Well, she tried to rush past him. Cash hooked an arm around her waist and brought her to a stop.
“Stay with me,” he ordered.
She didn’t understand. Why did she have to wait with him? What if her sisters were in there?
Ralen stepped past them while she and Cash waited out in the hallway. He was tense, but didn’t hold her hard.
Ralen soon reappeared with a strange look on his face.
“From the lack of noise, I’m guessing Addie’s sisters aren’t here,” Cash said.
“No, but unless you and your sisters are messy, Addie, I think this place has been ransacked.”
What?
What did that mean? She squirmed in Cash’s arms and he let her go, placing his hand on the small of her back to guide her into the room.
A gasp of shock escaped her.
What had happened in here? There was stuff everywhere. Clothes. Makeup. Shoes. It was like someone had come in and decided to make the biggest mess that they could.
There didn’t seem to be any reason, either. What could they possibly be looking for in here? They didn’t have anything worth any money. Dotty had brought her laptop with her.
Shit!
Dotty’s laptop! She rushed to the safe and checked it. Then she opened it with a shaking hand. A sigh of relief left her as she saw that they hadn’t gotten into the safe.
“They didn’t get into the safe?” Cash asked. “There was just a laptop in there?”
She nodded.
“Is there anything missing?” Ralen asked. “Was there anything worth any money?”
Feeling unsettled, she glanced around. Hand trembling, she brushed back her hair. Then she shook her head.
“No?” Ralen. “You don’t think anything was taken?”
“This wasn’t a normal robbery,” Cash said.
“No, that’s what I’m getting at,” Ralen said. “Nothing was taken. It was left in a mess. The safe doesn’t even appear to be touched. That would be harder to get into, but you think they might have tried. And why rob a hotel room? Seems odd. There’s bound to be cameras somewhere in the hallway or lobby. Plus, how did they get a keycard? Unless . . .”
“Unless one of her sisters dropped her bag with a keycard,” Cash said.
Oh God.
Had that happened? It made sense.
“The card doesn’t have any distinguishing features on it,” Ralen said, picking up the card that she must have dropped at some stage.
Monroe.
Monroe always kept the little card holder that hotels often used. The one that had the room number written on it.
Was she all right? Had something happened to her?
Addie typed that out on her phone. There was no hope of her using her voice at the moment. She showed Cash and Ralen. Maybe she should look into some sort of text-to-speech app.
Cash started swearing quietly as Ralen walked into the bathroom.
