The search began with Jerome’s room. To everyone’s surprise, Helen had elected not to join the search party but to remain downstairs, putting together a rough outline of her news story. Standing in the doorway, Jerome watched as Ben and Sylvia went to work.
“I hope you’re going to leave that bed as neat as you found it,” he warned as Sylvia pulled up the mattress. “If there’s one thing I can’t stand it’s creased sheets.”
“We need to look in your bags,” Ben said.
Out in the corridor, Melody was growing increasingly animated, hovering from one foot to the other, and swinging her arms from side to side.
Finding nothing, Ben and Sylvia filed out of the room. Seconds later, Helen’s door opened, and Daniel and Janelle stepped out.
“It’s clean,” Janelle said. She stared across the corridor at Oscar’s door. “Should we take a look?”
“Maybe a quick look,” Jerome replied. Brushing past Melody, he followed Ben and Sylvia into Emily’s room. Being here without Emily felt like an invasion of her privacy, especially when strangers whom he disliked with increasing intensity were rifling through her belongings. But seeing as how Ben and Sylvia were conducting their search with about as much subtlety as a police raid on a drug den, he had little choice but to track their movements with hawk-like attention.
While Ben pulled back bedsheets and pillows, Sylvia picked up Emily’s toiletry bag and tugged on the zip.
“You don’t need to look in there,” Jerome said.
“Why not?”
“Because there’s such a thing as discretion—something you’ve obviously never heard of.” He marched towards her. Ben stepped in between, blocking his path.
Jerome watched as Sylvia unzipped the bag and pulled out strips of medication.
“Okay, now you’re crossing a line.” He pushed past Ben and snatched the pills away. “This isn’t anything to do with what you’re looking for.”
“What’s wrong with her?” Sylvia asked.
“Nothing. You don’t know her. You’ve no right to go making judgements.” Jerome returned the toiletry bag to the dresser. “I think we’re done in here.”
Janelle’s and Daniel’s rooms were next, followed by Sylvia’s and Ben’s. Each pair searched the others while Jerome stood in between, keeping a watchful eye. Meanwhile, Melody moved on to chewing her fingernails.
“Well, I guess you’re both off the hook,” Jerome said to Ben and Sylvia, once their rooms had been searched from top to bottom. “To be honest, my money was on the pair of you.”
“Us?” Ben’s face soured to a dangerous shade of purple. “We can more than afford to buy the things we want without resorting to stealing!”
There was one guest room remaining.
“I said no.” Melody stood between the search party and the door. Lines creased her forehead as she swayed back and forth, her eyes not quite meeting theirs.
“What is your problem?” Sylvia said. “We’ve all been through it and no one complained.”
Ben reached out a hand. Melody flinched. “We’ll be quick. Then you’ll be off the hook.”
“I said no!” She pressed her body up against the door.
Jerome moved up beside her. “We agreed outside that we’d need permission to search a room. Melody hasn’t given it, which means you’ll have to wait for the police.”
“Where are the police?” Sylvia had moved closer to Melody. “We could be waiting all day.”
Ben moved up beside her. “That’s right. And if someone is saying no to us, then I’d say that was a pretty solid indicator they have something to hide.”
“Guess what? You’re not the cops.” Jerome was fast losing his patience with these people. He looked to Daniel, then Janelle, whose expression was filled with conflict.
Daniel nodded in agreement. “He’s right. If Melody doesn’t want us in her room, then we have to respect that.”
“Okay fine, we’re not the police,” Ben said, ignoring Daniel and squaring up to Jerome. “But neither are you. So if we want to search that room, who are you to stop us?”
He moved in closer until there were just inches between them. Anger coursed through Jerome’s veins.
“Okay, first of all, there’s this thing called personal space,” he began. “Second of all, who do you think you people are? Melody has said no. It’s been a while since I used a dictionary but I’m pretty sure that means you’d do well to get the hell out of my face.”
Ben took a slow step back.
“We’ll see about that,” he said.
Before Melody or Jerome could react, Sylvia pushed past them and threw open the bedroom door.
“Stop!” Melody shrieked. She ran into the middle of the room. “Please, stop!”
Ben followed her in, a sly smirk on his lips. Daniel and Janelle stood helplessly watching from outside.
“You assholes!” He wanted to take the couple’s heads and smash them together, to throw them down the stairs, one after the other. Instead, Jerome watched as they took Melody’s room apart.
“We have to do what has to be done,” Sylvia said, catching his eye. She picked through the garments hanging in the wardrobe as if browsing through a clothing store and seeing nothing she liked. She moved to the dresser, where a framed photograph sat on top.
“Is this your cat?” She laughed as she held it up.
Melody wept and dug nails into her thighs.
Ben moved onto the bed and began stripping it down to the mattress. As he held up a pillow, his eyes lit up with suspicion. He stared at it, then gave it a shake. Realisation spreading across his features, he reached inside the pillowslip.
“Look what I’ve found!” His voice was filled with triumph as he pulled out the object and showed it to the group. Out in the corridor, Janelle’s mouth hung open.
Melody shrieked and pulled at her hair. “I told you not come in here!”
Behind her, Jerome slowly hung his head.