Hail's Storm

Chapter 11: Sunny Storm

The car came to a stop, waking me up. I did not know what to expect. I had no idea what we would find but every break we got in the case seemed to take the pieces apart instead of putting them together. I decided to lower my expectations from then.

Motel 360 stood in the middle of nowhere, seemingly serving as a pit stop for exhausted travelers. We strode to the reception and greeted the middle-aged man that sat behind the desk. He informed us that nobody named Hail had ever gone to the motel. I racked my brain for a possible solution because it appeared that she had used a fake name.

"Do you have a room under the name Sunny Storm?" I asked praying that was the name she went with because I used to call her Sunny; and she used to say that she was also a storm because of the name Hail.

"Yes ma'am. Room 17, he answered.

Can we have the key? She asked us to come pick some stuff for her, I lied.

She came here a lot so she requested that nobody touched her room. No one else has used it since she was last here. However, since she hasnt come around in so long, we are planning to take the room apart and clean it. You have come on time. Here's the key. Is any of you related to her?" He asked handing over the key.

"Yes. I'm the brother," Parker answered.

"Okay. Sunny had a nice name by the way but I wondered where she got the name Storm from," the man stated.

"Thanks," Parker and I said simultaneously.

While walking up a couple of sets of stairs to get to the room, Parker and I barely exchanged words, just glances. We got to the front and I held the key in my hand. Once more, my hand started trembling. Parker took my shaking hand, placed it in his and used his thumb to rub circles on the back of my palm to calm me down. It actually kind of did.

I put the key into the keyhole and stepped into the room. The room was not that small. It was kind of dark inside as the curtains were closed. I would have continued identifying what was inside the room until I heard a voice that scared me senseless. I felt my mouth go dry and I tried to swallow hard but I only hurt myself. I also felt Parker's grip tighten around my hand and his body tensed.

The lights went on.

"Mariya? You scared me. What are you doing here?" The voice asked.

"What the actual f-," I exclaimed.

I wanted to run, scream, vomit and cry at the same time but all I could do at that time was stare at the person in front of me. I was frozen to the ground numbed from the shock. My biggest question was how the man got into the room.

"How are you here?" Parker inquired in a calm voice.

I was livid. I felt my stomach tighten as I stared at this despicable man that sat in front of us. He was not even slightly shocked that we were there.

"It's a long story. Have a sit on the bed. The room is a bit crowded, I'm sorry," The person answered so calmly like their presence there was the most normal thing in the world yet it was not. "I heard about Hail. I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the burial. Mariya you know how bad it would have been to make an appearance there,"

"Why aren't you in jail?" I asked.

"I was released two months ago on good behavior. Only two people knew and since both of you are here, I am sure you can guess that one of them is Hail."

"How and why are you in Hail's motel room?"

"Hey, don't I get an 'I missed you' at least?"

"Answer the question...dad."

"Fine. My life was in danger even before I went to jail the night of my birthday. Well, I felt really bad that you woke up and found me gone. None of what I was charged with was true but I was to go for a year then they cut it to four months."

"Still doesn't explain how you got here. I'm getting impatient."

"I'm getting there. Once I was out, I knew whoever sent me inside was still after me, so I went to Parker's dad for help since he was my best friend and he said to me that he had a lot on his plate. I took the hint and left the house. As I was leaving his house, I bumped into Hail entering the mansion and she was shocked to see me. I explained everything so that she wouldn't come running to you yapping about how she saw me."

"You got Hail into this whole mess?" Parker asked.

"No. I'm sure whoever killed her had their own reasons", my dad responded.

I still didn't get why he was so calm about everything. He also told us that the front desk clerk had no idea about him being in the room. He had a spare key and he got in through a different route. The only way he got away with it was because Hail specifically paid for that room to never be opened.

"How long have you been here?" Parker asked.

"For some time now. I usually leave this place once a week and walk to a small gas station twenty minutes away to get food," he shrugged.

"Who is after you, dad?"

"Honey, I taught you, some questions should not be answered. I don't want to drag you into this mess and don't mention this to your mother especially. Be careful as you leave here and don't come back. Once I am out of this mess, I'll explain everything and come back home."

"Hail's car was found an hour away from here," I informed my dad.

"She was heading here? Then who was after her?"

"Tyler said that she kept claiming that she had to protect what she was hiding. We just found out what she was hiding was you."

"She was coming back? How come nobody came after me here? Did anyone know you were coming here?"

"I don't know what's going on dad but whoever killed Hail must have also been after you although they probably never found you."

Afterwards, my dad rejected any of our other questions saying we were being too nosy which could get us killed. He also warned us about going after Hail's killer since her death was no joke.

Someone was able to get her to come here, which meant they knew about me and used the situation as bait to lure her out of the house, kidnap her, kill her, put her back into the house, make it look like a suicide and they have walked away scot-free. You should be scared Mariya, he said.

I wondered how my dad fit into this whole puzzle. Was he lying? Did he kill her to keep his secret? Did whoever was after her do it? If so, how come this person has not found my dad yet? We were back to square one. The more answers we got, the more questions cropped up.

We left the place at quarter past three and headed back with none of us talking to each other. Everything we kept finding out became a bit too overwhelming but I was not ready to give up yet.

Heading home, I knew very well none of us was ready to raise the white flag and stop searching.

Even Parker was determined to find justice for his sister.