Icheck all of my pockets for my keycard but it’s not in there. I’m sure I picked it up this morning. I knock on the door instead and wait for Jessie to answer. She doesn’t open and I knock louder before I shout.
“Jessie! It’s me.”
Still nothing. I take my cell out of my pocket. She must be in the shower. Before I can dial her number, one of the hotel maids steps out of the elevator. She smiles at me. “Good evening, Mr. Ryan.”
Everyone in this place seems to know my name. “Evening. Could you let me in here?” I nod toward the door. “I forgot my key.”
“Of course, Sir,” she says as she walks over and swipes her card.
“Thank you.” I smile at her and she giggles before I step inside the room.
“Jessie!” I shout again as I look around the suite and head to the bedroom. I walk inside and she’s not there either. The bathroom door is open and I don’t hear her in there, but I go in and check anyway. Where the fuck is she? My heart starts to race a little but I tell myself that there’s a reasonable explanation. She has gone to the spa downstairs. To the pool, like she said she would. Or maybe to the restaurant or the store.
My cell is still in my hand so I dial her number. A second later, her current ringtone, Like I Can, plays loudly in the bathroom and my racing pulse starts to thunder. She would never have gone out without her cell.
I run back into the bathroom and see her phone sitting there, flashing and vibrating while Sam Smith sings at the top of his voice. I end the call and put my cell back into my pocket before picking hers up. She has a missed call from me and one from Conor half an hour ago. I grip it tightly in my hand and walk back out into the suite.
“Jessie!” I shout louder now. I mean, she’s so small she could have fallen asleep under a table or something, right?
“Jessie. Where the fuck are you, sweetheart?” I shout again as I search every inch of the room even though I already know she’s not here. So many emotions flood my senses that I don’t know which one to deal with. Suddenly, I am reminded of that day in New York when we came home to find she’d gone, leaving only a brief note to explain her absence.
I scan the room again, ashamed for even thinking it, but there is no note. My heart sinks as I realize that’s worse. Because if she didn’t leave of her own accord, then someone fucking took her.
Using the phone in the room, I call down to the front desk.
“Good evening, Mr. Ryan,” the desk clerk answers.
“Have you seen Mrs. Ryan today?” I ask, not bothering with formalities as I don’t have the time.
“No, Sir,” she says, “but I’ve only been on shift for a few hours.”
“Can you check the spa for me? Or the restaurant? Basically, every single place in this hotel. I need to know if she’s here,” I snap, unable to contain my anxiety.
“Of course. Hold on for one moment.”
I sit on the sofa with the phone against my ear and my head in my hand, waiting for her to get back to me and tell me that Jessie is down there somewhere. Because that’s still a possibility, right?
The wait feels like forever until she finally comes back to me. “I’m sorry, Mr. Ryan, but Mrs. Ryan isn’t in the hotel.”
“You’re sure?”
“As you’re one of our exclusive guests, I contacted security and they have checked everywhere. She isn’t here. I also checked with my colleague on the desk who’s been on shift all day and he hasn’t seen her leave.”
“You have CCTV though?”
“Of course.”
“Tell your security manager I want to see him at my suite right now,” I snap.
“Of course, Sir.”
I put the phone down and take out my cell again. I dial Conor’s number as I keep searching the room for clues that will lead me to some plausible explanation for her absence. There’s a half empty cup of tea on the table near the window next to the easy chair. Jessie never leaves a cup of tea. She says it’s rude to not finish a drink someone has gone to so much effort to make, even if the effort was only hers. I feel the side of the cup. It’s cold.
“Hey, bro?” Conor answers.
“Hey. You spoke to Jessie today?” I ask as I try to keep my voice as calm as possible.
“No. I called her before but she didn’t answer, so I assumed you two were busy.” He chuckles softly and when I don’t laugh too, he stops. “Something wrong?”
“Have the twins spoken to her?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Are they there, Con?”
“Yeah.” I hear an edge creeping into his voice. “I’ll put you on speaker.”
“What’s up?” Mikey asks and the hope and happiness in his voice almost crushes me as I realize I am about to bring their world crashing down around them all.
“When did you speak to Jessie?”
“About three hours ago.”
“How was she?”
Mikey starts to laugh and Liam answers instead. “She was good, bro.”
“She was more than good by the time we were done with her,” Mikey adds.
I swallow the ball of emotion that is lodged in my throat. “Did she say anything about what she had planned for the rest of the day?”
“She said she was going to have a shower then hang about the room waiting for you to come back. She was pumped about her plan to convince you to let her drive the Sian,” Liam says but the tone of his voice has changed now.
“Why, Shane?” Conor interrupts. “What’s going on? Why aren’t you asking Jessie this?”
I close my eyes, screwing them tightly shut as I try to find the words. But there is only one way to tell them and to break their hearts. “I came back to the room and she’s not here.”
“Maybe she just went out for something?” Mikey says but I hear the panic in his voice.
“Her cell is here. Her purse is here,” I say as I notice it on the floor. Not that Jessie ever takes her purse anywhere. “Everything is here. Her coat. Her things.” I swallow.
“Fuck!” Mikey hisses.
“You know she didn’t walk out on us though, right?” Conor asks.
“Yeah.”
“The Wolf?” Liam says and I hear the panic in his voice.
“Maybe,” I finally admit my greatest fear out loud.
“Fuck, Shane!” Conor snaps and I feel the guilt weighing heavily on me. He was right. She would have been safer with them. He doesn’t push it any further though.
“We’ll be on the next flight,” Mikey says.
“Yeah,” Liam adds.
I let out a long breath. They have all sworn they would never set foot in Ireland again, but I can’t do this without them. I am more grateful for them now than I have ever been.
“We’ll see you in the morning, bro,” Conor says. “But keep us updated, yeah?”
“I will. I’m meeting with the head of security in a few minutes. We’ll go through the security feeds. See if there’s anything.”
“You got anyone else there who can help you out?” Conor asks.
“Pol is here,” I say as I’m suddenly grateful for my uncle too. “I’ll ask him to help. I don’t trust anyone else right now.”
“It might be that cunt O’Connor who’s taken her?” Conor suggests.
“I’ll be looking into him, don’t worry,” I snarl. He was one of the first people who came to my mind too.
“We’ve got some flights to organize,” Liam chips in. “We’ll see you soon, bro.”
“I’ll make sure there is a car with everything you need waiting at the airport. See you tomorrow,” I say and end the call just as there is a knock at the door of the hotel room.
