Half an hour later the two women stepped out of the lift and back into the hotel foyer looking a lot more refreshed than when they’d arrived. Roxy had changed into black skinny jeans and a creamy, oversized jumper with dangly silver beads hanging across the front, and hoop earrings at her ears. Her jagged black locks had been swept back into a short ponytail and she was devoid of makeup, except for a dab of glossy plum lipstick. She had brought her handbag into which she’d placed Caroline’s iPad and her own smartphone, not because she expected to receive any calls, but because she had the photo of Max on the screen saver, and she was hoping to flash it in front of the hotel staff.
Beside her, Caroline was wearing swirly, multicoloured skinny trousers, a black top and the same faux fur jacket. She’d changed into high-heeled, black boots and added a little blush and eyeliner to liven up her face. Yet again, heads turned as they made their way towards the bar below the staircase but Roxy was under no illusion they were looking at her.
There were various couples milling about, all with drinks in hand, and Roxy made a beeline for a basket of cheese that was sitting on the bar, untouched. She thrust two cubes into her mouth just as a young barman appeared, a bottle of Moet in his right hand.
“Good evening, ma’am. Some champagne?”
“You don’t happen to have any Merlot, do you?”
“Of course.”
He went to place the bottle down when Caroline stepped forward. “Don’t even think about it. I’ll have one of those.”
He bowed his head and poured her a glass before fetching Roxy’s wine. When he returned with it he saw Roxy thrusting more cheese into her mouth and he contained his smile. “You are hungry tonight.”
“Starving. This is really tasty.”
“It is our finest Swiss cheese,” came a smooth voice behind them and Roxy swung around to find a meticulously dressed man standing there, a small smile on his lips. He was tall and lean in a navy blue suit with a silver tie, crisp white shirt and gleaming silver cuff links. Roxy noticed an oversized Tag Heuer on his right wrist which he was holding out now towards her.
“I am Leon Schelling, General Manager, you must be Caroline Farrell?”
“Actually, that would be me,” Caroline said and he glanced across at her. “That’s my friend Roxy Parker.”
“My apologies, Ms Farrell. Ms Parker.”
He shook both their hands and then said something in Italian to the hovering waiter who promptly turned away.
“Shall we take a seat?”
Leon led them to a set of chairs at one end of the bar, which faced away from the other patrons and out towards the alpine view. Roxy noticed that the sun was dropping fast and the mountain was beginning to glow gold.
The waiter appeared again, this time with a fresh bowl of cheese and a glass of soda water for Leon.
“Please, help yourself,” he said to Roxy, adding, “but I warn you, dinner will be very delicious, so you do not want to destroy all your appetite.”
“No chance,” she replied, dropping another cube into her mouth.
Leon took a dainty sip of his drink then brushed a hand across his slicked back hair and turned to face Caroline. “Now, shall we proceed? I believe you are here making enquiries about your brother, Ms Farrell?”
“Yes, I am. Max was due back in Berlin two days ago and has not shown up.”
He blinked at her momentarily. “I see. And this is a problem, why?”
“Well ... because we thought he’d be back by now.”
“Back in Berlin?”
“Yes.”
He blinked a few times. “May I ask, how old is your brother?”
“He’s ... er ...” She glanced unapologetically at Roxy.
“Thirty-five in December,” Roxy said, giving her a withering look. How could she not know that?
“Right, that’s what I was about to say.”
The general manager smiled. “A big boy then. Surely, he can look after himself?”
“Of course he can,” said Caroline. “It’s just that none of us have heard from him, and well, he did check out of here early so we wondered whether something had, you know, happened?”
The way she said it sounded lame and he dipped his head to one side.
“I am sorry, I do not mean to sound flippant, but aren’t you being a little—how do you say?—premature? Maybe your brother has taken an extended holiday, enjoying the Swiss scenery some more. Surely you can not be worried at this early stage.”
Caroline glanced from Leon to Roxy and back. “It’s just ... you know, it’s not like him.”
He almost snickered. “Ah, boys, they can be unpredictable, yes?”
“I guess so,” stammered Caroline.
“Er, no,” interjected Roxy, fast growing annoyed by the general manager’s patronising attitude and the way the conversation was progressing. “I don’t think you understand the urgency.” She dropped her cube of cheese back down, her appetite now gone. “We’re not being premature at all. It’s not just that Max has disappeared.”
Lazily, patiently, his eyes moved from Caroline to Roxy. “Oh?”
“Max’s flatmate, an American man called Jake Conway, has been found murdered in their Berlin apartment. He was killed late Friday night or Saturday morning.” Leon’s eyes had widened and he wasn’t snickering anymore. “We have no idea what’s happened to him but we believe he saw Max just before he died. So, we don’t really care whether Max is being an ‘unpredictable boy’ on some extended holiday enjoying your lovely Swiss scenery.” She knew her voice was dripping with sarcasm and she tried to straighten her tone. “That’s not really the issue, Leon. We just need to find him and make sure he’s okay. The Berlin police would also like to confirm he’s alive and well.”
She didn’t mention the small matter of Max being a potential suspect in Jake’s death, nor did she have to. Leon was now nodding his head in earnest, his long fingers together, prayer-like at his lips.
“That is different, yes, yes, I can see that now. But...” He frowned. “Surely you do not think this has anything to do with the Bellevue?”
“We don’t know what to think,” Roxy said. “We don’t know why Max’s flatmate was killed or even if it has anything to do with Max, for that matter.” She glanced around. “All we know is that Max is missing and this was the last place he was seen. That’s why we’re here and that’s why we need your help to find him.”
“Of course, of course, anything at all. But what can I do?”
Roxy took a settling gulp of wine and watched as he signalled to the waiter to refill Caroline’s now empty champagne glass.
“We need to fill in some blanks,” she said. “We believe that Max was booked to stay here last week for the whole week, but checked out early, is that correct?”
The manager nodded. “Yes. I have studied the booking. Mr Farrell arrived Sunday evening, on the last train, and was settled into room 202.”
“Oh, that’s our room,” said Caroline and he nodded again.
“He was expected to stay until Saturday morning but departed early, on Wednesday morning.”
“Did he say why he had to leave early?” Caroline asked now. “Where he was going?”
“I am sorry, no. I explained to him that he would have to pay for the full six days as he had made a non-transferrable booking and he said this is fine. He had no choice but to go.”
“No choice?”
“This is what he said.” He paused. “He seemed to be in a hurry, I have to tell you this. He kept looking around as he checked out. He was very keen to make the next train down to Alpnachstad.”
“Did he say why he was in such a hurry?”
He shook his head. “I did not ask, I am sorry. We do not question our patrons. You understand?”
“Of course,” said Caroline but Roxy quietly bristled.
A young man forfeits an expensive booking and checks out early, looks anxious and tells them he is in a hurry, and they don’t bother to ask why. Was she the only nosy Parker on the planet?
“Was Max with anyone?” Roxy asked and Caroline suddenly coughed, sending a spray of champagne across her lap.
“Oh, Jesus, I’m such a klutz, sorry!” She grabbed a cocktail napkin from the table and began patting her jeans while Roxy flickered a curious glance at her then repeated the question to Leon.
“If you mean, was he booked into the room with anyone, then no, he was not.”
Roxy stared at him. What kind of an answer was that? “He wasn’t booked in with anyone?” Leon shook his head, began to stare intently at his glass. “But ...” she felt her weary brain turn over a few cogs, “he was with someone? Was it a man? It could have been his flatmate, Jake—”
“He was not with another man.” The hotel manager said this while still staring at his soda glass and Roxy felt herself bristle further.
“Please, Mr Schelling,” she said, leaning towards him, trying to catch his eyes. “We need to know all the details. No matter what.”
He placed his hands back in at his lips and looked up at her. “We are not in the habit of discussing our guests’ er, how shall we say, liaisons.”
The way he said that word sent a small shiver through Roxy’s heart. So he was talking about a woman, then? “Please,” she repeated. “It’s important. This could be a matter of life and death. Max’s privacy is secondary at this point. I think his sister, at least, has a right to know.”
Roxy turned to Caroline who was also deeply engrossed in her glass, and her frown deepened. What was going on? Before she could prod further, the manager sighed.
“Very well. I will tell you this: Mr Farrell did strike up a, how you say, friendship with someone while he was here. I believe.”
The shiver intensified and she said, “Oh?”
“I did witness him talking at the bar with one of our female guests at one point.”
“Oh,” Roxy managed again.
Caroline cleared her throat and asked, “Do you know who this woman is?”
He shook his head, smiled apologetically. “You must understand we had a full house that night. A large Austrian tour group, a military contingent, several American couples. I would not like to say.”
“Not like to say?!” Roxy began but Caroline cut her off.
“But you think Max and this woman were friendly, right?”
Leon appeared to stiffen a little. Was he just uncomfortable discussing his clientele or was there something deeper, darker at play? “Again, I would not like to insinuate. I only saw them having a drink together. On the Monday night. That is all.”
He’s hiding something, Roxy thought, glancing across at Caroline who was now chewing on her champagne flute. And that’s when it hit her. Caroline wasn’t surprised by this news at all.
She was hiding something, too.
Roxy’s head began to spin. Was this the “German floozie” Caroline had joked about back at the Thai restaurant in Sydney? Was there something she was keeping from Roxy?
“This is all I can tell you, I am sorry,” Leon was saying as he got to his feet. “I must now see to my other guests, but please, do let me know if there is any way I can help you. Any way at all.”
You can start by telling me the truth! she wanted to say but she simply watched him walk away, then she rounded on Caroline. “Okay, spit it out!”
Caroline blinked innocently back at her. “Sorry?”
“You should be bloody sorry! You’ve been keeping something from me. Max was with some woman while he was here, wasn’t he? You obviously know that already, you didn’t bother to tell me!”
Caroline slumped back into her seat, her shoulders hunched over defensively. “Okay, okay, don’t get all stressy. I don’t know anything for sure but, yes, I did see pictures of some woman.”
“Pictures?”
“On his Facebook page.” She sighed, sat forward and grabbed Roxy’s handbag, pulling her iPad out. She tapped away for a few minutes then sighed again. “Just give me a sec, I’ll see if the barman has a password for the Wi-Fi.”
“Grab me another Merlot while you’re there,” Roxy snapped. “I think I’m gonna need it.”
As Caroline walked across to the bar, Roxy drained her glass and tried not to think the worst. So, Max was chatting with some woman at a bar. Big deal. In fact, maybe this was a good thing. Maybe he told said woman all about his plans, his fears, whatever was going through his mind. Maybe she was a passing acquaintance, nothing to worry about. In fact, maybe she was still here and they could question her, tonight!
Caroline reappeared holding her device out for Roxy to see. “Okay, here’s his Facebook page.”
She appeared to shrink back a little as she handed it over and Roxy flashed her a scowl. “I’ve already seen these shots. You showed me in Sydney.”
“No, I just showed you the ones I wanted you to see. Scroll up a bit, there’s a second lot he posted, the next day, on the Tuesday. She’s in those.”
Roxy scowled at Caroline again and did as instructed, bracing herself for God knows what. Within seconds she saw her, a chirpy looking blonde, thirty-something, with tanned, chiselled features and a hot pink visor on. She was smiling widely, her arms spread out as she stood before the stunning mountain view, the same view that was now forgotten through the window beyond. There were three more images of the woman on the site. One showed her standing by a cave entrance, beaming like a Christmas tree, another showed her in profile, looking wistfully down the cliff face, and the final shot was the most gut-wrenching of all. It showed the blonde and Max standing side by side. Max had one arm slung across her shoulder, the other on his hip. The same mountain view was behind them and while the woman was still smiling like a crazed idiot, Max had a strange look on his face. Was that worry in his eyes? Anxiety?
Either way it didn’t matter. The shiver in Roxy’s heart had turned into a tremor and she was quaking with feelings of jealousy, anger and betrayal. Who was this woman? She didn’t seem like Max’s type at all. She was way too blonde, way too perky, way too Little Miss Princess-like.
“This doesn’t mean he’s with her,” Caroline was saying. “As in with, with. Maybe they just struck up a friendship and that was it. No biggie.”
She stared at her coldly. “So why didn’t you show me then? Back in Sydney?”
“Because I knew you’d react like this.”
“Like what?”
“Like all weird and jealous and crazy.”
Roxy growled. “Do I look weird and jealous and crazy?”
“Uh, yeah!”
She growled again. “I’m ‘crazy’ because you kept these from me. This could be important, Caroline. Maybe this woman knows where he is. Maybe he’s with her now. I mean, you can’t keep this stuff from me.”
She held her palms out. “I’m sorry. I know. I’ve been meaning to tell you, I just couldn’t find the right time.”
“The right time?! We just spent twenty-eight hours stuck in a tincan over the Indian bloody Ocean! Another ten hours in a car together. You couldn’t find one lousy minute to tell me?”
Caroline shrank further. “Sorry. Jeeze. I was trying to spare your feelings, that’s all. I know you’re still hooked on Max ...”
Roxy couldn’t believe what she was hearing and she swiped angrily at the iPad, scrolling through the pictures again. “Anything else you haven’t bothered to show me?”
“That’s it, I promise.”
Roxy stopped swiping and took a few sips of her wine. She closed her eyes for a moment and tried to calm down. She couldn’t believe Caroline had kept such vital information from her. It put everything in a different light. Perhaps if she’d known about this “other woman” she might not have jumped on the first plane to Europe.
As if reading her mind, Caroline said softly, “I was afraid if I showed you those pictures you wouldn’t care so much.”
Roxy’s eyes flew open. “Care?”
“I was afraid you’d be even angrier with Max and then you wouldn’t help me try to find him.”
Roxy sighed. Caroline was right, of course. If she thought about it, if she were truly honest with herself, she’d admit she was just as angry with Caroline for denying her this clue as she was with Max for teaming up with a perky blonde on a romantic Swiss mountain.
In a more conciliatory tone, she said, “Listen, I appreciate you trying to protect my feelings, but you can’t do that. This is not about me. We need to find Max. If he’s run off with some German floozie”—Caroline winced as she said it—“then great, he’s alive. Better than the alternative. Doesn’t matter where he is or who he’s with, we’ve got to be honest with each other if we’re going to find him. Okay?”
Caroline nodded. “I promise. No more secrets.”
“Good.” Roxy went to turn the iPad off when something caught her eye. “What’s this shot?”
Caroline leaned across to have a look. “Dunno. Looks like the caves around here. It’s dark, pretty crappy handiwork for Max.”
“Who’s the guy?”
“What guy?”
“In the back there, right-hand corner.”
Caroline looked again. “Oh, I didn’t notice him. I don’t know. Does it matter?”
At that moment, a waiter appeared at their side. “Ladies, dinner is ready in the Restaurant Queen Victoria, if you would like to make your way over now, you can beat the tour group.”
Caroline jumped to her feet, grateful for the distraction, but Roxy kept staring at the photo on Max’s Facebook page. It was a very dark shot, clearly taken at night and she was sure the man who stood off to one side, his face cloaked in darkness, had a rifle at his side.
Now why would a man be standing near the hotel with a gun late at night?