Forgotten [#Wattys2015]

Chapter 14; Nothing

I had very little time to be alone. Which also meant I had very little time to look for clues in the house. A few minutes after Ryan left I stormed Dad's office. I logged onto his email and checked all his recent and unfinished documents. Nothing. I read his report and looked at his charts. Still nothing. As a last resort I checked his email. There I only found one thing. An email from anonymous person.

It read:
"Dear Mr. Heart, this is a very urgent message and I need you to understand just how urgent it is. I need you to meet with me at the Bailey Madison Hotel. I promise you nothing dangerous will happen as long as you go. You will find me in the café at ten in the corner on Thursday. If you do not go bad things could happen to good people..."

I read the message over and over, trying to understand what it meant. I check his inbox over and over looking for anymore emails with important information. There was nothing. The date on the email read March 14, which was only a week before Dad went missing. Why did this person want to meet with my father and what did it have to do with his disappearance? But the biggest question that went roaming through my mind, was why was someone going to get hurt? Was that a threat? Was someone's life in danger? Was it Dad's life?

I heard the door knob turn followed by Mom's voice. I forwarded the message to my email and logged off the computer. I slowly emerged from the office. I found Mom in the kitchen with a few boxes of take-out.

"Is it from Charlie's?" I asked referring to our favorite Chinese food restaurant.

"Of course it is. Only the best for you," she said kissing me on my forehead. We sat down and ate together.

"Did Ryan come over?" She asked.

"Uhh...yeah he did. I-I mean he...went...home."

She paused. "What happened?"

"Nothing. He just had to take care of some things."

"What type of things?" She pried.

"Mom!" She looked up with a smirk on her face. "I don't know," I said. After we finished eating, Mom went up stairs to shower and I got on my laptop and looked up Bailey Madison Hotel.

The Bailey Madison was beautiful. It had a rooftop bathing salon with a pool, an indoor tennis court, a ballroom and more! It was extremely classy. I tried to do some research on the groups or people who stayed there but I wasn't allowed to. I needed to talk to someone who worked there and would know something about my Father's visit. I looked up the name of the manger, George E. Bookings and sent him an email.

The website told us that the manger's email was strictly used for important matters. So I told him that I needed to speak to one of the people in charge because I needed important information and I was a hotel critic. That was only partially a lie because I did need important information. Now all I had to do was wait.

That night I fell asleep by my computer. First thing I did when I woke up was checked my email. Nothing. So I went to school. At school, I tried to avoid Ryan, even at lunch. I sat with Stacy and Kendall and told them about my hopeless relationship with Ryan.

"That liar! I should shove my heel in his eye! I can't believe he managed to hurt you again!" Stacy yelled.

"Calm down," Kendall said. "I know things will work out." Kendall and Stacy were complete opposites. Stacy was loud and outgoing and Kendall was calm and an introvert.

"Listen. I've had many boyfriends and I know that he will probably do this all again. You have to make him suffer!" Stacy exclaimed with a look of evil on her face.

"Shut up, Stacy! We aren't going to hurt him," Kendall interrupted. They started arguing.

"Guys! It's fine. Just leave it and we will see-" My phone buzzed in my pocket. It was an email. An email from Mr. Bookings.

"Guys...I'll meet up with you later." I said getting up from the lunch table.

"Okay."

"Bye."

I went into the bathroom to read the message. I hesitated before opening the message. I slowly read it.

"Hello Ms. Heart. I am very pleased that you will like to meet with me. I think I've heard of you before. (He was clearly lying to be polite) I hope that you have good things to say about my fine establishment. And I'm very unsure about what you'd like to speak to me about but I hope it's not too bad. I can arrange a meeting for us to meet tomorrow at 12. Thank you.
Mr. George Bookings."

The only problem was that at 12 tomorrow I'd be at school. There were very few ways that I would be able to avoid coming to school. And there was one way that just might work. I would tell Mom that I needed a day to myself and knowing how considerate she was, she would let me have that one day to myself.