Page 59 of Not that Impressed
He folds his arms, and I know this argument is already over. Doesn’t mean I won’t try. “You can’t stay here by yourself. Also the game is in New York.”
“Will, I can’t ask you to skip a game. It’s your job. You won’t be able to win the MVP if you miss a game.”
He kneels down in front of me. It only means we’re at eye level now. “I’m not leaving you here alone. Your sister is missing. I’m going to be here with you.”
“You keep telling me she’s going to be fine. That this has a happily ever after.” My voice breaks as I lean toward him.
He grips my shoulders. “It will.” But his eyes say that he knows there’s a chance this could go sideways. “It will,” he promises again. “And I’m going to make sure of that.”
I twist open the bottle and take a drink of the protein shake. After everything Will is doing for me, the least I can do is ease his mind about my calorie intake.
I take a quick shower after finishing my protein shake. We have leads to chase, and I can’t convince people to answer questions if I’m a bedraggled mess. I pull my wet hair into a tight bun and then pull on a pair of cutoffs and a fitted tank. Will has an SUV waiting for us downstairs to take us back to the airport.
Will spots the driver in the video from the post Ava found almost as soon as we reach the sidewalk for the pickup lane. It feels like the first good thing that’s happened since I found out Libby ran off to Mexico.
“¡Disculpe!” I call to him, waving him down. “Disculpe, por favor.”
The man glances at me, and then his eyes widen when he sees Will striding up behind him. That’s fair. He towers over the driver by over a foot. “¿Sí?”
I hold out my phone to him, showing him a screenshot of Libby and Grayson from the video. “¿Te acuerdas de estas personas? Se las llevaste a un hotel ayer.”
He leans over and squints at the picture. “Ah, sí. Las recuerdo.” He nods enthusiastically.
“Really?” I can’t help the English that spills out when he tells me he remembers seeing them. “¿De verdad?” I correct myself.
“What is it?” Will asks in a low voice.
“He remembers them.”
Will clenches his fist in triumph and turns back to the man expectantly.
“¿Les manejaste?” I ask. “A cual hotel?” The man grimaces, and my heart skips a beat. “La chica es hermana mía. No la encontramos. Por favor. ¿Recuerdas a cual hotel les llevaste?” I start praying he’ll remember something, anything about where he took Libby and Grayson. “What about the street name?” I shake my head. “Ahh … ¿Recuerdas el nombre de la calle?
He closes his eyes, scrunching up his face in thought. “Lo siento. Es posible … que era el hotel Winscott? O … quizás era el hotel Hyatt.” He opens his eyes and peers at me apologetically. “Era un hotel con un nombre americano.”
“The Hyatt or the Winscott?” Will asks me. I’m impressed he picked up on the names considering how fast the man is speaking.
“Maybe. That or something American.”
Will points to his credit card swiper connected to his phone. “Maybe he has a record of it there?”
I ask the man, and he pulls open an app on his phone, searching through it.
“A quéhora fue?” he asks.
I quickly find the post that Ava found through the link Will sent me earlier, hoping to find the time Libby and Grayson were here. I clench my teeth when I see it was posted this morning, though the dim sky points to them arriving in the evening. I pull back up the screenshots Janelle sent me yesterday of Libby’s texts. I give the man a time range, apologizing that I can’t be more specific.
He scrolls some more on the phone, going back and forth, then shakes his head. “Lo siento. No lo puedo encontrar. Creo que pagó en efectivo.”
Will looks between the man’s apologetic expression and me. “He thinks Grayson paid in cash. He can’t find the transaction.”
We thank the man and tip him, heading back toward the parking lot and the SUV to regroup. “What’s next?” I ask. The lead from the driver feels promising but also not quite enough information to ease the twisting in my chest that Libby is still missing. It’s been over twenty-four hours now since Mom last saw her. Over twenty since she called me.
My dinner with Will and that sweet kiss feels like weeks ago. How can it have only been a day?
His expression eases the tiniest bit. He even smiles. It doesn’t reach is eyes, so I know it’s all to reassure me.
“Check out the hotels,” Will says. “Sanford thinks we need to go undercover and act like a honeymooning couple.”
