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After acknowledging my presence, Angela and “the waiter” walked back into their room, leaving me no choice but to follow them in. Ronnie and George did as I asked, immediately vanishing through the walls. It was a pretty nice place. Flawless, actually. It smelt clean and fresh; and not of bleach as I’d weirdly thought it would. The wicker furniture was comfortable, as I discovered when she curtly nodded at a chair for me. She sat facing me, while he leaned on the doorframe leading to the bathroom, by the looks of things. She did not offer drinks, and neither did he. Okay, better get this over with.
‘My name’s Brianna Mendes,’ I announced. They did not seem impressed.
I waited for a pointer or two on their part, but they seemed content to glare at me until I spoke. There was an extremely long pause as I fixed the cover story in my head. It was something I really should’ve done on the drive over.
‘I believe you’re married to my father?’ I prodded, glancing at Angela.
‘Mmhmm,’ she murmured, expression stonier than Mount Rushmore.
‘Right...’ I sighed. Here goes. ‘I had a happy life growing up. My mom never married, and she never told me who my dad was. All she said was that she’d met him in England and it was a brief fling, and she never heard from him again. I’m sorry, that must be really hard for you to hear.’
‘Hmm?’ she blinked blearily. ‘Oh yes, of course. Dreadfully hard. Do go on.’
Her accent was way more refined than Ronnie’s. It sounded as though she was putting it on. I guess Ronnie thought it was unnatural too, if his expression was anything to go by when he came into the room. Gazing doubtfully at the unnamed man, Ronnie stood next to him, inadvertently mirroring. They made an odd couple.
‘Anyway,’ I continued, boring myself as well as everyone else, ‘I thought nothing of it until a few months ago, when my mom finally told me who he was. I Googled him, and got in touch. As fate would have it, he was already heading to Miami, so that was lucky.’
I cringed as soon as I said the word “fate,” but it was too late. The deed was done. My plan that I’d formed in the last thirty seconds was to make my story as vague as possible. No embellishments, no unnecessary dates. The best way to do that was to make myself as vague as possible. So, I giggled a lot and played with my hair. Normal wishy-washy teen stuff. Except, I hadn’t brushed it recently and my hands got caught in it. Angela stared in disbelief as I yanked my fingers out of the tangle, taking a lot of hair with it. The waiter didn’t move a muscle. Then, I giggled again.
‘You do seem to be related to my husband,’ she said slowly.
‘You cheeky bitch,’ Ronnie muttered.
‘Although, you look nothing like him.’
Suspicion clouded her eyes. I cursed myself, stealing a quick glance at Ronnie. To save time, I giggled again moronically.
I had no idea what he looked like. I mean, I could see him, but he was transparent. I couldn’t really define colors unless I was right next to the lucy. And he was halfway across the room.
They’re kinda like clear black and white photos. I can see his hair is dark, but actual color? No clue. Don’t even ask what his irises were.
‘I’ve got black hair. Jet black, really thick,’ Ronnie told me quickly, thankfully reading my mind. ‘I’ve also got the lightest shade of blue eyes you’ve ever seen. Or not, apparently.’
Well, that was exceedingly helpful. What a damned shame I couldn’t genetically be related to him.
‘I wear contacts,’ I suddenly said, baffling everybody in the room. Hey, my eyes were so dark they were almost a solar eclipse. I’d read about hereditary traits, and knew about eye and hair color. I’d needed it on a case a couple months back. Forgot I learned it, thought it was second nature to everyone. Since all humans - dead or alive - looked a little dazed, I guess it wasn’t. Whoops.
I tried to quickly find some similarity with my “father.” It was proving immensely difficult. My hair was auburn, for a start. Which I’d always found weird, because both my parents have blond hair. Dirty in my dad’s case, white in my mom’s. You know, I used to look at myself in the mirror and wonder whose squib genes I got. Because they were both beautiful, tall and quite athletic. I was squat, and one of my dreams in life was to get an elevator in our home.
But hey, at least I could lie quickly.
‘My mom has dominant genes. She has the HCRB7 DNA strand, so obviously I take her looks,’ I chuckled knowingly, before pausing. ‘You have heard of that, right? I mean, it is basic science.’
It goes without saying that it probably doesn’t exist. But one thing I do know, false confidence gets you further than knowledge.
‘Of course. I’ve read about that,’ Angela coughed, saving face. Nobody liked looking stupid.
‘So, I met him about...’
‘Three months! It’s been three months. Also, what were you rabbiting on about?’ Ronnie sighed.
‘...three months ago, I think it was. He seemed like a nice guy.’
Instantly, the suspicion returned. I backtracked quickly.
‘Annoying as hell, and I’m so, so glad I did not grow up with him, but okay for the two hours he was in my home.’
She relaxed a little, even smiled. A cold, calculating smile that she shared with the waiter. He didn’t return it. I wasn’t sure he did anything, ever. If it wasn’t for him suddenly shifting positions, I would’ve assumed he was a robot.
‘This is Jose, by the way,’ Angela announced at long last. ‘He’s a friend of mine.’
Friend, huh? That was a euphemism if I ever heard one.
‘Did he bring anything with him?’ she asked suddenly.
‘Like photos?’
‘No, I meant more of a- never mind,’ she tutted, irritated.
‘Briefcase! She means my briefcase!’ Ronnie yelled excitedly, jumping up and down. I swear I saw Jose flinch.
‘No, he didn’t bring anything other than a briefcase, or something. He’d said he was on vacation, so I was wondering why he’d brought work stuff with him, but whatever. I guess that’s the kind of man my dad was,’ I murmured dreamily.
‘Yes, of course, he was a good man,’ she said snappily. ‘You said this was months ago. Have you heard from him recently?’
‘No, actually. He’d said he needed time to get his head around it, so I left him to it. He had my cell number and he said he’d get in touch soon. But he never did. So, I came down here to find out what had happened.’
‘Why now?’
‘School’s over,’ I shrugged. Almost, anyway.
‘It’s May,’ she frowned.
‘Yes, it is,’ I said, agreeing that that was the correct month.
‘Schools in England don’t finish until the end of July,’ Ronnie informed me.
‘Oh my God, what?’ I couldn’t help myself from yelling.
Angela and Jose jumped, and she looked a little afraid of me.
‘That’s a bit odd to me, is all,’ she hastily explained, anxious.
‘Right! I’m sorry. I get antsy about, um... education,’ I finished seriously.
‘I’m sure British children are fine,’ she assured me, glancing quickly at her watch. I took the bait.
‘Well, it was nice meeting you,’ I sighed, wrapping it up. Jose and Angela blinked at me.
‘You don’t know I’m missing yet,’ Ronnie hissed.
I’d been starting to stand up, but I quickly flopped back into the chair and composed myself.
‘Do you know where my dad is?’ I asked.
She narrowed her eyes at me. Okay, I could’ve tried to beat around the bush a little, but I already looked insane. Might as well go the whole ten yards.
‘No, I’m afraid I don’t. He went missing around the time he met you, actually.’
‘My God, that’s terrible!’ I gasped. ‘Do the police know?’
She hesitated.
‘Yes... actually they’ll want to talk to you,’ she said. I didn’t like her tone.
‘Really? Maybe I’ll go to the police now,’ I challenged.
‘Okay. Be sure to tell them you were the last person to see him,’ she reminded me.
‘Absolutely!’ I grinned, getting up to leave. Ronnie didn’t mention any last-minute additions, so I was able to actually stand up this time.
‘Are you staying in Miami, or heading back home? Where did you say were from?’ Angela asked casually.
‘Boca Raton. My mom lives there, Yasmin Mendes. She’s away at the moment, and she doesn’t know about all this.’
‘Of course. Are you staying in Miami?’ she pressed.
‘Yeah, only for tonight, though. I’m heading back home tomorrow morning.’
‘Really? Well, I don’t wish to keep you. We have places to go and things to do, so...’
‘Right, of course! Thanks for your time. It was really nice meeting you,’ I said cheerfully.
I could tell her smile dropped as soon as I was out of her sight. Ronnie disappeared to collect George, and we headed back to the car to bide our time.
‘Did you guys find anything of interest?’ I asked as I shot off a quick text to Mickey.
‘Denture gel in the bathroom. Did you know that?’ George asked Ronnie. He burst into laughter, so I guess not.
‘What about the mysterious Jose?’
They both shook their heads.
‘What exactly could we find out?’ Ronnie asked. ‘Unless it was on full display, secrets are going to stay hidden. If they exist in the first place.’
‘Maybe I should look myself. Those cabins don’t look too hard to break in to,’ I mused.
‘Alright,’ they agreed.
They started heading toward the car but stopped when I didn’t follow.
‘Now?’ Ronnie asked.
‘They said they were leaving,’ I pointed out.
‘That was to get you out so they could bonk,’ George snickered, looking at Ronnie, ashamed. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean that.’
‘I’m more offended by the word “bonk.”’
‘Actually, you’re wrong. I hinted about the location of the money, and my guess is, they’ll go after it right now.’
I got an excitable text back from Mickey, telling me he was doing what I’d asked. I ignored all subsequent texts from him. I’d asked him to quickly forge a Facebook page for myself, pretending I was Yasmin’s daughter. That ought to be enough proof for Angela. For now, anyway. I expected them to come running out any second now.
Any second.
‘How long are you gonna wait?’ George somehow yawned. He had a point. It’d been ten minutes.
‘Okay, I’ll come back later,’ I groaned.
I’d wait in the hotel instead. At least there was ice cream there.