Page 34 of The Cocktail Bar
Chapter Seventeen
ALICE
River banged frantically on the door. “Have you seen her? She’s not even answering her phone?”
“Who are you looking for?” Alice said to the rather serious looking fire escape map, mentally erasing the immediate past.
Great, just when she was beginning to think his affection was wearing thin. Alice opened the door with a feigned look of interest, her heart sinking lower as she took in the genuine concern on River’s face, the kind of concern only displayed when emotions are at stake.
“It’s Georgina, she’s missing.”
“Yeah, I gathered already. But it’s a bit difficult for me to help when I don’t even know what she looks like, you haven’t introduced us yet, Riv, remember?”
“I know, I know. But no time for that now, Lennie knows we’re here by the way.”
“I did get the note.” She fanned it in front of him since she was still holding it in her right hand. “You’re flustered, come in, calm down, you’re not going to find anyone in this state.”
“No, it’s not us I’m worried about anymore,” his words were sparking up in all directions, offshoots from a Catherine Wheel at an amateur firework show, “although we do need to get out of here sharpish. I could have sworn Georgina walked past me when I was in reception, I know I’m not imagining it. Then again, I was slightly stunned at him tracking us down like that, not to mention the freakin’ receptionist tipping him off, utter nerve of that woman… and god only knows who else besides.”
“I wouldn’t panic. From everything you’ve told me about Georgina already, she sounds as street wise as they come. Are you positive that you saw her walk in though? Couldn’t it have been another female guest?”
Alice couldn’t believe she was practically lying to him. She’d heard those trademark footsteps, after all. Nobody else lived on the top floor. As for the disloyal woman behind the front desk, she was beginning to realise just how these things happened when someone was down on their luck, her own funds like dregs at the bottom of a petrol tank. What choice had she ever had? Lennie had certainly charmed Alice into all sorts of scenarios her logical mind wouldn’t usually have said yes to.
“I’m useless at thinking straight in situations like this, what should we do?”
“Well, I think for one thing, let’s leave it until the end of the day before sending out a search party. How long has it been? She’s probably just gone home, nothing more sinister than that.”
“Half an hour, forty minutes, I don’t know.” River scratched at his half-formed beard and paced the hallway. “I definitely can’t call her there. Blake won’t have started work yet. Something tells me she won’t be at home anyway. There’s something darker going on, I can sense it.”
“Lennie’s probably just trying to scare you, us, but beneath that façade he’s just a…” Alice realised she couldn’t finish her sentence, since she had zero belief in the lexicon which was randomly flying out of her mouth to try to make him, them, feel better. “Why don’t you come inside and wait here? Or we could scour the streets together?”
“Not safe.” River shook his head as if that were the most appalling idea anyone could ever come up with and she immediately wished she could retract it. “Lennie’s making out he’s heading back to London, quick fake call on his mobile downstairs for a taxi… I’m not stupid… five minutes earlier he claimed to be staying here at the hotel indefinitely. He’s out there, still at large, throwing all sorts of possibilities around to try and confuse me.”
“I’m at a loss as to what else to suggest.” Alice shrugged and held her hand out to pull him inside. “Vigilante at the window?”
“Pack your things,” River exclaimed in a bizarre Eureka-esque moment. “I can’t promise it’ll be immediate, I’ll have to talk her round, but sometime next week I’ll have cracked her for sure: we’re moving into Aunt Sheba’s.”
