lead her out of the room and back the way we came.
