Resorting To The Truth

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“Not that I know of.” He pointed to his phone. “Is there anything on my phone?”

She picked it up from the center console and pressed the button to wake it up. “There’s a missed call from Charlotte. I wonder why she called you and not me.” Allie dug through her purse for her phone. “My phone’s dead. No wonder I haven’t heard from her.”

“Why don’t you call her back on my phone,” Jack suggested.

“Good idea. I’ll have to charge mine when we get to the B and B. How much longer till we arrive?”

“About an hour and a half according to the GPS,” he said. “You okay waiting for lunch? There are supposed to be some nice places in town.”

“That’s fine. I’d rather get there sooner than later.” They’d left Allie’s apartment in Providence around nine and it was about a three-and-a-half-hour drive.

“I wish the leaves hadn’t already dropped,” she said as she navigated Jack’s phone to find Charlotte’s number. “I also wish I knew how your stupid phone works.”

He laughed. “Just go to missed calls and her number will be there.”

She found it and the call went through. Unfortunately, she got Charlotte’s voice mail. “Hey, Charlotte, this is Allie on Jack’s phone. Mine’s dead. Will charge it at the B and B. I’m guessing you made it to the island. Have fun! Talk to you soon.”

She disconnected and turned off Jack’s phone. “Now that we’re pretty sure she made it okay, we should turn off our phones so we’re not distracted.”

Jack glanced at her, his eyebrows dancing and his eyes gleaming. “Sounds good to me.” He turned back to concentrate on the road. “I talked to Granddad this morning and he’s fine. We can turn the phones on every few hours just to check for messages.”

“Deal.”

Allie put their phones into her purse and sat back to enjoy the view. “Have I mentioned what a wonderful idea this was?”

Jack grinned. “We haven’t even gotten to the good part yet.”

* * *

CHARLOTTE AWOKE WITH a start. It took a few seconds before she realized where she was.

She must have drifted off to sleep while enjoying the peacefulness of her balcony. The lounge chair was ever so comfortable and the sounds of the ocean had calmed her into oblivion.

She checked her cell phone for the time and saw a missed call from Jack. That must have been what woke her. She listened to Allie’s message. Darn! Why didn’t her sister say anything about Raymond Foster? Had Allie’s phone been dead since Charlotte first called late yesterday afternoon? She obviously hadn’t listened to Charlotte’s messages yet.

She quickly hit the button to redial Jack’s number and got his voice mail. She disconnected without leaving a message. Then she tried calling Allie with the same result. She left a message this time, mentioning Raymond Foster’s plans and asking Allie to call as soon as she got the message. Then Charlotte set her phone aside. What was she going to do now? She hadn’t a clue how to put a presentation together. That was Allie’s field of expertise. What a shame it would be if she went to all the trouble of pretending to be Allie and then her sister wasn’t able to follow through to impress the client.

Popping up from her chair and heading back inside her room, she decided to look at the workshop schedule again. Maybe there was a workshop that would help her.

She’d left her tote bag and purse on a chair, but now her purse was open and things had spilled out of it. Her heart pounded. She dug into her small purse to find her wallet gone. She dumped her purse on the bed, making sure she hadn’t missed it.

“Where could it be?” She spoke aloud to her empty room and looked around to see if her wallet had somehow fallen out of her purse.

No sign of it. Then she dumped out her tote bag, which she only carried to make it appear she was attending the conference. The workshop schedule drifted out.

She looked under the chair and opened the door to the hallway to see if her wallet was out there. Nothing. And nobody. Even the cleaning people were gone for the day.

She closed the door and locked the dead bolt, then stood in place for several minutes assessing the situation. She needed to report it to the hotel.

Which probably meant dealing with Sam again. He’d no doubt blame her for not securing her door with the dead bolt and then sleeping through a robbery.

She swallowed and crossed to the room phone. “I’d like to report a theft,” she said when the front desk picked up.

“I’m so sorry to hear that,” the man said. “Can you give me details?”

“My wallet was stolen from my purse. It was on a chair in my room while I was on the balcony. There wasn’t much cash, but there were two credit cards and my driver’s license.”

“Is there anything else missing? Any electronics or jewelry?”

Her breath caught. She hadn’t considered that. Then she realized she’d locked her laptop in the safe and her phone had been with her on the balcony. “Not that I know of.”

“I’ll report this to the manager and someone will be in touch with you soon.”

“Thank you.” She hung up, wondering which was worse—the theft or dealing with Sam. Maybe he’d send someone else since he didn’t seem to like being around her any more than she liked being around him.

She got out her laptop to get a phone number for her credit card companies. By the time she’d made the calls to report the theft, there was a loud knock on her door.

Checking the peephole as a precaution, she opened the door to Sam.

“Come in.” She moved back so he could do just that, unable to stop herself from breathing in his now-familiar scent.

He turned to her as she closed the door and faced him. “You had a theft?”

His businesslike attitude was actually a relief. She didn’t need more threats and accusations.

“Yes.” She repeated what she’d told the desk clerk.

He looked at the bed and must have noticed that her purse contents were strewn all over.

“I dumped my purse to make sure I hadn’t missed my wallet.”

He nodded. “And nothing else was taken?” He surveyed the room.

“I had my laptop locked in the safe and my phone was with me on the balcony.”

“And you’re sure you didn’t leave your wallet somewhere? A pocket? Your suitcase? The safe?”

His question made her doubt herself, but for only a few seconds. “I’m sure. I know I didn’t leave my purse open and things strewn about when I went out to the balcony.”

“You read the note that was delivered to everyone about keeping valuables locked up?”

“Yes.” The man could infuriate her in an instant. “I didn’t think that meant they had to be locked up while I was still in the room.”

He ignored her jab and made a few notes on a pad he pulled from his pocket. “Why weren’t you at the workshops?”

His question startled her. She was mentally exhausted trying to convince him of her identity and now he was questioning her every move. “I was learning how to climb palm trees instead.”

His glare said he didn’t appreciate her humor.

“I had a headache and decided to come up here to rest.” Lying didn’t come easily to her, but the fib wasn’t far from the truth. Her pulse now pounded in her temples.

“I see.”

Was he turning this on her? Blaming her for the theft? “You see what?” Her tone was sharper than she intended.

He looked up again from writing on his pad. “I see that you weren’t feeling well and decided to skip the afternoon workshops.” He stared at her and finally added, “Is that correct?”

“Yes, it is.” She’d been put in her place. She straightened and asked, “What are you going to do about the theft?”

He pocketed his pad. “I’ll alert our head of security and have him check the video of the hallway outside your door.”

“Oh!” That was great news. “So you might be able to find my wallet?”

“That’s my hope.” He surveyed her room. “Let me ask you something. Had your room been cleaned before you returned or was it done during your nap on the balcony?”

“It was already done when I came up here after lunch.”

He pursed his lips.

“Why does that matter?” she asked.

“Because unless your door wasn’t shut tight, the only people who could have gotten in would have been staff, which includes Housekeeping. Your door was secure?”

She thought back to when she looked out into the hallway. “It was closed tight after I noticed the theft, but I can’t say for sure about before.” She narrowed her eyes. “You aren’t trying to blame me for this, are you?”

“Not at all,” but he didn’t sound convincing. “I’m gathering the facts. Even if your door had been left wide open, there’s no excuse for the theft.” He walked to the door, his hand grasping the handle. “I’m very sorry about this, Ms. Miller. I’ll be in touch.”

So it was Ms. Miller, now, was it? Her frustration threatened to spill over, but she kept it in check. Without her ID, she couldn’t prove who she was. Why had she been so stubborn? She should have simply waved her ID in his face the first time he’d asked for it.

He was out the door before she could say another word.

* * *

SAM LEFT ALLIE’S ROOM, wondering how she was involved in the burglary. Was it a coincidence that the thefts began with her arrival? Had she purposely made herself a victim to throw him off, or had her wallet actually been stolen? Such a coincidence to have her wallet stolen after he’d asked her for ID to prove she was Charlotte and not Allie.

He returned to his office to discover a message about another theft. Someone attending the conference hadn’t locked their laptop in their safe and it was missing. He immediately dialed his head of security.

“Hey, George, we’ve got more problems.” He filled him in on the thefts. “I’m going to talk to the guest whose laptop was stolen, but I’d like you to take a look at the video from the third-floor hallway. Both thefts were from the same floor.”