He shook his head. “No, ma’am. The place was empty when I got here and nobody came in after.” He looked at the broken door. “Except for you.”
Pine raced to the front desk, where she flashed her shield and asked about the room number for a guest with the first name Eloise.
“We don’t give out—” the clerk, a young man, began.
“This shield says otherwise,” barked Pine. “Do it!”
The intimidated clerk quickly checked the computer. “Yes. An Eloise Cain. She checked in today and is staying for one night only. Paid with a credit card.”
Eloise—the same name she gave Wanda. It has to be her.
“What’s her room number?” she said frantically.
“I can’t—”
Pine grabbed his arm and jerked him toward her. “Tell me the fucking room number or you’re under arrest!”
“Four-oh-four.”
“Now give me a key to that room.”
“I can’t do that. I need to talk to a supervi—”
Pine shouted, “I don’t have time to argue. This is a life-or-death situation.”
The man paled, grabbed a blank key, charged it, and handed it to Pine.
“Do you know what kind of car she was driving?”
“No. We don’t have valets. Just self-park. And I must say this is highly unusual.”
“You’re damn right it is,” snapped Pine as she sprinted toward the elevator.
CHAPTER
43
PINE RAN INTO BLUM IN THE LOBBY.
“I was going to take a walk before bed, what’s happened?” she said, noting her boss’s excited features.
She followed along as Pine quickly filled her in on Mercy’s likely being at the hotel, and also about Special Agent Drew McAllister’s arriving the next morning to question her.
“You really think that was your sister in the gym here? I mean, what a coincidence.”
“The description Wanda gave me fit the woman I saw in the gym to a T. And how many six-foot-tall Eloises are out there?”
They reached room 404. Pine drew a long breath and knocked on the door. Her hand was trembling. They heard nothing from inside. She knocked again.
Pine leaned toward the door. “Mer-Eloise Cain? It’s . . . ” A suddenly stumped Pine thought frantically for something to say.
Blum called out, “It’s your sister, Atlee Pine.”
Pine stared wide-eyed at Blum for a moment before thanking her with a weak smile. But there was still no sound from within.
Pine put the key card in the reader and swung the door open. They moved inside, and Pine turned the lights on.
“Mercy? It’s Atlee. Mercy! It’s your sister, Lee.”
The bed was still made. They could find nothing that wasn’t supposed to be in the room. A dirty towel and washcloth lay on the bathroom floor.
Pine said, “The front desk clerk said she checked in today and was only staying one night.”
“I would say that she might have just gone out, but there’s no suitcase or anything else of hers in here. Do you think she could have already left? But surely if she checked out the clerk would have told you.”
“If she came here looking for Desiree she might have found out she’s been arrested and is in jail. There would be no way for her to see her. She might have just left without bothering to check out.” Pine stood in the middle of the room and put a hand over her face. “Shit, I can’t believe I walked right past my sister and didn’t even know it was her.”