Chapter 19
‘I don’t understand. Why do you need to search Shay’s room?’ Lily asked, perplexed.
Erin had this morning asked Lily if she could maybe keep Shay preoccupied again today, ‘preferably as far away from the resort as possible’, so that the coast was clear for her to search his room. It was all more than a little weird.
‘It’s actually not his room, or at least it wasn’t supposed to be.
Remember when the system was down and you had him moved from the honeymoon suite?
’ Erin went on to explain how the room Shay was in now was originally reserved for another guest, who had apparently left something important in the room for her daughter to find.
The same guest who was also insistent that someone was plotting against the hotel.
‘Are you sure about all of this?’ Lily asked, a little concerned as she sat in Erin’s office, her colleague insisting on locking the door behind them, as if afraid of being interrupted or overheard even.
‘I mean, it’s not exactly kosher to carry out searches of registered guest’s rooms in their absence. ’
‘But what else am I supposed to do?’ Erin complained, and once she’d given a rundown of the (admittedly disturbing) snake incident the day before, plus a host of other things that had been going wrong in the hotel lately, Lily was beginning to wonder if the new guest relations manager might be in way over her head.
Until Erin told her about a letter, and she learned who had written it.
‘Eugenie’s passed?’ Lily gasped, her voice faint with shock.
‘I knew her well, she was a close friend of my parents. My dad had a lot of dealings with her at the bank … he worked in Barclays,’ she informed her.
‘I had no idea she’d passed away this year too, though I remember now that she wasn’t at his funeral. ’
Erin’s head snapped up. ‘I’m so sorry, I didn’t realise that you’d lost a parent recently. That must be so tough.’
‘Thanks, it’s a few months ago now, but yes, it’s not easy.’
‘So perhaps you also know Eugenie’s daughter, Molly?’
‘I know of her, but I’ve never actually met her.
Eugenie usually came here to the hotel on her own and met up with old friends while she was on the island.
She was so … full of life,’ she recalled sadly, still a little in shock that the vibrant lady her family had once known so well had passed without her knowledge, or indeed Barbara’s, it seemed. Everyone adored Eugenie.
‘And she was one of the original founders of this hotel?’ Erin asked.
‘Yes, she and some other business people from the island invested when The Palms was first built. My dad got to know them all over the years whenever they needed additional funding from the bank or needed a little extra to ward off any unwanted advances from the bigger chains …’ At this, she noticed Erin’s dark eyes narrow a little. ‘What?’
Her colleague reached into a nearby drawer and handed Lily a folded and what seemed to be a photocopied piece of paper.
‘I think maybe you should read the letter yourself …’