Page 51 of For Better or for Ransom

“Come on!” Divya’s Manchester accent was more accentuated when she was arguing. “This is hardly an interrogation, is it? Just some friendly bit of sharing of information. We rang you the moment we realized there was something going on.”

Not entirely true. Luke and Divya had made sure to take a thorough turn around the room first, take pictures and videos of everything, and see if there was anything else the police had missed.

But other than a bit of messiness—it appeared Leonardo Pascual wasn’t big on putting his clothes away—it looked like there was nothing else—apart from a second bloody ominous note.

···

“Tell me what I missed,” Sol asked the dreaded question that afternoon.

Luke and Divya had gone to her flat the moment they’d left Leonardo’s hotel.

“Should you perhaps sit on the sofa while I make tea for everyone?” Luke asked, trying to usher Sol and Divya to the living room area. “Sol, you want some matcha? Or I think there’s some of that sencha left that you really enjoyed last week…”

Sol’s stare pinned him in place, not moving a millimeter from where she was standing, then she turned her face to Divya. “Why is he mollycoddling me?”

“I’m not!” Luke tried protesting, threw his arms in the air feigning innocence. “I’m just offering tea!”

Sol’s pointed glare returned to him. She was still not moving, standing in the middle of her kitchen.

“Tell me what I missed when I stayed home doing your research,” she hissed. “Research that has yielded no results!”

“No results so far, cara.” He gave her his most charming smile. Sol remained unmoved.

“Let’s forget about the tea, but perhaps we can all sit down,” Divya graciously said, going to sit on the sofa.

“If I plant my ass there”—Sol pointed to the place next to Divya on the couch—“you promise to tell me what’s going on?”

Luke was tempted to make a joke about how that would mean losing sight of her scrumptious arse—she was wearing leggings and a cropped sweatshirt after all. But he reminded himself he needed to focus.

“Absolutely. Let’s go.”

They both joined Divya on the sofa. There was a charged silence but before Sol could complain, Luke said: “There was another note in Leonardo’s room.”

“What do you mean another note?” Sol was confused.

“Same font type and size, same type of paper, very similar message as in the note you and I found inside Leonardo’s dressing room at the theater.”

Sol’s eyes flicked frantically from Divya to Luke, as she was sitting between the two of them. Her nose flared and she swallowed. She’d been riled.

“How?” She finally asked.

“It would appear someone left the note inside of Leonardo’s room at some point between the last time the police were there last Friday and today. We talked to the hotel’s staff. No one saw anything, but of course they see dozens of people coming and going every day. It’s easy to miss someone…”

“What about security footage?” Sol asked.

Luke couldn’t repress the proud smile. “Look at you being all thorough. The police took that. Promised they’ll let us know if they find something.”

“Do we trust them?”

“Not really,” Divya admitted.

Sol

“Why the hell were you being so cagey about the note being found?” Sol reprimanded Luke.

He threw his hands in front of him. “I didn’t want to upset you. I know you’re worried about Leonardo.”

“I’m worried about him being missing—not the stupid notes. I think the first one was just a decoy so that we didn’t realize his cosmetic products had been taken.”