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Amanda could remember only introducing Sam and Sandra once. It had been after yoga class a couple of weeks back, seven-thirty a.m. Sam had picked Amanda up for one reason or another, maybe to take her to breakfast, and Sandra had gushed about meeting him.“I’ve heard so much about you! Amanda is over the moon with love for you. It sometimes makes a girl jealous.”Amanda had laughed it off.But had there been something in the air between them? A sizzle?Amanda now remembered that Sandra had spoken about her own love, a boyfriend she’d been “separated from” for a while. An art dealer.
Amanda’s head thudded with a shattering headache.Was it possible that this boyfriend Sandra had been separated from for a while was Sam? Had Sandra come to the island to get her ex back?Amanda didn’t know everything about Sam’s ex-girlfriends, and she certainly didn’t know their names.
Had Sandra befriended Amanda to get closer to Sam?Amanda closed her eyes as her thoughts raced.
“Hey! Amanda! We don’t want you to pass out, too.” Audrey nudged her, and Amanda opened her eyes to accept a glass of water. On her lap, Kelli had begun to open her eyes again, but her face was groggy and bloated, as though she’d just suffered an allergy attack.
Suddenly, Susan crouched beside Amanda and placed her hand on Amanda’s shoulder.
“Hi, Mom,” Amanda said, trying to make her voice light. “This is some wedding, isn’t it?”
Susan couldn’t smile. “I’ve just gone out to the grounds to announce that we need a little more time. The bartenders are stirring up more cocktails, and the speaker system is playing your wedding playlist. It gives us more time to look for Sam.”
Amanda nodded. “Okay. Thanks.” She felt dead inside.
“What happened?” Kelli moaned as she slowly shifted off Amanda’s lap, rubbing her eyes and smearing mascara on her cheeks. She looked like a raccoon.
“You fainted, honey,” Lola said. “When was the last time you ate?”
Kelli laughed ruefully. “Good question.” She took another sip of water and crossed her legs beneath her. “Another guest was robbed. I can’t make sense of any of it.”
Lola and Christine exchanged worried glances. Nobody knew what to say— except for Audrey, of course, who blurted with, “Kelli? Did you really see Sam with Sandra?”
Susan, Lola, and Christine gaped with shock.
“Who is this Sandra girl? Where can I find her?” Lola demanded, ready to fight.
Kelli took another sip of water and nodded her head. “It breaks my heart to tell you,” she said, although she couldn’t look Amanda in the eye.
“Have you seen Sandra lately?” Susan demanded. “I mean, maybe she’s with Sam somewhere?”
“Maybe they ran off together,” Kelli said. “It would make sense. It’s felt like I’m the only one keeping the hotel afloat for the past few hours.”
“Wait,” Amanda heard herself blurt. “I saw Sandra not that long ago!”
Everyone stared at Amanda as though she’d lost her mind.
“When Dad wanted to meet me,” Amanda continued. “We sat on the second floor, right over there.” She pointed to the cushioned chairs that overlooked the ballroom. “And I saw Sandra running frantically down the hallway. She looked super stressed, and I remember thinking that she was in over her head at the hotel.”
“Where did she go?” Kelli asked.
Amanda pondered for a moment, thinking back only forty-some minutes ago when her life had felt very different. “She went into a room,” she breathed. “I think it was 222.”
Kelli’s jaw dropped. “She went into a room?”
Amanda nodded.
“I’m sorry. It’s just that we’re completely booked, and there’s no reason she should be going in and out of people’s rooms. The maids are allowed to do that, but not this late in the day. We’re very strict about that schedule,” Kelli explained.
For a long moment, nobody knew what to say. Slowly, Amanda pulled herself up from the ground, gazing down at the beads that had popped from her dress. She no longer felt like the blushing, beautiful bride. She felt sharp and angry and ready to face whatever horrors awaited her. She didn’t want to take this one lying down.
“Maybe Sam’s in there, hiding out,” Amanda suggested.
“I still don’t think he would do that,” Noah blared.
“Shut up, Noah!” Audrey cried. Lowering her voice, she added, “We can check for you, Amanda. But you shouldn’t have to.”
“I don’t know that we can just go into a guest’s room like that,” Kelli said nervously. “I’m already off to such a horrible start at this hotel. If we storm into a guest’s room while they’re in there, I don’t know if the hotel will recover.”
