Chapter 6
The dining room was humming with speculation as Sean entered.
Guests and staff sat at tables in their pajamas and various stages of alertness.
The casual dress contrasted with the dining room’s elegance: the custom wood tables and chairs, white dining clothes, chandeliers hanging from the vaulted ceiling.
Now, all eyes were on Sean. Even the paintings on the wall cast judgment on him.
Sean had never been a good public speaker, but it was part of the job. Over the years, he’d found his own way of speaking to the public.
For him, it was being honest. Honest about what he could say, and honest about what he couldn’t say. He couldn’t make everyone happy. But he’d made his peace with it.
Jennie spied him and approached with a coffee mug in hand, handing it over with a kiss on his cheek. “Thought you could use a pick-me-up,” Jennie said.
He eyed the cup suspiciously.
It clicked to her that there was no power. “It’s instant. The staff boiled water on the gas stove to make it.”
“Thanks,” Sean answered, and then, when he sipped, he smiled in surprise. “Lemon and honey?”
“I brought them from home,” Jennie said.
Sean had inherited his unusual coffee order from his predecessor and mentor, former Sheriff Ken Williams. He had passed a few years ago, but his love of honey and lemon in coffee lived on through Sean.
“Thank you,” Sean said.
“You’re welcome,” Jennie said, then she raised her eyebrows and gestured toward the crowd. “You ready?”
“I am now,” Sean answered.
Jennie returned to her seat at the nearby table, and Sean sipped his coffee, thankful for the small piece of home that Jennie had brought with them.
Sean found Roger on the other side of the room, addressing the staff, all of whom looked tired and slightly frazzled from the early morning. When Roger finished with his team, he joined Sean at the front of the room.
“I confirmed with my staff that everyone is present,” Roger said. “They’ve been told not to tell anyone about what’s going on unless directed by you.”
“I appreciate that,” Sean said. “Aside from the ransom note, I think it’s best we’re honest about what we know so far. A girl is missing, and we need to find her as soon as possible.”
“I can’t believe this is happening,” Roger said, fidgeting. “Even if we find the girl alive, it’s going to take months to repair the damage from this PR crisis. But if she’s… Well… You know… I’m not sure I’ll recover.”
Sean understood Roger’s predicament. The man had a business to run. But right now, Sean’s priority was finding Karla. And the sooner he addressed the crowd, the sooner he could get things moving.
“Okay, thank you, everyone, for coming,” Sean said, setting his coffee mug on a nearby table.
“I understand that it’s quite early, and you all probably have a lot of questions about what’s going on, so I’m going to make this as brief as possible.
This morning, the daughter of one of the guests here has gone missing.
We have already searched the grounds and have been unable to locate her. ”
A middle-aged man in the far corner of the room was with his wife and children and quickly stood. “Are you saying she was kidnapped?”
The dining room came alive with more worried chatter, and Sean regained control before things got out of hand.
“We will alert the local law enforcement, but as you can see, we’ve lost power,” Sean said. “And due to last night’s blizzard, we are currently snowed in.”
Again, a rushed murmur filled the dining room, but Sean remained calm.
“Right now, this is an open case, and I am unable to comment on further details at this time,” Sean said. “But I would encourage anyone with any information to please come forward. I will be speaking with each of you individually over the next hour and?—”
“Are we in danger?” a woman asked.
The room fell silent once more. Candlelight reflected the fear in everyone’s eyes, and while Sean didn’t want to cause a panic, he wouldn’t lie to them.
“I have no reason to believe anyone else will be targeted,” Sean said. “I will be doing everything within my power to find this girl. The safety of everyone in this room is my top priority.”
The room buzzed anxiously, but Sean noticed one table looking more worried than the others. Two young men and a young woman were in a heated discussion. When they noticed Sean staring at them, the young woman stood and approached Sean.
Sean remembered the group from last night’s dinner. They had been here for a combined bachelor and bachelorette party. Sean and Jennie had left the dining room soon after they ate, but Sean heard the group giggling and laughing in the hallways last night.
But there was no amusement on this woman’s face now, and she wrung her hands as she approached Sean with bloodshot eyes.
“I can’t find my sister,” she said.
Sean frowned, and he looked back at Roger and the staff. “I thought you said everybody was counted for?”
Roger immediately looked at the butler, Stephen, as he had been the one to collect the guests from the rooms. Stephen immediately stepped forward and explained that he had counted the rooms, not the people inside them.
It appeared the number of missing persons in the hotel had just doubled.