Chapter Twenty
Twenty
“Is it ringing?” I asked.
Greyson set her phone on the table. “Yes, but it keeps ringing and ringing and ringing. It doesn’t even go to voice mail now.”
“And there wasn’t anything on their social media accounts?” I asked.
Greyson shook her head.
“And you’re sure they didn’t mention where they were staying?” Alex said.
“All they said was they were leaving. They didn’t tell me anything.”
“You’re sure?”
Greyson slumped in her chair. “Yes, Dad, I’m sure.
I think I’d remember if Mia and Kitty had told me the name of the hotel they were staying at.
” Alex raised an eyebrow at her. “Okay, so maybe I wouldn’t remember the name, but I’d remember if they’d told me a name, and they didn’t.
They didn’t even tell me they were staying at a hotel. ”
Nina leaned against the kitchen island, crumbs falling onto her shirt as she ate a slice of Alex’s lemon cake. “Don’t you teens use location-tracking on Snapchat? I do. That’s how I always know where my enemies are.”
“Dad won’t let me have Snapchat.” Greyson said.
“That’s not true. I said you could have it as long as you were my friend, and I believe you said, Then what’s the point?” He turned to me and Nina. “Which I found quite offensive. I think my snapchats would be very interesting.”
Greyson rolled her eyes. “Snaps, not snapchats. And they’d probably all be of food or you singing or both.” She shuddered. “And besides, TikTok is cooler than Snapchat now.”
“Oh God,” Nina said, covering her face in her hands. “Am I getting old?”
As entertaining as it was to mull over Alex’s potential Snapchat habits and Nina’s aging crisis, I had more-pressing concerns.
I’d hoped the girls would’ve said something to Greyson by now.
Or that she’d have come up with a way to locate them.
But both turned out to be dead ends. “Did you try texting them again?”
Greyson stared at her phone on the table.
“They haven’t responded to any of my texts, but I know they’ve read them.
Mia has her read receipts on. She says she likes people to know when she’s ignoring them.
” Greyson frowned. “Not that I think she’s doing it to me to be mean.
She probably just forgot to turn it off. ”
I buried my face in my arms. My grand gesture was going nowhere fast. “I guess I’ll just have to call them when they get home.”
“Would they have used your laptop to book a hotel or buy their flights?” Alex asked.
“I doubt it. Those two are glued to their phones.” And then I remembered Beth saying she didn’t know how they’d done it.
Which meant she hadn’t paid for the hotel or flights.
I had all the cash she’d sent down with the girls, which wasn’t much at this point.
I couldn’t imagine either of them had enough money for a hotel and two tickets back home.
I jolted upright, remembering the notification from my credit card company I’d ignored the day before.
I hadn’t thought anything of it because I’d set up alerts for any purchase over ten dollars after a thief nabbed my credit card in Nassau years ago.
Could the girls have used my card? I’d sent Mia the info on the day they arrived.
I’d told them to use it yesterday. They knew I kept it in the desk drawer in case they needed it for an emergency.
It would explain how they’d done it, and I bet I could figure out where they were staying if they had. I only hoped I wouldn’t be too late.
“I’ll be right back,” I said, ignoring the confused looks of the others as I raced out the door to my condo.
I tossed my towel onto the couch and grabbed my phone from where I’d left it on the table.
Scrolling through my messages I found two texts from my credit card company.
The first, from yesterday, was to notify me of a purchase from an airline.
The second, sent that morning, was a charge from a hotel.
I slipped on my shoes, grabbed my purse and keys, and raced back to Alex’s condo.
“I know where they are,” I said as soon as I stepped inside. “But I can’t stay. I’ve got to—”
The look on Alex’s and Nina’s faces stopped me.
“What? What is it?”
“You, uh, want something to wear?” Alex said.
I looked down and realized I was still in my bathing suit. In my excitement over the texts from the credit card company, I’d forgotten to toss on some clothes.
“I know I have some bold fashion choices, but wearing that into a hotel lobby is next level,” Nina said.
“I can just—” I pointed across the parking lot, but stopped when Alex, who’d changed out of his pajamas, slipped on his shoes and grabbed the keys to his van. “You don’t have to come with me.”
“Are you kidding?” He knotted his laces and stood from the couch. “One second.”
He disappeared into his bedroom and returned moments later with a T-shirt and the neon-green running shorts I’d admired all summer for the blessed view of his legs they’d provided.
“No time to waste,” he said, tossing them to me.
I slipped them on over my bathing suit, reminded of the night he’d lent me his towel.
Which Nina was apparently thinking about too. “You’ve really got to stop meeting Alex barely clothed, Josephine.”
—
When we arrived at the hotel, a Days Inn only a mile from the airport, Alex and Greyson kept watch by the entrance, while Nina and I marched up to the front desk attendant, a woman with bright orange lipstick and matching cat-eye glasses.
She scanned my and Nina’s outfits with skepticism. “Checking in?”
“Did two teenage girls get a room here yesterday?” I asked.
The woman gave me a glassy stare. “We don’t allow minors to book rooms, ma’am.”
“One of them has a fake ID. Please, they’re my nieces. They were staying with me for the summer, but they ran off.”
The woman pursed her lips, unmoved. “I told you, we don’t allow minors to book rooms.”
Apparently appealing to this woman’s sympathies wouldn’t work. “They used my card. Their names are Mia and Catherine Taylor, but the card they used was under my name, Josephine Walker. That’s fraud, right?” I showed her my ID, but still the woman didn’t move.
Nina shoved me aside and stood on her toes to lean over the counter, eyeing the woman’s name tag. “All right, Brenda. I’m going to level with you.”
Brenda raised her eyebrows, unimpressed.
Nina jerked her thumb in my direction. “This gorgeous human butterfly needs to get to her nieces, and you’re going to help her because, one, I’d hate to call corporate and tell them you don’t have proper security.
Seriously, letting minors rent rooms? And two, I know exactly what goes down in room 24 on Wednesday nights.
I’m sure the local news would love a good story on—”
“One moment,” Brenda said, cutting Nina off.
I turned to Nina as Brenda typed on her computer. “Is this another Craigslist thing I don’t want to know about?”
Nina winked. “I’ve got blackmail on half of Palm Beach.”
Brenda cleared her throat. “It seems they checked out about an hour ago.”
My heart sank. I’d finally tracked the girls down, and we’d missed them. It had been a ridiculous idea thinking I could get to them in time. Deflated, I thanked Brenda and turned to go, but she called out after us.
“They booked the shuttle to the airport. It says they had a ten fifteen flight.”
I turned to her, adrenaline coursing through me again. They weren’t gone yet. There was still time. “Thank you. Thank you so much.” Breathless, Nina and I joined Alex and Greyson at the entrance.
“They already left the hotel.” I walked past them and out the hotel door without stopping. I checked my phone; it was already nine thirty. We had to get to the airport and find them before they boarded their flight.
“Looks like I’m getting my airport run after all,” Nina said once we were in the van again.
“You were amazing in there,” I said to Nina. “And for what it’s worth, I think you’re a gorgeous human butterfly too.”
Nina waved me off. “Nah. I’m much more exotic. Like a gorgeous human flamingo.”
—
When we tumbled out of the van and into the airport parking garage, Alex shoved his keys into his pocket and turned to me. “What’s the plan?”
I stared at him. Wasn’t the plan obvious?
We’d race through the airport, getting to Mia and Kitty just as their flight was about to board.
They’d run into my arms when they saw me.
Right now, they were probably sitting in those fake leather chairs, Mia with her headphones in, Kitty reading The Art of War.
“I’ll march in there, ask for the cheapest flight I can buy, and hope I find them before their flight boards,” I said.
Nina and Greyson looked ready to sprint toward the terminal.
But Alex looked less than enthused. “I don’t think that will work.”
“Why not?”
“You can’t just waltz in there and start asking for the next flight. It’ll look suspicious. And don’t take this the wrong way, but you look kind of suspicious right now.”
I looked down at myself, remembering I was wearing Alex’s baggy running clothes over my bathing suit. My tangled, damp hair stuck to the back of my neck. Alex was right, I didn’t exactly look like someone who’d been planning on air travel today.
“Right.” I looked at my phone. “And I have no idea what gate they’re at. The airport is small, but none of it matters if I can’t get past security.”
Alex started typing on his phone. Had he given up already?
As if sensing my disappointment, he looked up and gave me that almost smile.
“Don’t look like that.” He held up his phone.
“I know which flight they’re on. It’s the only flight to Raleigh at that time.
They’ll be at gate C11.” He looked back down at his phone.
“And I’m buying you a plane ticket now, so you won’t cause any suspicion at the counter.
Their flight is full, so it looks like you’re going to Atlanta tonight. ”
“You don’t have to—”