The Cold Light of Mourning - By Elizabeth J. Duncan Page 0,16
so she must have gone out.”
Anne and Jennifer looked at each other, and then back at Mrs. Geraint.
“She was down to have a manicure at nine,” Anne told the receptionist. “Please, just give us a minute,” she added as the two friends stepped away from the desk.
“Look,” whispered Anne, “there’s bound to be a simple answer to this. We’ll see if her parents or Emyr know anything, and if they don’t, the next logical thing would be for you to leg it around to the manicure shop and see if she’s still there. If she isn’t, find out when she left and where she was headed. A few more minutes won’t make any diff erence either way but I must say I’m starting to feel a bit uncomfortable with all this.”
Jennifer nodded and two stepped back to the reception desk.
“Mrs. Geraint, the hairdresser should be here any minute. If he arrives, please ask him to wait. And the flowers might come, too. If they do, could you just put them away in a fridge and we’ll sort them out later, when we know where we’re at?”
“Of course,” said Mrs. Geraint. “I’m sure she’ll turn up. Maybe she just stepped out to pick up a new pair of tights, and it’ll have been something and nothing.”
Clutching at that new straw of hope, the two girls made their way back upstairs. Moments later they were sitting in Anne’s room, as Jennifer tried to fight back the increasing sense of panic that was rapidly turning to fear.
“I’m going to ring her parents’ room, just to make sure, but after last night, I imagine that’s the last place she would be. On the other hand, she could have dropped in to sort out her dad, I suppose,” said Anne, “and it could have taken longer than she thought it would.”
She placed the call, asked the question, and listened to the reply.
“Thank you, Mrs. Thompson. Yes, of course, we’ll let you know right away if we hear anything.”
She put the receiver down and looked at her friend.
“I take it the answer is no,” said Jennifer flatly.
“Meg Wynne isn’t there, but her dad isn’t, either, and Mrs. Thompson doesn’t know where he is. He went out a while ago.”
“Probably at the off license, getting in his supply of Dutch courage,” said Jennifer.
They looked at each other in silence, each girls’ mounting concern mirrored in the other’s face.
“Right,” said Anne. “That’s it. You get off to the manicure shop to see if you can find out anything and I’m ringing Emyr.”
She reached for her mobile, looked to her friend for final approval, then punched in the numbers.
“Hello, it’s Anne here. I’d like to speak to Emyr, please. And tell him it’s urgent. Thank you.”
A moment later she heard Emyr’s calm voice.
“Hi, Anne. What’s up?”
“Emyr, is Meg Wynne with you? She’s not back from her manicure, she’s not answering her door or her mobile, and no one has seen her. Do you think she could have had an accident? We’re getting really worried that something’s happened. The hairdresser’s going to be here any minute and we can’t find her. Is she with you? Please say she’s with you.”
A heavy silence hung between them until finally Emyr said softly, “No, she isn’t here. I haven’t spoken to her since last night. Hang on. I’ll come over to the hotel. Should be there in about twenty minutes.”
“Okay,” said Anne. “We’ll meet you in the bar.”
She ended the call, turned to Jennifer, and told her Emyr was on his way.
“Come on, let’s get downstairs. I need to think this through and I’m desperate for coffee. I really need to get my head around this.”
On their way through the reception area they noticed a meticulously dressed man, with a large suitcase, sitting in the upholstered chair in front of the window. He caught their eye and waved them over.
“Hello. Are you Anne and Jennifer? I’m Alberto, the hairdresser come to do your hair. The receptionist has just told me there’s a delay. Not to worry. There’s plenty of time. I’ll just make myself comfortable here, and you can fetch me when you’re ready.”
“Oh, Alberto, thank you! We aren’t sure what’s happening, exactly, so we’ll get back to you as soon as we can. Thank you for being so cool,” Jennifer said. “So sorry about all this. There’s been a mix-up of some kind and we’re just trying to get it sorted.”
The girls left him under the watchful eye of Mrs. Geraint and