Wandering around the bed, her gaze drifted to the suitcase and the books she had discovered earlier.
She picked up a hardback and rang a finger across the embossed author name on the front: J.T. Walker.
Never heard of him.
She flipped the book to its back cover, whereupon reviewers sang their praises for this apparent fictional masterpiece.
Huh.
Ally moved the suitcase onto the floor and crawled into bed with the book.
Perhaps a few chapters of this would be just what she needed to drift off.
Chapter 9
Ally awoke the following morning to the sound of footsteps. Having lived alone the last fifteen years, it was enough to rouse her from a deep sleep.
Her body begged her to close her eyes again, but the realisation of what had happened the day before awakened her quick-smart.
She had a mission to accomplish.
“Morning!” Lara greeted her over a mug of coffee.
“Please tell me you have lots more of that,” Ally groaned, walking into the kitchen mid-yawn.
“A whole pot. Help yourself.”
She duly grabbed a mug from the cupboard that Lara gestured towards, and filled it to the brim.
“I hope Charlotte didn’t wake you last night.”
“Not at all, I was just late up reading. I got stuck into a really great book.”
Lara’s stared at her, surprised.
Ally shrugged. “I found it in that other person’s suitcase. And as crazy as it sounds, I think the owner of the suitcase might be the writer of the book.”
Lara frowned. “I don’t follow. Why would you think that?” she asked, while whisking pancake batter.
“It had three copies of the same book in it, plus a notebook with handwritten outlines of what I think is going to be a sequel. And he’s got some nice clothes. Rich guy’s clothes.”
“You looked through a stranger’s stuff? What else did you do, try on his clothes?”
“No, I wasn’t trying to be nosy. I just thought maybe there’d be a name or a phone number in there, some way of contacting the guy.”
“Good idea. Was there?”
“No. Though he must travel quite a bit, he had all of his toiletries in travel size and they had been used before.” It took Ally ages to realise what a time saver it was to have a special set of travel toiletries always ready to go.
“You’re like a detective. What else did you find?”
“A few really nice cashmere sweaters, a pair of slippers, some socks and a carefully folded tux even. The quality of everything was top notch too.”
Lara made a face. “Sounds like what my grandpa packs when he travels.”
“But if I’m right, and he is the author of the books, then I also know his name - well kinda. J.T. Walker.”
“Great, well that’s a good start isn’t it?”
