Page 71 of Blindsided

“The police are going to meet us at the hotel,” Desmond says as the car pulls over in front of the building.

“Do you think the hotel will let us do a wellness check without an officer?” I ask.

“I’ll make sure of it. I’m not waiting around to see if she’s just in her room taking a nap.” Desmond walks up to the front desk attendant. It’s a different person than the one I talked to earlier, and I can see instant recognition on his face when he sees Des.

“Hi, I’m Desmond Areneto.”

“I know,” the guy gushes. “You’re my favorite Raptors player. Congrats on the league record for goals.”

“Thanks. Look, man, I need a favor. My sister is staying in this hotel, and she’s not answering her phone. I want to do a wellness check just to make sure she’s okay. You can look up her name. Tilly Areneto. You’ll see her in your system.”

“Um…” The guy swallows. You can tell he doesn’t want to say no to Des, but I can guarantee a wellness check without proper cause goes against hotel policy. He clicks through his computer—I assume to find Tilly’s reservation—and then nods his head.

“Follow me.” He puts a littleBe Back Soonsign on the desk and takes us to the elevator. When we get to Tilly’s room, he knocks on the door and then uses the key card when no one answers.

The stillness of an empty room is evident when we walk inside. Desmond props the door open and steps further into the room. “Chris, the police are going to be here in a few minutes. You might want to head back down to the front desk.”

His eyes grow wide. “The police are coming?”

“Don’t worry, I won’t tell them you let us in.”

“O-okay. I need to go call my manager.” He scurries out of the room, and I shake my head. Poor guy has no idea what he just stepped into.

I look around Tilly’s hotel room. There are clothes in the middle of the floor, her phone charger is plugged into the nightstand outlet, and her suitcase is open on the luggage rack. It’s obvious she planned to come back here tonight. I was half-worried she’d jumped on a flight back to Westlake, but she would’ve told me if she was coming home.

“I guess this is proof she didn’t decide to hop a flight and go back to Westlake,” Desmond says, echoing my thoughts.

“I wish that’s what happened. I wouldn’t even be mad at her for not telling us.” I run my hands through my hair. A text buzzes on my phone, and I pull it out to see that Adam has responded to my question. I asked for our PI’s phone number because I don’t trust the police to do jack shit.

Fifteen minutes later, the police are escorted up to Tilly’s room by who I assume is the manager. They’re surprised to see Desmond and me there, but when Des introduces himself, they relax. They ask us questions to get a timeline of when we last heard from Tilly, and I remember she was supposed to meet with her agent this morning.

Desmond steps out into the hallway to call Veronica. At least the police are taking this seriously. Maybe since Tilly’s had issues with a stalker, they know she likely didn’t just run away.

“There’s a good chance she’s just walking around the city without her phone, but we’ll check things out to see if there’s anything suspicious going on. Have her agent give us a call. We’ll need to get her statement to finish tracing her last movements.” The officers exit the hotel room, along with the manager, leaving me and Des alone.

I silently gather Tilly’s things to take them back to Desmond’s place. My gut is screaming at me that she’s not simply wandering around the city. Not with her stalker still on the loose. I have no evidence to support it, but I know there’s something wrong.

“Do you think they’re going to do anything?” I ask Des as we leave the hotel.

“I’d like to think so. Did you get the information for that PI?”

“Shit, yeah. Let me call him.”

I talk to Jeffery the whole way back to Desmond’s apartment. He has a contact here in the city who is going to help us do our own investigation. It gives me the sense that I’m doing something to help find Tilly. The idea of sitting back and letting the police handle things makes me antsy.

Desmond pauses outside of his apartment to talk to the doorman. “Hey, Hank. When Tilly left, did you see where she went?”

“Yeah, she headed down the block. She was visibly upset.” He frowns at Desmond as if he knows he’s the reason Tilly was sad.

“Did she get into a car or anything?” Desmond asks, ignoring Hank’s disappointment.

“Not that I saw.”

“Okay, thanks.” Desmond walks inside, and I follow close behind him. He looks at his phone and relays the message there. “Veronica said she wants to meet us here to help in the search.”

“Is there anything she can do to help?”

“No, but she’s been Tilly’s agent for years. She’s a bit like a pseudo-aunt to her.”

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