Page 53 of Surprise! I'm Engaged To My Boss
MICHAEL
Continuing our investigations, we decided to go to reception to try to find out something about the room reservation made in my name on that fateful night.
The girl who helped us was very polite and attentive, and we didn't need to make up any stories for her to agree to do us the favor of checking the information we needed on the computer.
She typed something and stared at the screen for a few minutes, until she announced, “I found it. The reservation was paid and signed by Julian Green.”
I knew it! That put an end to any doubts that might have existed.
This Julian guy had been the Harrises' accomplice in the whole scheme. He had made the reservation for the room, and he was probably also the one who filmed us drinking, using a cell phone.
Thanking the attendant, we walked away, and then Camila asked me a question that was also running through my mind, “How could he know that we would get drunk enough to agree to go to a hotel room together? I know you're a man who'll sleep with anyone, but...”
"Hey!" I protested. "It's not like that. I mean, it used to be, sure—but I’ve been trying for months now to get my act together and be a decent man."
“Exactly. You were determined not to do something like that. And he probably didn't know anything about me to assume I'd go along with something like that.”
She fell silent and widened her eyes, as if a frightening idea invaded her mind.
“What if he wasn't countingon drunkennessalone?”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it, Michael: he must have been spying on you, waiting for you to slip up. You sat next to me at the bar, and we started drinking together, to the point where we got a little too relaxed. Maybe he had the idea of speeding up the process a little... by putting something in our drinks, perhaps?”
Yeah, that was really scary.
“Do you think we were drugged?”
“Don't you agree that it's very strange that we both have such profound lapses in memory of that night? Sure, too much drinking could cause that, but... both of us?”
That made sense. I had been drunk on a similar or even more intense level than the one I had been on that night, and I had never experienced such a bizarre situation of almost total memory loss. And it also explained why we had both practically passed out from sleep as soon as we got to the hotel room.
“We need to find this Julian guy to get this straight. Well, at least it's a relief to know that the Harrises' accomplice is a hotel employee and not someone from within my company. I even suspected that it might have been Victor.”
Camila rolled her eyes and laughed.
“Are you serious? Smith would never be qualified to do that. He's completely useless.”
“I always thought he was a great employee.”
“You should pay more attention to your office.”
Having said that, she turned around, signaling for me to follow her, and I understood the message. We had nothing else to do there, and it would be better if I took her home, it was almost nightfall.
Even though I had suggested we come here in the morning, Camila insisted that we leave it for the end of the afternoon so that she could work most of her shift. She assured me that she no longer cared what her colleagues might say about her, but she was committed to a project and wanted to get as far ahead as possible.
One thing about Camila was that she was very dedicated to her work, but it went beyond mere obligation. She loved what she did and had an admirable sense of responsibility. Especially for a completely irresponsible person like me.
We drove the whole way to her house in silence. It was only when I stopped the car in front of her building that she finally said something.
“Do you want to come up? My grandmother will be happy to see you.”
“Tell her I said hello, but I'm going home. It's been a long day, and I want to get my thoughts together. I still need to call Janet and tell her about everything we found out today.”
“You don't have to make so many excuses just to say that you're scared of my cat.”
I laughed. Although, thinking about it, the statement wasn't entirely wrong.
