Hotel Nigh

Chapter 07

Completing the Puzzle

"Please repeat that to me again, because I'm quite sure I heard you right," I replied back, staring at her incredulously, completely and utterly nonplussed. "Melina."

"It was yesterday. I was just sitting in my room figuring out how I was going to sell those stupid items when there was a knock on the door. I tried to hurry to the door because the footsteps seemed like they were rushing back down the corridor. By the time I opened the door and looked outside, the person had gone and this was sitting outside my door."

"This is not good," I said to her. "This is definitely not good. You know we've got to complete this stupid puzzle, don't you?"

From outside, the rain was beginning to pick up in speed and ferocity. Mr. Perry was right when he said the storm had started, but there had been no sign of thunder of lightning as of yet. There was still several days to go, however. I didn't doubt for a moment that the skies would erupt further in the middle of the night and become a hindrance when it came to sleeping. Though would I even be able to get much sleep, was the question.

"There looks like there's a message written on the puzzle and that's the overall picture."

"Knowing our luck," I muttered sourly.

This had to be the work of Ethan's murderer. It just absolutely had to be. No one else would mess with me like this, but how did they know I would actually turn up at the hotel? And how, for that matter, could they be sure I'd team up with Melina? Am I that predictable or something? If that was the case, I would have to make sure my every move after this was going to be unforeseen. Expect the unexpected – isn't that what they always say? I'm going to do exactly that, but only if I expect what they're going to throw back at me, I suppose.

Melina and I got stuck into the puzzle right away. We found the corner pieces which were just plain white, so we put them in any corner to begin with. Then we began segregating the outside pieces from the inside pieces. The outside pieces were all white again, but some inside pieces were flecked with black curves and lines. It was definitely going to spell out a message to us. A message that we would have not seen coming but something that is going to set us behind in our search for the murderer.

"What was Ethan like?" Melina asked.

Fumbling with an outside puzzle piece and nearly dropping it due to the sheer astonishment and abruptness of the question from Melina, I just stared at her for a moment. Then I closed my mouth and said, "He was a good brother. He always looked after me." It still hurt to talk about him sometimes, but it was getting easier. Somehow being in this hotel was making it easier, even if it was so powerfully overwhelming at the same time.

"I have a younger sister," she explained. "Six years younger than me. My parents decided at the last minute they wanted a second child, though they both hoped for a son. I couldn't imagine being without her."

"Why did you say you were staying here?"

She smiled at me almost as if there was some comical joke as she connected two pieces together. "To sell the products."

Sighing, I set down my own pieces that were aimlessly in my clutch and stared at her. "The real reason, I mean. You think it's coincidental that you're at this hotel on an average week when it just so happens to be full and a murderer is actually here on the loose because they're targeting me?" I gulped, only realising I'd blurted this out after doing so. I wish I'd have kept my mouth shut now.

Her grin faded slowly. "I'm selling products, Jason. My manager picks the hotels and places I have to venture to, not me. And I guess you'll find out by the end of this storm."