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As I rushed back into the hotel, I nodded to Rene who had been standing inside the doors watching my exchange with Jerry. "Get me a plastic bag, a paperclip, and a paper towel. I sat down in a chair next to the fireplace. Rene helped me get as much of the dirt as I could from the key into the bag. Then I wiped my hands on the paper towel. "What does this look like to you?" I asked.
"I'm not sure. Maybe ash?"
"That's what I thought too." Pieces of a scenario were starting to come together in my head. "I'm going to check out."
"Thanks for staying with us, Ms. Mason. I hope everything was to your satisfaction," the young man behind the desk said.
"Everything was fine. Thank you."
I was almost to the elevator when he called, "Ms. Mason. Wait."
My first thought was that Chance had left me a message. "I have an envelope for you," he said as I walked back to the desk. He handed me a business size envelope with the hotel's logo and return address. Everly Mason was written on the front. It wasn't Chance's writing.
I wasn't going to open it until I was in the room. Just before the elevator doors closed, Rene stuck his hand in and joined me. The hotel was much quieter now that most of the convention attendees had left.
"We want to help," Rene said. "What can we do?"
"I need some time to figure this out. Do you mind if I set things up on your table?"
"Whatever you need," Loren said.
I dug through my totebag and found my Earl Grey tea bags. While the water was getting hot, I pulled out my pad and pen and opened my laptop on the table. I checked my email and my phone. There were no messages from Chance.
Rene delivered my tea when it was ready. I made some notes on the pad and reviewed the list while I sipped my tea. I picked up my phone and called Jim. I took a deep breath and plastered a smile on my face, hoping he wouldn't hear the fear in my voice.
"Hi, Jim. How has your weekend been?"
"Pretty quiet. Are you back in Wilkins’ Gap already?"
"Not yet. This may sound strange, but do you know if my Uncle Harry had a cell phone?"
"Yeah. He did. Why?"
"I met a friend of his here. Her name is Helen Kepler. We had lunch and she told me some great stories about Harry, but I didn't think to get her number. I wanted to ask her something about one of the stories she told me. I figured maybe her contact info would be in Harry's cell phone if he had one."
"I'm guessing that means you haven't found his phone."
"No, and that seems kind of strange. Do you have any idea what could have happened to it?"
"I can check my files, but most people have their phones with them all the time. You might want to check with Sally at the cafe. I know we didn't find it in the office."
"That's a good idea, thanks. I'll call Sally next. Let me know if you find it."
"You doing OK, Em? You sound stressed."
"I'll call you when I'm back in town. Thanks, Jim." Talking with Jim made me sad. I knew Jim would do anything for me. I thought that was probably true with Tom too. Maybe I should rethink a relationship with Jim. I needed to set that aside and make my next call. "Rene, have you guys checked your phones to see if Chance has sent a message?"
They checked, but there was no word from Chance. I checked with Sally who confirmed that Harry had a cell phone, but she had no idea what happened to it.
I picked up my phone and called Tom. "Hi, Tom. How's your weekend been?"
"Too quiet. Are you back in Wilkins’ Gap already?"
"Not yet. Did you have any luck getting that report Chance asked you to look into for him?"
"I made the request but haven't seen it yet. Is he there with you?"
"Not at the moment." I knew if I told Tom that Chance was missing, he would be on his way within minutes and would probably call out the Wilkins’ Gap SAR team to help in the hunt. It might come to that, but right now, I needed to pull my thoughts together. I wasn't ready to involve others in this insanity, whatever it turned out to be, just yet.
"I'll send you a picture when we finish talking. If you have an idea what it is, would you call me back?"
"What's going on, Everly? Is everything OK?"
"I'm OK. I'll fill you in when I can."
"Are you safe? Is Chance there? Can I talk to him?"
"I'm safe. I'll call you when I can explain more. Thanks, Tom."
A little online research had me convinced that Jerry's car was covered with ash that I thought might have come from a forest fire. I sent the picture to Tom. If he agreed with my identification, I might have to tell him what was going on. I found out online that there was a forest fire currently burning not far outside the city where the hotel was located.
As I waited to hear back from Tom I tried to analyze what I knew. If Helen checked out last night, then Chance couldn't have talked to her today, and she probably had nothing to do with his disappearance. Jerry topped my suspect list, followed closely by the guy who tried to kill Helen. I thought it was possible that Jerry had been driving the truck that hit Helen's car or maybe it was someone working with Jerry, but that was the extent of my suspect list at this point. I remember Chance saying that people would kill for the location information we found in the journal, but no one knew about that journal yet, so I didn't think it had anything to do with why Chance was missing.
What reason would someone have for kidnapping or harming Chance? The only reason I knew of was related to the secret government lab we stumbled across. If that were the case, then Tom could be in danger as well. He deserved to know.