Chapter 20 #2
“Our friend is in that room, and she missed the important meeting taking place down the hall this morning. We’re afraid she’s sick or something and want to check on her.
We already knocked, but she’s not answering.
We just want to look inside to see if she’s there, sleeping, sick, or something.
Maybe you could ask someone from housekeeping to let us in, instead of giving us a key?
We just want to check on her. The housekeeper could stay with us the entire time, to make sure we aren’t there to take anything or do anything we shouldn’t. ”
He gave the woman an innocent-looking smile.
“Well…I guess so. It might be a few minutes before someone’s free to come assist you.”
“That’s okay. We’ll just meet them outside the room, thank you,” Buck said, as he took Obi-Wan’s arm in a firm grip and pulled him toward the exit.
As soon as they were outside, Obi-Wan said, “Something’s wrong. She should’ve been in that meeting. I left her here this morning. She was inside her room, the door shut. She could’ve fallen and hit her head or something. She might need an ambulance.”
“Breathe, Obi-Wan, we’ll get in there and see what’s going on. If we need to call for help, we will.”
For good measure, Obi-Wan knocked on the motel door again when they got there, and just like before, no one answered. No sound at all came from inside. As they waited for someone to unlock the door, he paced. And tried to understand what was going on.
“I don’t want to bring this up…but what if she’s not inside? What’s the plan?” Buck asked.
Obi-Wan didn’t even want to contemplate that. He didn’t want Zita hurt or sick, but if she wasn’t inside that room, the possibilities were endless as to where she might be.
“Could she have gotten cold feet and gone back to California early?” Buck asked gently.
“No.” Obi-Wan’s answer was swift and curt.
“Obi-Wan,” Buck started, his tone sympathetic.
“I said no, Buck. She didn’t leave without saying a word to me. We didn’t ask the lady if she’d checked out, but I know to the bottom of my heart she didn’t up and leave. She didn’t get cold feet. We had plans for tonight.”
“All right, if she didn’t leave, what other options are there?
You know her way better than any of us. Does she have any vengeful exes?
Anyone she met here in Virginia who might have a reason to hurt her?
I haven’t heard about any serial killers or rapists on the loose in this area—no, don’t look at me like that.
I’m just trying to make the unexplainable, explainable. ”
Obi-Wan took a deep breath in through his nose as he tried to calm his irritational anger toward his friend.
The thought of Zita being targeted by a fucking serial killer or rapist made him want to go on a rampage.
He stopped pacing and lowered his head. His hands fisted as he forced himself to calm.
To think. He normally had no problem controlling his emotions. He had to in order to be a good pilot.
He had no idea if Zita had a violent ex-boyfriend in her past, as they hadn’t really discussed previous relationships.
Not that he wanted to know who she’d been with before him.
He was a typical guy in that regard, he supposed.
He didn’t mind that she had a dating history, but he didn’t want to know about it.
Then out of the blue, it hit him. “Silas Graves,” he bit out, lifting his head and meeting Buck’s gaze.
“Who?”
“Silas Graves. He was Carmen St. James’s bodyguard, then when she left, he was transferred to Logan Striker while we were on the other side of the state filming. She told me a couple days before we left Fallport that he approached her on set and told her to stay away from me ‘or else.’”
“Or else? What the fuck does that mean?”
Obi-Wan didn’t have a chance to answer, as a woman pushing a housekeeping cart was headed their way.
“About fucking time,” he muttered, knowing he was being an ass but not caring.
Buck took the lead, thanking the woman for meeting them and once more reassuring her that all they wanted to do was look inside the room to see if their friend was there.
The housekeeper looked nervous, but she nodded and held a plastic key card up to the electronic plate at the door. She stepped back to allow them entry, but didn’t go far.
Obi-Wan stepped into the room—and all his hopes that Zita was sick or sleeping were dashed immediately.
The beds were still perfectly made. Nothing looked out of place.
Her medical bag was by the door in the exact same place he’d dropped it that morning.
A suitcase was open on the bed, her small toiletries bag sitting next to it.
He could picture in his head her putting it there as she searched for something to wear before showering.
Just to be positive she wasn’t in the room, even though he knew in his gut she wasn’t, Obi-Wan looked in the bathroom. The towels were hanging neatly on the racks and nothing was disturbed.
Whatever had happened, it occurred right after he’d left that morning.
Which pissed Obi-Wan off all the more. She certainly hadn’t left to go back to California; all her things being in the room disproved that option.
She hadn’t showered, changed clothes, lain down for a nap before getting ready for her meeting.
It was as if she’d vanished into thin air minutes after he’d dropped her off.
Except she hadn’t.
Turning to the housekeeper, he asked, “Are there surveillance cameras on the property?”
She looked taken aback. “Yes. In the lobby.”
“Nowhere else?” Obi-Wan barked, not able to keep his tone even.
“Not that I know of.”
Fuck.
The three of them stood still for a heartbeat, the housekeeper watching Buck and Obi-Wan warily, Buck watching Obi-Wan, and Obi-Wan’s gaze searching the room for answers. Answers that weren’t there.
Except…
“Stop! Don’t move! Don’t touch anything!” he exclaimed.
Buck and the housekeeper froze.
“What? What do you see?” Buck asked.
“Blood,” Obi-Wan said grimly, as he walked closer to the door and leaned over to inspect what had caught his attention. A dark spot on the carpet. It was small, no bigger than the unit patch on his chest. A few inches wide and long.
He wouldn’t even have noticed it if the carpet hadn’t been just a shade lighter than the mark on the floor.
It could be anything. A drink someone spilled, or something more disgusting, but Obi-Wan got on his knees anyway.
He leaned in and inhaled, then sat back on his heels and looked up at his friend.
“It’s definitely blood.”
“We don’t know that,” Buck said quietly.
“It is. You and I both know what fucking blood smells like. We’ve seen enough of it in the past. It’s Zita’s blood. Someone hurt her.” The last three words were almost whispered, as if saying them out loud could make them any more true than they already were.
The housekeeper looked completely freaked out now, probably in part by Obi-Wan’s statement about seeing a lot of blood in the past. But he didn’t care. All his attention was on Buck.
“What do we do?” he asked, in that same low voice he’d used earlier. He felt adrift. Panicked. And Obi-Wan never panicked. Prided himself on his ability to stay calm in the most chaotic environments.
“Blood?” the housekeeper asked. “We have something that can get that up without too much trouble.”
“No!” Buck and Obi-Wan exclaimed at the same time.
Obi-Wan got to his feet. “Do not let anyone into this room. It doesn’t get cleaned, no one touches a damn thing. We’re calling the cops. Everything inside is evidence.”
“Evidence of what?” the housekeeper asked with wide eyes.
“Kidnapping. Assault. Someone took my woman, and I’m going to get her back,” Obi-Wan growled.
His mind whirled with the things he needed to do, no longer suffering with indecision. It was as if his brain kicked into overdrive. He needed to contact the police, Casper, talk to the men and women in the meeting where Zita was supposed to be, check with the motel about surveillance cameras.
And call Tex.
Fuck, he should’ve done that days ago, as soon as Silas had threatened Zita. But he hadn’t. He assumed the man wasn’t really a threat.
A decision he’d regret to the end of his days. Because in his gut, Obi-Wan knew the bodyguard was responsible for whatever had happened to Zita. There simply wasn’t anyone else. People liked Zita. She was friendly and open and everyone she helped had been happy with her skills.
Silas had taken her. Why and where, he had no idea, but he’d find out. Tex could find the man. Check his phone records to see what towers his cell pinged off of that morning. Check traffic cameras, his texts. All of it.
Buck was already on his phone when Obi-Wan stepped out of Zita’s room.
Taking one last look at her belongings, he ached, wondering what she’d gone through.
He didn’t think Silas was a killer, but he could be wrong.
If the man was willing to hurt Zita—and he obviously had, if the blood on the floor was any indication—there was no telling what else he’d do.
He would pay, Obi-Wan vowed. He’d tell him where the fuck Zita was…or else. The man liked to threaten women? Fine. He’d see what “or else” really meant when Obi-Wan got his hands on him.