Page 46 of Look for Me

Chapter Twenty-One

When Martin knocked on Pilar’s hotel room, no one replied. Of course, her SUV wasn’t parked outside because it had been towed the night before from downtown Key Largo—if the little peninsula had any downtown at all.

He knocked again.

He didn’t hear anything.

Martin called Pilar’s phone. No reply.

He knocked again.

“All right! All right!” Pilar’s voice was muffled.

Martin waited. When the door opened, he was shocked. “You look awful.”

Her face was bruised, and so were her arms. “That’s what I get for being petite and smaller than the airbag. What do you want?”

“Any leads?”

“Are you an investigator?”

“Just a concerned friend of the abductee.”

“Abductee?” Pilar groaned as she stepped aside. “Come on in.”

Before Pilar could say anything, Martin blurted, “I want to help.”

“You can pray.” Pilar closed the laptop on the round table—the only table—in the small hotel room.

“That too, but give me something to do.” Martin looked intently at Pilar, to show her that he was genuine.

“You have no training.” Pilar opened a small refrigerator below a television set. “Want some water?”

“No, but have you eaten breakfast?”

“Are you taking me to breakfast?” Pilar pointed to her face. “I can’t go out like this. Someone is going to say you beat me up.”

Martin didn’t think it was funny. “Breakfast on me if you let me help.”

“I’m not hungry, and no, I don’t want you to get shot at or something.” Pilar grinned. “Then what do I say to Ming?”

“That I volunteered.” Martin spread his hands to show he was sincere. “Look, Pilar. You have no assistants. You work alone. You are it at your PI firm. Ming is too far away to get here. Every minute we waste, Corinne might be another minute closer to death. Not only her, but her daughter as well.”

“And she still doesn’t want you back.”

“I don’t care about that right now. As long as Corinne and her daughter are safe, I can rest easy the rest of my life.”

Pilar drank more water.

“In fact, while I know that God has allowed me to come here to see Corinne, I don’t know what’s next for us. It might be that this is the closure He is giving me and nothing more.”

Pilar nodded.

“Sometimes we grow up and move on, and maybe Corinne and I—our relationship—are past history. Maybe she’s not in my future and I’m not in hers. As long as she lives, I’m happy to go home and leave her be.” Martin paused. “After we make sure she’s safe.”

Pilar tossed the empty bottle of water into a trash can. “Sit down.”

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