I am curious, though. Matteo seemed intent on talking to Noa, but I got the sense that it wasn’t about me. I was just kind of in the way. I can’t shake the thought that it has something to do with Rum Runner, although I can’t imagine what. The timing is just really suspicious.
I climb out of bed and begin to pace, hoping it will clear my head. I’m not sure how, but I want to help figure out this mess. I want to know how the Collective tie in to the Starline Hotel. I check the time, knowing I’m alone in the suite, and decide to do some research on my computer.
Since my father owns an IT security company, he uses a private VPN for the internet while staying at the hotel, meaning it hooksdirectly into his system. No search filters. Unlimited access to the web. My father’s software is actually incredibly invasive and unethical, but I’ll claim the moral high ground here since I’m going to use it to uncover unethical things.
And luckily, I know the password for his VPN. A perk of being ignored is that no one notices when you’re around.
I walk out into the suite, and confirm that I’m alone. Astrid is at the kids’ camp while my mother is doing her morning gym-and-brunch routine; my father is obviously at work. I have the place to myself.
I set up my computer at the table and hook into my father’s VPN. I start by searching for any updates about the body we found yesterday. There is no news, which is unsettling. And it only makes the entire mystery more confusing. By now, the next of kin should have been notified. Where’s the police conference? Where’s the media?
Next, I look for the origins of Rum Runner Island and the Starline Hotel, but again, I’m coming up empty. Not a single mention: no building permits, land surveys, tax records. There is no paper trail of who owned it, who built it—nothing.
In fact, it isn’t until I research Florence Marsten directly that I get any hits at all.
I find Florence’s obituary in a local paper, along with an accompanying article. There is a picture of her in front of a black-curtain backdrop. It says she was twenty-one and making plans for her upcoming wedding after graduating from college in the Adirondacks. Florence’s family owned a chain of jewelry stores throughout Florida—they were well-off and connected. But on June 11, Florence had been with her fiancé at the Starline Hotel when a fire broke out.
This is the first mention of the Starline Hotel.
Now here is where fact and fiction diverge. According to the attached article, the fire tore through the hotel, killing Florence.Everyone else escaped, but the building was reduced to ashes.
Having been there myself, I know this is an outright lie. But why?
The article goes on to say that Gabriel Mendez, Tech’s uncle, is a person of interest in the fire but can’t be located.
This doesn’t make sense. It wouldn’t have taken much for someone, a reporter even, to go to Rum Runner Island to confirm it had burned down. And yet no one did. Not a single person—not even any of the Chasers. Why didn’t Gabriel’s family or friends go there to look for him? It’s all very confusing.
I scour the internet after that, but there isn’t anything else about the hotel. As if it had actually disappeared that day. But more likely, someone has had the information scrubbed from the internet. They left that one article, though. The one accusing Gabriel of the crime.
However, I do find another mention of Florence Marsten. No word of an investigation into her death, no follow-up on her death at all. Instead, her name is invoked at the dedication of the Grand Augustus Resort, the very same place where I’m sitting right now. Turns out, Florence’s parents and Matteo’s family went in together to build this resort. Wait…
Something clicks in my brain, and I quickly open a new tab. And there, to my utter astonishment, I find a picture of Jordan Miles with her mom in front of the resort.
“Cecelia (Marsten) Miles and her daughter, Jordan Miles.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I murmur to myself. Jordan’s family is related to Florence Marsten. It takes a little more research to learn that Cecelia is Florence Marsten’s sister. Jordan’s family ties back to the original tragedy. No wonder she hates the Chasers, but… does she know that it was all a lie? There was never a fire.
I click back into the story of the resort, and find the Augustus Resort was dedicated to Florence. I’m guessing that was to make a point. A linein the sand between the Collective and the Chasers—using Florence as their symbol.
I open another tab and search for Gabriel Mendez. First is the same story I’ve already read, but then on page five of the search results, I find an article published in 1994 by a journalist named Gina Tamayo. It’s blocked, but I’m able to open it. Turns out, Gina had looked into the case and offers a lot of details similar to what the Chasers had told me.
She doesn’t refer to Florence or the Starline Hotel by name, which probably helped escape the full erasure. The headline reads,COLD CASE FRIDAY: LOCAL MAN SOUGHT IN DEATH OF CAPE HOPE SOCIALITE.She describes a wealthy socialite being killed in a fire, and that a staff worker named Gabriel Mendez was suspected of intentionally starting it. Gina Tamayo doesn’t seem to buy it, though. “While Mr. Mendez is presumed dead, questions swirl over his involvement in the tragedy. However, there is no proof that Mr. Mendez even knew the deceased. The DA’s case seems to be built solely on the account of two local teens.”
After that, Gina does a bit of a profile on Gabriel, mentioning that he lived his life in Cape Hope. She even shows his picture. He looks a lot like Tech, minus the glasses. Although Gina doesn’t mention the teens by name, I think there are few thinly veiled digs about them.
“Authorities found the witnesses, who later became influential community members, to be mostly truthful in their account of the night of the fire. In the meantime, without Gabriel Mendez in custody to refute their claims, their story has held up for almost a decade.”
I take a screenshot of the bottom of the page, which has Gina Tamayo’s contact info. I have no idea if she’s even still around, but I’ll take it just in case.
I need to start from the beginning to get a handle on this. In 1986, Florence Marsten was killed in a fire that never actually happened.Gabriel Mendez was blamed for starting it—kicking into high gear a Floridian class war. Two local teens blamed him, but no one verified their story. No one even went to verify the hotel was destroyed. So… how did Florence die if there wasn’t a fire?
And then sometime before now, the internet is scrubbed of almost all references to the Starline Hotel or Rum Runner Island. Someone did a full erasure. There is no map, no interviews, no photos—nothing that can pinpoint its location. A modern solution to an old problem.
How did the Mancini family figure into all of it? I type in the name along with Cape Hope, and I’m met with an onslaught of information: weddings and funerals, corporate takeovers. Prior to the eighties, Matteo’s family was local, but not rich. Not even close. Which makes their inclusion in the purchase of the Augustus Resort downright impossible.
Nothing I’ve learned so far is adding up to a crime. What is the missing piece that can fit into this jigsaw puzzle? What would make all those guests leave everything behind and never look back?
Right now, the only connection between the Starline Hotel and the Collective is Jordan and her family. Maybe Jordan is the key to figuring out this entire thing.
