Beyond the Palms

by Amanda Aggie

  “I do have one question, James said that something happened last year. He didn’t say what other than it had to do with the 800 series rooms.” She watched his face to gear his response to her question.

  “Well, we’re diving right into the hard questions, aren’t we?” Alex said, pulling the collar of his shirt out for air flow.

  “I’m sorry if it’s too personal, you don’t have to tell me.” She said nicely, she didn’t want to force him to answer but she definitely needed to know to put her mind to rest.

  “No, I’d rather you know. Last year, around this time, I had met someone named Elizabeth. We had spent some time together and got engaged. However, my father disapproved and one day I came home and she was gone. My father said that she wasn’t interested in me, but rather my family’s money. She threatened to lie to the police unless he wrote her a check. I guess he did because I haven’t seen her since. The 800 rooms used to be for our wealthier guests but since have been remodeled into regular guest rooms. Some of them are just closed off now or are rented out occasionally. I hope that puts your mind at ease?” He finished his story and waited for her to stay something. He was certain that some of the events recently had raised some red flags but maybe him explaining just enough would keep her from probing around for more information. It would keep her safe.

  “Yeah, that makes sense. What kind of doctor are you?” She asked. Satisfied with his response. It explained the dead bolt theory and a lot of the other issues that came about during their stay.

  “I am not the kind of doctor you are thinking. I was a Pediatric Registered Nurse after I finished Nursing School and then got my Master’s in Biology. I just finished my Ph.D. in Biochemistry last year. So, technically I am a Doctor but not the kind everyone assumes you are when you say it. I simply have a love for science and kids, and Nursing gave me the best of both worlds.” He explained

  “Ah, I see. I am currently in school to be a teacher. I graduate in May of this year.” Thea said, his answer making her heart melt.

  “That’s pretty cool, do you have an idea of where you want to work yet?” Alex asked.

  “No, I have a few options just based on networking, and because of my Mom, but I am not sure which I am going to go for.” Thea replied before seeing the doorknob turn to their private room.

  The waitress brought out their food, placing each plate on the table in front of them. They ate in silence. Occasionally Alex would refill their wine. Once they finished, the hostess took their plates, and the two of them went out to the bar where James worked. Hoping it would take some of the tension away.

  Eleanor and John exited the cab back at the hotel.

  “I hope my wallet is upstairs.” John worried.

  “Well, we looked in the cab before he brought us back. I don’t know anywhere else it could be.” Eleanor said trying to be supportive.

  The two of them walked inside the front doors of the hotel and started in the direction of their room when they saw Thea hug the man that was in their room earlier stitching up their son.

  Eleanor gasped and pulled John out of view.

  “Look! She took my advice. Mom win, up top!” She held her hand up for a high five that never was received.

  “I don’t know Eleanor, and I had a bad feeling about it.” He said, staring at the two of them.

  “You always have a bad feeling. Just give me a dang high five.”

  John tapped her hand and frowned.

  “Oh! She looks so pretty. I just hope that she finds someone soon. I am beginning to get worried about her. She always just studies or spends time by herself. Granted, there is nothing wrong with that, but I want grand-babies eventually.” She sighed.

  “Well, let her be the successful one. We both know how much of a struggle it is to make sure Jack at least makes it through high school without granting your wish. Believe me, and I have the emails to prove it.” John said, not proud of some of the trouble his son gets in.

  “Hey, I wrote those emails while you were deployed so you would talk some sense into him. He has gotten better about the sneaking out thing, though. I’m not sure whether it is that he has gotten better at not getting caught or gotten better about actually not sneaking out but, one of the two.” Eleanor said, watching her daughter incognito.

  “OK, they’re inside the restaurant, so can we go upstairs now?” John asked, sounding tired and annoyed.

  Eleanor and John took the elevator and walked to their room. When they arrived, they found it empty.

  “Well, where did Jack go? It’s not like he could have gone far right?” Eleanor teased.

  “So much for ‘stay off your feet,’” John said looking on the nightstand and finding his wallet. “Oh! There it is!” he yelled.

  When he grabbed his wallet, he noticed the phone that now sat there. The coiled up cord was wrapped neatly on top.

  “Where did this come from?” he asked.

  Eleanor looked over his shoulder to see the cord bunched up on top of the hotel phone.

  “Awesome! Eddie must have had one brought up,” his wife said happily.

  “I mentioned that we didn’t have one in the room,” she continued.

  John looked behind the nightstand to see if there was a plugin. The nightstand was bolted to the ground as he discovered earlier, so he decided to squeeze his arm down between the stand and the wall. He reached and felt for the plug. He plugged in the wire, and his face pressed up against the wall. John looked up towards the headboard trying to maneuver his hand. It was then that he noticed the red light.

  “What the—” he said, not finishing his thought.

  “What!?” Eleanor asked.

  He retracted his arm and pressed a finger to his lips to shush her. Eleanor’s eyes grew wide. She watched him move to the other side of the bed to get a better look. John pointed towards the tiny black box with the red dot positioned behind the headboard. He grabbed the pin and stationary note pad from the nightstand and scribbled something down.

  “It is recording us. We need to make sure there aren’t anymore.”

  The two of them searched the room for hours before becoming satisfied that there were no more. John pulled Eleanor into the bathroom and turned on the sink and shower to help drown out their voices. They still spoke in hushed tones.

  “Why would there be a recorder in the room,” Eleanor asked.

  “Your guess is as good as mine, but that is one, I’m am sure of it.” John said scratching his head in thought.

  “What do we do?”, Eleanor asked.

  “I don’t know, we could destroy it, but whoever is wanting to listen to us is going to know that we know about it. Or we keep it and just know its there.” John said, not liking either option.

  “I would say keep it, and we don’t have anything to hide. We should make sure that Thea and Jack know, though.” Eleanor said.

  “I agree. I told you there was something up with this place.”

  John turned off the water, and the two of them grabbed their things. They decided to head downstairs and go to the restaurant since they hadn’t eaten before coming home to get John’s wallet.

  When they got to the restaurant in the lobby, they both looked around but for two completely different reasons. Eleanor wanted to see where Thea took off to, and John was worried about who was watching them. Both were still wondering about where Jack was.

  “Have you texted him?” Eleanor asked.

  “Yeah, I did on the way down here. He hasn’t responded.” John held his phone up to show her.

  “Well, let’s just try and get some food, and then we can go find him. I am sure he is fine and just gimping around, causing havoc.” They both giggled, knowing it was wrong to.

  The hostess came and took them to their seats. They sat at the table in the far back corner of the room.

  “Great spot, huh?” Eleanor asked.

  “Why do you say that? We’re by the bathrooms.”

  “We can be incognito.” Eleanor raised and
lowered her eyebrows quickly.

  “Something like that, I suppose.” John stifled a laugh.

  She searched for any sign of her daughter but came up empty-handed.

  The waitress made her way up to their table.

  “What can I get you guys today?”

  “I’ll have a glass of wine, he will have whatever beer you have on tap, and I think we will get the house sampler for an appetizer. We will both have the Alfredo with side salads as well for our meal.”

  “OK then, I’ll just take these,” the waitress said awkwardly as Eleanor continued to glance over the room.

  The waitress tried to take the menus, but Eleanor’s grip was firm.

  “Can we just hang on to these?” She asked.

  The waitress looked confused but agreed before leaving.

  “Well, way to order for the table, babe.” John said, enjoying how psychotic his wife became when she was on a mission.

  “I just wanted her to move out of the way, and I couldn’t see if Thea walked by.” She said partially obscuring her face with a menu.

  “Oh jeez, who is the paranoid one now? Let the girl enjoy her date. Why are you hiding behind the menu? You just said this was as great spot.” John asked.

  “I’m not paranoid. I just am really curious.” Eleanor threw the other menu at her husband before continuing. “You should hide too, we don’t want to give up our location.”

  He raised his eyebrows at her, trying not to laugh.

  “Fine, but if she messes this up—” His wife dropped the menu down on to the table and leaned back in the chair.

  “She will be fine, Eleanor.” John said taking out his phone from his pocket.

  The waitress brought their appetizers and drinks out. They picked at their food in silence before rolling over the same thing that stuck in both their minds.

  “So, who do you think it is?” Eleanor asked.

  “My guess is someone with the hotel. Maybe they’re into human trafficking, or maybe its simply just for insurance purposes. If someone steals or breaks something, they will have proof. I am not sure. There can be a lot of reasons.” John explained.

  Eleanor mulled it over in her mind.

  “Maybe we should move to the other hotel.” She said finally agreeing to her family’s request.

  “Eleanor, the only reason why we could afford this trip is that the hotel was paid for; if we don’t stay here, then we’re going home.” John stated.

  The silence grew between them, neither wanting to give up the vacation, but knowing they probably should.

  “We can stay, we just need to stay on guard though, too. If it gets any weirder, then we leave.” He said hoping it was what she wanted too.

  Eleanor slapped John’s hand.

  “Ouch, what was that for?”

  “Look!” she exclaimed, snapping her menu back up to block her face.

  They saw Thea and Alex walk through the restaurant and out into the central area of the hotel.

  “Well, she didn’t look scared, angry, or bored. I am going to say it’s going well.” She said, dropping her menu once they were out of view.

  John gave her a look again.

  “What? I am staying out of it.” she questioned her husband.

  John’s phone dinged.

  “Jack said he is in the game room.” he said sharing the news with his other half.

  “OK, good, I was getting worried,” Eleanor said, relieved.

  “I told him to meet us back at the room.”

  “We better get going then!” She announced.

  They paid-for their meals and then turned upstairs to warn Jack.

  10

  Incognito

  John and Eleanor exit the elevator on their floor, and hurried to their room. Unlocking the door, John rushed inside, ready to tell his son that they were right. Except he still hadn’t made it back. John checked his phone; there were no new messages or missed calls. They sat on the bed, anxiously waiting for either of their children to return.

  “Eleanor, I think you should text Thea.” he said.

  Catching his drift, she pulled her phone out and sent the message. She walked over by the window to try and get service.

  Jack limped his way around, and luckily, he brought shoes that were wide enough that they didn’t irritate his stitches, and he could at least hobble where he wanted to go. He exited the elevator and walked to the room. He reminded himself to stop and get ice for the room on the way up. As he approached, he could hear someone talking but couldn’t tell much of what they said besides that they were angry. As he got closer to the ice room, the words started to become clear.

  “What were you thinking, you should know to leave the carts in the room, double bag everything before you leave. You never, ever, leave your trash can exposed; you’ve been cleaning the rooms on this floor for years, you should know this by now. You both are fortunate that Eric happened to be there,” the mans voice boomed out of the room.

  “We are so sorry, sir; we had the cart propping open the door. We aren’t used to the rooms being messy. Normally that only happens upstairs, not down in the rooms,” said a lady with an accent.

  “I understand it is not something that usually happens, however sometimes we need to be prepared for the unexpected,” the man said.

  “Did the woman make it? She lost a lot of blood,” the lady asked.

  “Yes, she did. She is upstairs now, but there seem to be a lot more people that can still fight back even after the gas is released this year,” the man made the odd statement.

  “Maybe we should increase it? Especially if you are going to do the room of 4,” the lady suggested.

  “We aren’t going to do the room of 4,” the man’s tone was firm.

  Jack peered into the room through the cracked door. The angry maid from last night caught his eye but didn’t say anything.

  The door swung toward him and slammed shut, almost hitting his nose in the process.

  “Oh, NOW she can speak English.” Jack said out loud.

  He brushed it off and continued down the hall, slightly confused as to what he just heard. He was confident that the male voice belonged to the man at the front desk. However, he couldn’t be sure. He was convinced that it had to do with him walking into the cart last night, but the words “normally only happens upstairs” and “the room of 4” stuck in his brain on repeat. Weren’t they on the top floor? The elevator didn’t go any higher. Could she have been talking about their room? He pushed the conflicting thoughts from his mind and figured that he would discuss it with his family when he got back to the room.

  Instead, he thought about his night. He had gone downstairs to the game room and ran into the hostess girl from dinner. She was out of her uniform. Instead, she wore jeans and a thin top that was held up by two straps that laid against her collar bone and wrapped over her shoulder. He had pulled up a seat in front of the space invader game and continuously fed tokens to the machine, desperate to hit the high score. She had walked behind him; he smelt her perfume before he saw her. She came up next to him and looked over his shoulder.

  “You’re pretty good at this, aren’t you?”

  Her sweet tone melted his brain.

  “I try, I am better at a lot of other things than gaming, but it seems to be the only thing that I can do at this hotel right now.” he said.

  “Why is that?” The girl asked, giving him a once over to try and figure it out herself.

  “I hurt my foot at the beach. My football coach is going to hate me when I get back home,” he purposely threw in the sports vibe hoping it would help make her swoon.

  “Here, scoot over, let me try.” The girl said pushing at him.

  Jack did what she asked, sharing his bar stool with her. Her hair fell around across her back; he had to resist the urge to reach out and touch it. She took the controls and within a minute, had a higher score.

  “How did you—” he couldn’t even get the thought together in his head.

>   “My dad lives at the hotel; I grew up here. This game has been here since I was about 5 or 6 years old. I’ve had quite a bit of practice.” she said with a wink.

  “What does your dad do?” Jack questioned.

  “He is the hotel manager.”

  “Oh, ok. I met him when we arrived; your dad seemed nice.”

  “He can be.” She said looking at him and blushing.

  The two of them went back and forth, playing the variety of games the hotel had. Jack had never been one to go to an arcade; he always chose to play his Xbox at home or with his friends online. Between school and football, he hardly ever even did that. This girl, however, had mastered every game in the room. He wasn’t sure how to take it, but if it meant she would talk to him, he would do whatever she wanted.

  It was then that he had gotten the text from his Dad asking him to come back to the room. He replied, saying he would be on his way up but instead chose to stay downstairs as long as she was there. Now almost an hour and a half later, he was ready to face the wrath of his parents, and it would be worth it.

  “I have to get going,” Jack finally said breaking the bad news.

  “I’m sorry, I hope I wasn’t keeping you from anything important,” she said innocently.

  “Oh, no. My dad just needs me and is probably about 2 seconds away from blowing up my phone.”

  The two of them walked toward the front of the restaurant while they talked.

  “Oh, in that case, you probably should. We should do this again” the girl said in agreement.

  With that, she flashed a smile and walked back into the restaurant. Jack took a few steps toward the elevator and stopped. How would he get a hold of her to see her again? He tried to catch her before she got too far to get her number or at least make a plan to meet again, but she had disappeared into the crowded restaurant. “Well, there went that idea.” He said as he turned on his heels to go back to the room, and upon completing the move, he stood face to face with the girl’s father. He looked down on him, a scowl on his face. It probably wasn’t the best idea to flirt with a girl in a hotel that is run by her dad. Hindsight is 20/20. He collected himself and tried to appear professional.