Maybe she does know more, but it’s clear she has no intention of sharing it with me. Whatever I’m looking for is outside of this motel. And I’m going to find it.
_____
I take my purse and my coat with me when I leave my room. I also keep Quinn’s wedding band tucked away in my pocket. I have no intention of coming back here. The police are long gone—it’s time to get on the road as soon as I’m done here.
Just as I’m going down the hall, I run into that guy Nick. He’s got a tool kit in his hand, and he almost drops it.
“Hi,” I say. “I’m, uh…” Somehow I don’t want to tell him I’m leaving. Not yet.
Nick nods at room 201. “Going to fix that leak.”
“Good luck,” I say.
He grunts.
When I get back down into the lobby, it’s eerily empty. The ceiling is still leaking into that bucket. Every time there’s a drip of water, I hear a noise. Plunk plunk plunk. Good thing he’s getting that fixed. It’s going to destroy the ceiling. Rob always talks about how people don’t call him fast enough for a leak, and then they wreck the ceiling. He can fix the leak, but he can’t fix that.
But that’s not my problem. Quinn is my only problem.
I drop the keys to my room on the desk, next to where he left his cell phone behind—he’s awfully trusting to leave that sitting there. Anyway, he’ll get the idea that I left. That’s fifty bucks down the drain. Well, forty-eight bucks.
When I get out of the motel, the temperature is about twenty degrees colder than it was when I first came in. The wind hits me in the face, and I regret not having brought a scarf. What’s wrong with me? I’ve lived in New Hampshire my whole life. I know how cold it gets.
Rosalie’s. Find Rosalie’s.
Rosalie’s what? What the hell was that old woman talking about?
I scan the outside of the hotel. I parked my car all the way in the back of the lot. I look up and see the old house next to the motel. That one light on the second floor that’s still on. And the silhouette is still in the window, like she hasn’t moved one inch since the last time I looked.
Is that Rosalie? Is she watching me?
I swivel my head to the other side, to check out that old abandoned building. It looks like it used to be a restaurant, but now it’s all boarded up. I squint into the darkness, and I can just make out a sign on the restaurant that is caked in dirt and snow. I can’t quite see what it says.
I trudge through the snow to get a closer look. It’s only when I’m a stone throw away that I can see the writing, but I still can’t make it out. I’ve got to get a little closer.
I inch forward on the ground, which is now lined with ice. I don’t want to slip and break my wrist, but I need to see what the sign says. It isn’t until I’m about six feet away that I can finally read the writing.
Rosalie’s.
I shiver and hug my purse. This is the place Greta was talking about. Did Quinn go inside?
I make my way over to the front door of the abandoned restaurant. The door is not just closed, but boarded up. I cup my hands around my eyes, squinting to see inside. But it’s completely dark. There are no signs of movement.
But Greta said to come here. What was she talking about?
I walk around the side of Rosalie’s. I’m going very slowly because of how slippery the ice is. I have to hold onto the side of the restaurant to keep from slipping. It isn’t until I get around the back that I see something blue peeking out from behind a garbage bin.
I hurry over, as fast as I dare. When I am about ten feet away, I can make it out clearly. It’s a Corolla. Quinn’s car.
That’s what Greta was talking about. She knew Quinn wasn’t at the motel anymore. But she knew she hadn’t left because her car is still here. Although God knows how she knew the car was here, considering how well concealed it is. You can’t see it from the motel.
I walk the rest of the way to the car. When I get over to the car, I grab onto it so as not to fall. I look inside, but unsurprisingly, the car is empty.
A gust of wind nearly knocks me off my feet. My eyes are tearing from the cold. Or maybe from something else.
I look up. I can still see that broken down old house with the one light on in the upstairs bedroom. From that house, you can see everything. You can see the parking lot of the motel. You can see Quinn’s car behind the restaurant. And you can see through the window of room 203.
The police were here looking for her, and Nick lied to them. For her.
That was nice of him.