Disclaimer: Everyone in the story is 18 years old or older at all points. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is happenstance.
The short walk across the street from the restaurant was quiet, almost chilly, as we thought about our situation.
Both Cindy and Debbie held hands as we crossed the street, another sign of how much things had changed in our group.
In the lobby, I stopped at the front desk.
"Is there anywhere I can get some bottled water?" I asked the clerk.
"There is a small pantry around the corner that has them. Show me what you pick out, and I will charge it to your room," the middle-aged man said while pointing around the corner.
We walked around the corner in the direction he said. We spent a few minutes going over the various beverages and snacks options before returning to the front desk.
"You can charge all of it to my room," I told him as we sat down our picks.
He summed up the items. "That will be $19.50."
I gave him my room key and my id. He typed in the information and looked at me, "You should have told me you were part of the Members Club. There is no charge for any of the pantry items."
He looked a little annoyed like I had made him do extra work.
I started to say something when I felt Beca pull on my arm. "Just let it go, Kate."
I looked at her, then at the clerk, and sighed, realizing that she was right.
I glanced at the clerk. "Sorry, I didn't know it was included."
It seemed to soothe his hurt feelings. "It's ok. It happens all the time."
I turned away before I bit his head off, and we walked over to the elevators.
We rode the elevator up, with Cindy and Debbie getting off the fourth floor.
As the doors opened, Cindy looked at me. "I want you to know how sorry I am, Kate."
Debbie nodded her head in agreement.
"It's not your fault, so don't try to take ownership of something that isn't yours," I told them. I hugged them both as the buzzer in the elevator went off.
"Let's meet in the lobby at 3 pm to ride over to the funeral together," Beca told the two as the doors shut.
I didn't have anything to say to Beca, and it seemed that she wasn't in a mood to talk either.
The door to the elevator opened on the 7th floor, and we both walked into the hall. I assumed that her room was close to mine, but Beca stopped behind me when I got to my room.
"I don't need a babysitter, Beca," I told her, smiling to take the sting out of the comment.
"Bosses orders, I can't leave you alone. He seems concerned that you might try something stupid," she told me, smiling.
I decided to let it go and opened the door.
While we were gone, it looked like housekeeping had come in and freshened up the room. The bed was made and on the pillow was an envelope addressed to me.
We hope you enjoy your stay. As a member of our select club, we would like to offer you some complementary entertainment. Please tune to channel 552 for content curated for you.
Regards,
The Management
"Any idea what the fuck they are talking about?" I asked, looking over at Beca.
"Not a clue," she responded, picking up the remote and turning the tv on. After a short time flipping through the channels Beca found the channel in the note.
Why the hell don't they have working number keys that take you to what you want to watch?
I thought as the screen flashed a few times before the video started.
Chad was standing in front of a door in the hotel. The room was on the VIP floor, one level above my room.
"Hi, Katie. Glad you made it back from breakfast without any problems."
He turned the handle and pushed the door open before looking over his shoulder at the camera. "I know that sometimes people don't understand instructions and how they keep people safe. I hope we don't have any more misunderstandings going forward."
I glanced at Beca, who shrugged her shoulders.
He walked into the room with the camera operator following. The camera panned around to show the nicely appointed room before focusing on the king-size bed in the center.
My knees got weak, and I sank onto the bed, my hand over my mouth as I mumbled, "Oh my God."
Beca must have sat down as well because I felt her arm around me as we both realized who was lying on the bed.
The server from the restaurant was lying there in her uniform and looked to be unconscious.
"It was pretty clever of you to ditch your electronics at the door. Asking for a private room, and all must have let your girls chat away without fear that someone was spying on you. Although I must say, getting her to let you use her cell phone to make a call, even I didn't see that coming."
"Bravo, Katie," he said, clapping. Then, he walked over to the girl and turned her face towards the camera.
"We were unable to track down the owner of the phone that you called. It seems that it was a burner cell phone. But, we were able to track the location of the phone you called. So at a guess, you were talking to Rob."
"Am I close, Katie?"
I was shaking, realizing how far his influence was. I looked at Beca, and she looked shocked too.
"Now, normally, I would grab someone close to you. You know, someone that you love. So that you realize I am serious about you walking away from your old life. Depending on how much you piss me off, well, that is what drives how much abuse your loved one gets."
"Funny thing is Katie, everyone you are close to, your mom, your daughter, even your husband. Well, they seemed to have vanished."
"Don't you think that is odd, Katie? Even more intriguing is that the people I sent in expectation of needed to have this conversation also seemed to have vanished."
He ran his fingers through the hair of the server, almost gently caressing her ear as he moved the hair out of her face.
