Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 83961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83961 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 420(@200wpm)___ 336(@250wpm)___ 280(@300wpm)
33
HARRISON
Bianca is right. We can’t wait any longer to act. We finally have a solid lead, and who knows how long opportunity will linger in our doorway before it disappears into the night?
We don’t park in the Caterpillar Hotel lot. My Cadillac would stick out like a sore thumb with no other cars here. We park a block away on a deserted street and walk over.
The Caterpillar Hotel looks like any other rundown motel—flickering lightbulbs, peeling paint on the exterior, brownish curtains obscuring the view into every window—except for one detail. The doors are freshly painted, alternating in black and white. I count the floors. There are eight of them, and eight rooms on every floor.
Sixty-four rooms in total. Alternating black and white, just like a chessboard.
Pia and Mr. Night both mentioned that Rouge declared Maddox and Alissa the King and Queen of Diamonds.
I think it through.
Rouge likes playing games. This hotel is one giant game of chess. The King and Queen are pieces in chess as well. Diamonds are a red suit, as opposed to a black suit. The white side of the chess board goes first, and the Queen always starts on a square of her own color, the spot called D1. The King, on the other hand, starts on E1.
Those could be hotel room names easily. I walk up to the leftmost door of the first floor, and sure enough, it’s room 1-A. A black door. I think my theory might be correct.
I walk over three more doors and we’re at a white door marked 1-D.
“I think this room is where they might be keeping Alissa,” I say.
“How do you know?”
“Mr. Night told me that Rouge made Maddox and Alissa the King and Queen of Diamonds one of the last nights anybody saw them.” I gesture to the building. “The rooms in this hotel are arranged like a chessboard. The white queen typically starts on D1, a square of the same color as her side. This room is the reversal of the letter and number.”
“I had no idea you were such a nerd,” Dinah says.
“I played a lot of chess with my brothers growing up. And Rouge loves a theme.”
“Should we knock?” Bianca asks.
“I think so. Worst case is we get a grumpy-looking waitress in her pajamas answering the door.”
“Honestly, if it’s a member of the waitstaff, they probably wouldn’t answer at all,” Bianca says. “My sister wants to minimize their contact with the outside world as much as possible, so they’re instructed to stay inside their rooms, opening them to no one, once they get there.”
“That’s fair, at least from her twisted point of view,” I say. “Who knows? Some missionary could come knocking and take them to a church or community meeting and put ideas in their head about striking out on their own. Then Rouge would be out of her cheap labor.”
“If they’re even paid at all,” Bianca says. “Rouge has always been tightlipped when it comes to her employees’ wages.”
“That, too.”
Bianca kicks a nearby pebble. “She wants to keep them dependent on her. If there’s one thing my sister cares about in this life, it’s control. If any of the waitstaff caught wind of the fact that they could get a job somewhere else and start paying their own bills, she’d no longer have that perfectly crafted influence over their every move.”
“She won’t have that much longer if we’re right about Alissa and Maddox.” I approach the door and knock. “Alissa? Are you in there?”
No response.
“It is late,” Dinah says. “She might be asleep.”
“If there’s anyone in there at all,” Bianca adds.
I knock harder. “Alissa! Are you there?”
“It might be a thick door,” Bianca says. “In case she tried to get out. Maybe if all three of us knock, she’ll be able to hear.”
“Good idea.” I wave Bianca and Dinah toward me. “On the count of three. One…two…three!”
We all pound our fists on the door at once. Once, twice, three times. Four. Five… Six…
Finally, an extremely weak rasp of a voice right as we’re about to come down for a seventh knock comes from behind the door. “H-Hello?”
Dinah gasps. “Oh my God, I think it’s her.” She puts her mouth right against the door and enunciates very clearly. “Alissa, is that you?”
A few seconds pass. Then, “D-D-Dinah?”
Tears stream down Dinah’s face. “Yes, Liss. It’s me, babe. Me and Dr. O’Rourke.”
“How did you…?”
“Don’t worry about that now,” I say. “Alissa, I need you to step away from the door. We’re going to get you out of here.”
“O-Okay.”
“Give her a few seconds. She sounds weak,” Bianca says.
I nod. At first I try the door. It’s locked, of course.
I have some experience with breaking down doors. I look around. “Is there a fire extinguisher around somewhere?”
Bianca runs down the line of hotel rooms and calls back. “There’s one over here.”