“Rachel,” Augusta said, stepping away from the front desk.
“Augusta …”
“I need your help. I need a credit card to secure a hotel room. I’ll pay you back.” The words flew from her mouth, not letting her friend ask questions. “Can you please help me?”
“Absolutely,” Rachel replied, “give the phone to them and call me when you get to the room.”
“Thank you so much.” With a smile, Augusta handed the cell to the clerk who took down the information, and after a few moments, the woman handed Augusta the room key and told her to enjoy her stay. The clerk had been nice to her, but all she could think about was getting to her room and locking the door. She wanted to be somewhere safe.
But, first, she had to make a stop. Following signs to the business center of the hotel, she used her card to get inside and looked around. Bingo. She hurried to the paper shredder, flipped it on, and fed the damn photo into the teeth. Colorful tiny bits of paper fell into the bin below. She sighed, knowing the evidence was gone.
Making her way up to her room, she couldn’t help but appreciate the amount of detail the designers had taken when building the place. Every single piece of furniture, right down to the rugs on the floor, matched.
As her room card clicked, unlocking her door, she flew inside. The door slammed behind her, startling her. She was jumpier than she realized.
The room was beautiful. The colors were a modern gray-and-black themed with long draping curtains over the windows. She sat on the edge of the bed and rested her hands at her sides, admiring the comforter.
Once the safety of the room had settled her down a little bit, she called Rachel. Maybe she could tell her what to do next.
“Oh, my gosh, Augusta!” Rachel said, immediately answering the phone.
“Hi, Rachel. Sorry it’s been a while, I’ve … gotten into something, and I need your help,” Augusta responded.
“No problem. You know that’s what I’m here for.”
Augusta loved that about her. She was always there whenever you needed her. They had a long enough relationship that they could pick up right where they left off even if they hadn’t spoken for some time.
“I know, and I appreciate you so much for that. I’ll just jump right in … I was taking my daily pictures for my photography class.”
“Oh, no. Where did you decide to trespass today?” She laughed.
“The old, abandoned slaughterhouse on the edge of town …” Augusta laid back on her bed, the comforter was so soft and the mattress felt like she was laying on a huge cotton ball.
“Augusta, why would you choose there? I mean, knowing you, I obviously know why you chose it, but why couldn’t you have let me tag along? You shouldn’t go places like that alone.”
Rachel always had a motherly instinct about her. It used to irritate Augusta, but in situations like these, it seemed to calm her nerves.
“I know. I know. But can you lecture me later? This is important.”
“Okay, of course. Continue.”
“I was there, minding my own business when I heard someone scream. I, of course, had to go see what was going on, but Rachel … I think I witnessed a murder.” She hoped the shakiness in her voice would come through the other end of the phone. She needed someone to know she was telling the truth.
“Oh, my God! No way. What did you find?” Augusta could hear the alarm in Rachel’s voice. She was so glad she did believe her, unlike the cops she had dealt with earlier.
“Well, I found the room the screaming had come from. When I walked in, I saw two men with crowbars standing over another.”
“Holy shit,” she gasped, always adding dramatic flair to any scenario they encountered.
“Yes. And they were wearing ski masks. They hadn’t noticed me until I stupidly dropped my camera, and when it fell to the floor, it hit the shutter button, causing it to flash and give me away.” Augusta got goose bumps, remembering how scared she had been.
“Did they come after you? Did you get hurt?” Rachel always had the tendency to ask too many questions in a row before actually getting an answer to any of them.
“Yes, I was getting there. Let me finish.” Augusta sighed. “Just as I looked up, both of the men sprinted toward me, and one of them shifted into a wolf. I managed to escape obviously because …”
“You need to take this to the cops. Have you done that yet?”
“I tried to go to the cops, but neither of the men I talked to believed me, so I went home to process. But I saw on the news that they are looking for the two men in ski masks, and it said that the man they killed was a known mob figure.”