Chapter 15

 

 

A man fell into step beside the woman. He seemed as if he was trying too hard not to look at us. That made me immediately suspicious. I took Dorothy by the hand and moved out of the way just a bit so that we could stop at a nearby shop.

“What are you doing?” Dorothy asked. “Did you find a place that looks friendly?”

“No, it’s not that. I think someone was following us,” I said.

When I looked over, the tall, dark-haired man, wearing a dark blue baseball hat, white shirt, and black shorts, was staring right at us. This sent a shiver down my spine. When he realized I was watching him he darted to the right and spun around.

The man hurried down the sidewalk. It was plainly obvious that he had in fact been following us. Now he was getting away. If he had done nothing wrong, then why was he trying to flee? I wasn’t going to let him get away with this. I wanted answers from him. Who was he and why was he following us?

“We have to go after that man.” I pointed.

“Oh, no. I have a feeling this isn’t going to end well,” Dorothy said. “It usually doesn’t.”

“Give me some credit. We’re still alive, aren’t we?” I asked.

Dorothy quirked an eyebrow. “Barely.”

“We have to find out who he is. What if he tries to harm us?”

Dorothy’s big eyes widened even more. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get him.”

Dorothy and I weaved around a group of beachgoers as we rushed down the sidewalk. We received a lot of strange looks when I bumped into a guy on roller skates.

“Watch where you’re going,” the skater said.

“Sorry,” I said from over my shoulder.

The man we were following turned down the street up ahead to the left. Of course, he moved faster than us, and he was already ahead, so I wasn’t sure if we would be able to catch him. This might be nothing but our cardio for the day. At least we were getting some exercise in. Now I wished I had a scooter or bicycle.

“He certainly is a fast one, isn’t he?” Dorothy said breathlessly.

“Are you all right, Dorothy? Maybe we should just let him go.”

“No way. I’m as fit as a fiddle,” she said with a forced smile.

When we reached the street, we made a left. Luckily my eyes locked on the man as soon as we got around the corner. I guessed fate had helped me out. The man slipped into the hotel up ahead. If we lost him in there, then there would be no way we would find him. The place was big and we couldn’t go door-to-door. That would be impossible.

If we caught him on the elevator that would be awkward. But I was just speculating what would happen at this point. My racing thoughts were clouding my judgment. I would just have to wait until we got in there and see what happened. No matter, I liked to be ready though. For all I knew he could be waiting by the door for us and try to kidnap us or something. Though he wouldn’t be able to take both of us at the same time. We would put up a big fight. He had no idea who he was messing with. If need be Dorothy could be vicious. I wouldn’t mess with her and I was glad she was on my side.

“Oh, we got him now,” Dorothy said.

Dorothy and I rushed into the hotel lobby. We stopped in our tracks when we realized how quickly we had burst through the door, looking like we were crazy.

“Oh, there he is,” I said, gesturing with a tilt of my head.

The guy stood at the front desk talking to the woman behind the counter. He obviously had no clue that we had followed him in here. I guessed he thought he’d lost us. He’d have to try a lot harder than that to get away from me. I didn’t recognize him.

“Have you seen this guy before, Dorothy?”

“Never seen him,” she said.

One thing was for sure—I was certain that he had been following us. When he’d seen us looking at him he had taken off. That meant he was guilty.

“I don’t want him to see us in here because then maybe he’ll go to extra lengths to keep us from following him,” I said.

“Good thinking, Maggie,” Dorothy said.

“We’ll have to find a place to hide,” I said, surveying our surroundings.

“In the lobby?” Dorothy asked.

“It’s the only way.”

Dorothy was right. There weren’t many places to hide except for a few sofas and chairs. There was a big column across the room in front of us, but it was all the way over by the elevators. That would be too risky.

“What about that rack with the clothes and luggage?” Dorothy pointed.

“Well, I guess that’s the best we can hope for.” I grabbed Dorothy’s hand to bring her with me.

We rushed toward the rack all the while I kept my eye on the man to see if he looked over and saw us. Dorothy and I squatted down behind the rack. I moved some of the shirts so that I could have a peek at the guy standing at the counter. I hoped the owners of the luggage didn’t come to claim their stuff.

“It looks like he’s getting a room,” Dorothy said.

“What’s taking him so long? We need to follow him,” I said.

“Just as long as we don’t let him get away,” Dorothy said. “I worked too hard to find him to let him slip out of my hands.”

Someone cleared their throat from behind us. When Dorothy and I peeked over our shoulders a man wearing a black suit stood behind us with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

He narrowed his eyes as he eyed us up and down. “Exactly what do you think you’re doing?”

“I was just admiring this beautiful blouse here,” I said, pointing to a pair of slacks.

He quirked an eyebrow. “I don’t believe that. Exactly what are you doing? Do you have a room in the hotel?”

I could’ve made up something, but I would probably have to produce a room key as proof that we were actually hotel guests.

“We were just going to check in.” I gestured.

“All right, that’s enough of this. We don’t want any trouble here. We don’t rent rooms by the hour so if you’ll kindly leave now.” He looked from me to Dorothy and frowned.

“Exactly what are you insinuating?” I asked, placing my hands on my hips.

He grabbed me by the arm and led me around the clothing rack toward the door.

“Hey, get your hands off her,” Dorothy said as she followed us.

He took Dorothy by the arm and walked both of us outside of the hotel. I didn’t even get a chance to see if the guy was still at the desk or if he had witnessed this whole embarrassing scene. I couldn’t believe that we were being escorted out. Now we’d have to find a way to get back in.

“Kindly take your hands off us,” I said as I yanked my arm away.

Once we were on the sidewalk, he released his hold on us.

“Don’t make me call the police,” he said with a warning shake of his finger.

He turned around and headed back inside in the hotel. Once there he stopped, turned around, and glared at us. I was still standing there in disbelief.

“Did he think we’re ladies of the night?” Dorothy asked.

“I do believe he did,” I said.

Dorothy laughed.

“This isn’t funny, Dorothy. We have to find a way to get back in there. Do you have any ideas?”

“Well, not off the top of my head, no. You have to give me a moment to work my genius brain.”

“Our chances of finding that guy are now close to none. He’s probably already away from that desk and in his room by now,” I said. “We could knock on every door.”

“You said that would take a while. Plus, how would we get back again? That manager would probably blow his top if he caught us again.”

“We have to think of more ideas.”

“Just one idea would be good if it was a good idea,” Dorothy said.

“Yeah, well, at the moment, I’m completely blank,” I said.