Chapter 25
An hour or so later, Erin was relieved when it was determined that the water leak was coming from a broken pipe isolated to a single guest room.
And luckily, the occupants were very understanding and more than happy to be upgraded to a frontline beach bungalow. She still had to think of something to make it up to the guests of the affected other rooms in the immediate vicinity, but needed to put that on the long finger for the moment.
Now, following yet another crisis averted, Erin was free to resume her most pressing task of the day. Knocking on the door of Shay Brady’s suite, she stood back and straightened her name tag.
‘Guest Services?’
This was merely a ruse for anyone else who might have been passing by, because in the meantime she’d been keeping in touch with Lily who’d assured her that she’d keep Shay Brady on the opposite end of the island for the remainder of the afternoon.
So at least Erin didn’t have to worry about the guest coming back and interrupting her unexpectedly.
Having discussed a few options, the plan was for her to simply take a few snapshots with her phone of the room’s general layout and fixtures, hopefully enough for Molly to ascertain where her mother’s chosen hiding place for the safety deposit box key might be.
It was about the best Erin could do, given the circumstances. She might check behind the odd picture frame though, and anywhere that caught her eye as a potential hiding place if the situation presented, but for the most part, it was important to get in and out quickly without disturbing anything.
‘Guest services, hello?’ she called out once again, but there was nobody nearby and more crucially, no response from inside.
Using her master key, Erin slipped quietly into the suite, which was surprisingly tidy given the fact that the jilted groom had been staying there a few days already.
So tidy in fact that Shay Brady had barely unpacked.
As planned, she headed straight to the closet, in case there was some kind of dummy compartment in or behind one of the drawers in which Eugenie had concealed the key.
And noticed with some confusion that the current occupant hadn’t bothered to hang up a shirt or indeed any item of clothing. The closet was completely bare.
Huh. Wasn’t Brady supposed to be getting married this week? Where was the wedding tux? Or any of his clothes for that matter.
Erin couldn’t imagine he’d kept the tux stuffed in his luggage since the suitcase was so compact it would hardly fit in there, and she couldn’t also help but notice that the guest seemed to have brought along very little clothing for an extended stay.
And a honeymoon at that.
Then she remembered something Lily had said about him being jilted at the airport. So maybe the bride had been taking care of all that stuff.
Erin shook her head, forcing herself to refocus on the task at hand and took out her phone, snapping shot after shot of the room layout, the various pieces of furniture, artwork, or anything that jumped out as a potential hiding place.
But hotel staff or not, there was no denying that being in a registered guest’s private space among their personal belongings felt wrong, and so she hurried about her business as quickly as she could.
Just as Erin nipped out and closed the door behind her, the sound of a camera clicking nearby stopped her in her tracks.
She turned around quickly, terrified that she’d been rumbled and also a little confused, before realising that the sound was coming from somewhere outside – on the resort grounds.
Heading further down the suite block to where the hallway wall opened up alongside the gardens, she saw a guy with a camera over his shoulders running after a young woman.
Trying to photograph her as she sashayed her way along the path amidst the lush planting.
Looking every inch the glamorous fashionista, the girl wore a long flowing dress, oversized sunglasses and a sun hat.
And in her hand, she held a cocktail glass that contained a pink sparkling drink.
‘So happy to be in paradise!’ she purred. ‘And you know what they say, when in paradise …’ She held the glass up to her lips and kicked one leg in the air as she pranced and posed for the camera directly beneath a palm tree.
Erin had to force herself not to roll her eyes at the way these types so shamelessly plugged what they were obviously paid to promote. Did anyone actually believe a word of it?
Judging by the accent, Erin didn’t think this was the same woman she thought she’d identified at the pool that time as the VIP influencer, but it was difficult to tell.
And she’d since forgotten to check in with Lily about the upcoming proposal and the relevant party involved. In any case, Erin thought, as she went to pass by as guest relations manager, it would be bad form not to personally greet the guest.
‘Hello there, I hope you’re enjoying your stay at The Palms. If I can be of help with anything at all during your …’ she called out politely as she went to approach.
But when the woman promptly stopped her posing and hungrily turned her gaze on Erin, she wanted to kick herself for making such an offer. No doubt this diva was going to have a list of demands a mile long.
‘Is there a gift shop where I could maybe grab a pair of flip-flops? My feet are killing me,’ the young woman groaned, as she lifted the hem of her skirt to reveal four-inch heels.
‘Of course, I’ll have someone send a pair up to your room immediately,’ Erin told her. OK, that wasn’t too bad at least. She smiled. ‘Apologies, but I seem to have missed you at check-in. What’s the room number?’
‘That’s so sweet, but I’m happy to go myself. I promised my grandma I’d bring her back a T-shirt. I always get her something every time I travel. She has quite the collection.’
‘Of course. The gift shop is right this way, up past the pool.’ Erin gestured to the cobbled pathway that led to the gift shop. She took out her phone. ‘I’ll call ahead, and make sure they take care of whatever you need … Again, what room number?’
Erin figured that if Grant had anything to do with it, he would insist that the self-appointed VIP didn’t have to pay for anything.
According to him, the cost of a T-shirt and a pair of flip-flops was nothing compared to the publicity such a guest could achieve.
Whereas having dealt with way too many of these types in her old job, Erin wasn’t so sure.
Freeloading was freeloading no matter how you chose to slice it.
‘Oh no, well, I’m actually not staying here …’ the girl admitted, coquettishly batting her eyelashes.
Seriously? Erin thought, aghast. ‘Well, I’m so sorry, but I’m afraid our facilities are for guest usage only,’ she informed her, carefully choosing her words and tone in case she was being filmed.
But she made a mental note to have a word with security to ensure that randomers weren’t allowed to wander in willy-nilly.
Especially when it seemed increasingly likely that there was a saboteur in the mix.
Miss Pink Paradise seemed an unlikely possibility, but you never knew …
Having seen the ‘influencer’ and her cameraman off the property, all the while trying not to let her annoyance show, Erin eventually made her way back to the safety of her office, whereupon she forwarded the images from Shay Brady’s room to Molly in the hope that something might ring a bell.
While awaiting a response, and with the water leak debacle still fresh in her mind, she quickly checked the guest register, making a note of which rooms had necessitated evacuating and more to the point, now needed making up for the inconvenience.
Having done that, she noticed a string of messages on her desk, one in particular related to the upcoming sunset party bash.
At this rate, it would be time for next year’s event before she got to grips with the outstanding prep Lily had outlined, never mind the day-to-day demands of her job.
Assuming the job, or indeed the hotel, existed by then.
Still, Erin wasted no time attending to the list.
‘Hello, Hula Entertainment? Erin Howard from The Palms returning your call.’ She sank wearily into her chair as she waited for the person on the other end of the line to speak. In the background, it sounded like several hushed voices were arguing back and forth.
‘Yes, I was looking for Lily but I’m unable to reach her. It seems there’s been a misunderstanding and I’m afraid we won’t have our dancers available for your event after all; I’m sorry. Could you pass on the message?’
For the big sunset party night? Seriously?
‘That’s a shame. Do you happen to know of another company that might …’
The line promptly went dead before Erin even had a chance to finish her sentence. She blinked and checked the phone to determine if there could have been some sort of technical issue on the line though it didn’t seem likely.
Well … despite Lily’s assurances that all was in hand, it now seemed The Palms’ famed summer celebration had suffered an unexpected blow in losing their planned entertainment. Coincidence? Hopefully not.
But with the way things were going lately, Erin truly hoped this wasn’t a sign of even bigger problems to come.