CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
May felt filled with resolve as she and Owen prowled around the hotel. There had to be a service entrance, an unguarded way in. Or at any rate, a less guarded way in. That was what she was looking for. A side entrance she could sneak through. A back door that was open for deliveries.
She didn’t want to get caught. She didn’t want to get stopped. It might lead to terrible trouble. But she was desperate to get answers.
She wondered what Kerry would have done in her situation. She had no idea. She knew her sister probably wouldn’t have ended up in this predicament because the FBI had more clout. Her sister would probably have been able to intimidate that guard into letting her through. Or maybe just charm him, depending on her mood.
But May hadn’t and couldn’t. This was all new territory. Confusing, unsettling, and a little bit terrifying.
She was determined to wade into the unknown and face whatever she had to. After all, there was nothing stopping her asking questions of employees.
Nothing except the mogul owner who had secrets to hide and had ordered her off site, and a security team that seemed to be larger than the entire complement of the Fairshore police department.
“There’s a door on the side. I wonder where that goes,” Owen said.
May took a look at it. It did seem to be a way in, around the corner, hidden from sight.
“Let’s see if it’s open,” she said.
Even as she said it, she suddenly felt a shiver run down her back. She felt like there was someone watching her, about to shout at her or call a guard. She had to fight the urge to turn around and look guiltily behind her. The borderline between what they were and were not permitted to do was already blurred at best, exceeded at worst.
May told herself to keep her head straight, stay calm, and do the things she needed to do.
She pushed the door, and let out a deep sigh of relief when it opened wide.
“Hello?” she called softly, in case there was anyone nearby.
No reply.
“Hello?” she said again. “Is anyone there?”
Again, no reply.
Deciding that this gave her unspoken permission to go a little further, she stepped inside, and then she and Owen looked around.
They were in a service corridor. There was a cloakroom to their left, and a storeroom full of cleaning products on their right.
Ahead, the corridor branched. On their right, it seemed the passage led to the hotel kitchens. She could see brighter light ahead, and smell the delicious aroma of food.
On the left, was a door marked “Private—No Entry.”
“What is this place?” Owen asked, looking at the door.
“I think it might lead to the staff area,” May told him.
“Which way should we go?”
May considered.
“I don’t want to go into the kitchens. It’s not private enough. I think we go to the left, if it’s not locked,” she said. “Hopefully some of the staff are in their own rooms, or their lounge, or whatever’s behind there.”
She was feeling more and more uneasy. That door was dingy looking, dented and old. It didn’t seem like it belonged in the hotel at all.
“Okay,” Owen said. He sounded nervous.
“I have a weird feeling about this,” May said.
“About what? This is the only way we’re going to get any answers about what’s going on with that building.”
“I know. But it just feels like...like something is off-kilter here,” she said.
“I know what you mean. But there’s nobody around, so I guess we just push on.”
“It’s kind of creepy,” she said. She had a cold feeling that she was making more than just a choice about which way to go, that if they went through the door, they would be escalating their risk.
But May told herself to get a grip.
They had already made a deal to sneak around the hotel. To get into places they didn’t belong. To try to confirm her strong suspicion that something here was deeply wrong and the hotel was doing whatever they could to cover it up. This was just the next step.
They pushed open the access door and May walked into a narrow passage. It smelled damp and dusty. It was semi dark. And it was lined with doors.
“Are these the staff’s bedrooms?” Owen whispered.
“I guess they must be,” May said.
May knocked on one, her stomach churning. There was no answer.
Moving along, she knocked on the next.