AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Miranda set down the phone and hurried across the suite to her father’s room. He’d be so pleased. Good news like this would be welcome, almost a friggin’ miracle.
But when she opened the door to his bedroom, she found the bed mussed, but Daddy was nowhere to be found.
She made a quick circuit around their suite, as though her father were playing hide-and-seek. Of course, he was nowhere to be found. He must have stepped out to get something to eat, especially since she was pretty sure she’d been out cold, so she wouldn’t have heard the door close as he left. She checked desk and table surfaces to see if he’d left a note, but there was nothing. Her phone showed no recent texts from him either.
Odd.
It wasn’t like him, especially in a situation like today’s, to simply go off and leave her without a word. But again, he might have left for only a short time and not wanted to wake her. He could be in the bar or the restaurant downstairs right now, finishing a burger. He might have assumed she was better off being left alone. god knew she needed the rest.
She called him.
No answer. After several rings, the call went to voice mail. She left a message. “Hey—I’m just checking in. I assume you’re out getting some sustenance.” She was about to tell him all about the call and the discovery and then decided against it. It would be a wonderful surprise when he returned. “I just wanted to let you know I’m running out to do an errand. I hope I won’t be gone too long. Call me if you need to. Otherwise, I’ll see you soon.”
She disconnected and then brought up the Uber app on her screen. With the chaos in Seattle today, the cost for an Uber X SUV (which she wanted, so she could have the driver wait and return with her with the file cabinet) was outrageous. They certainly had no qualms about exploiting a tragedy to price gouge. But to be fair, driving on the north side of Seattle had to be a nightmare today.
She ordered a car and got a notification that one would be outside the Westin in a half hour to forty-five minutes. Normally, such a request at this time of day would get a driver at the door within five minutes. Miranda sighed. She wanted to be on her way. The only plus to the delay was that it allowed a bit more time so Daddy could return and come with her.
But he didn’t come back. Miranda looked out the window, expecting to see him striding up Fifth Avenue, but no luck. She even went downstairs to check the hotel bar and the casual restaurant. No familiar faces. She even had a peek in the fitness center and the pool, but her father was not among the swimmers, weightlifters, or treadmill enthusiasts.
A vague feeling of apprehension dogged her.This isn’t right. Daddy shouldn’t be so out of touch, not with all that’s going on. It’s extremely unlike him.
She shook her head and decided to worry about it later. She could scold him then.
Right now, she headed outside to wait for the Uber. It actually arrived sooner than expected, so she was glad she’d stepped out on Fifth.
With the snarl of traffic near Lake Union and the East Queen Anne neighborhood, it took them nearly an hour to go the three or four miles to the Westlake Marina.
There was no white tent. Maybe she hadn’t heard right? She peered through the tinted glass at the swarms of people. While there were plenty of cops, firefighters, media folks, and lookie-loos hanging about, there was no one who appeared to be there for the purpose of reuniting people with lost property.
She leaned forward. The driver, an older grizzled man in a Seahawks baseball cap, turned to regard her with brown eyes. “Could you do me a big favor and wait here? I can’t seem to find what I’m looking for. But with all that’s going on, maybe I’m just missing something.”
“Sure, but we will have to charge for that.”
“Understood. It’s important. I’ll need you to take me back to the hotel, either way.” She dug around in her messenger bag and handed the driver a fifty-dollar bill. “For your time, patience, and understanding, sir!” The fare would already be on her Visa card, but she figured a little cash incentive might help.
“I’m here. I won’t go anywhere unless I’m forced to. How long you gonna be? You’re a nice lady, but I can’t sit here all day. I’m sorry.”
He had a point, as much as she didn’t like it. “Okay, give me fifteen minutes, twenty at the most.” She hopped out of the Escalade and merged into the crowds. She figured she had enough time to at least know if she was in the right place.
Even when she was amidst the throngs of people and vehicles, she could still see nothing like what she was looking for. Certainly, a white tent hadnotbeen set up. She walked up to a female police officer who was manning a barricade. “Is a lost and found set up somewhere? I had a call.”
“A what?”
She repeated her question, already knowing this mission was a sham. She was doomed.
The officer eyed her like she was crazy. “No, hon. Nothing like that. At this point, they’re working to see if there’s anyone trapped beneath the rubble.” She rolled her eyes.
Nausea rose, causing Miranda’s stomach to churn.
This isn’t right. It feels all wrong. “If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is,” she heard her grandmother saying in the back of her mind.
She turned around a couple of times, eyeing everyone and everything in her view. She felt like she was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Suddenly, all the people around her appeared to be threatening or sinister. There wasn’t a kind face to be found.
Someone had tricked her. She had a good idea who that someone could be.
But why? To what end?
She shivered as a chill, unrelated to the weather, coursed through her. As she moved toward where she left the Uber car, she wasn’t surprised at all. Disappointed, yes. Worried, for sure. But not surprised.
