“Car accident?” he asked.
“Nope, it’s destroyed just the same though,” Brock answered.
“Okay, so someone broke into it?”
“Could be. There was blood inside,” Brock added. “Plenty of it. That’s why we’re looking for the man. The rental company wants to know what happened.” He glanced towards the door. “Any chance we could take a look in his room?”
Calvin felt his stomach roll. “Sure.” He stood up and the three of them headed back downstairs, where he had Stacey make him another key for the door and confirmed that the man hadn’t checked out while they’d been upstairs.
He opened the door and waited for the two men to enter before stepping inside himself.
“Looks like his stuff is gone,” Brock said.
Sure enough, the room was empty. It hadn’t been cleaned yet, but he could see it was void of any personal effects.
“He hasn’t checked out?” Brock turned to him.
Calvin frowned and shook his head. “After yesterday, I wouldn’t be surprised if he snuck out in the middle of the night. What time did you say he made bail?”
“Just past midnight,” Eric answered.
“Just for the record… You were where last night?” Brock asked.
Calvin sighed. “At home. Bella stayed with me. I texted Ben shortly after midnight to have him stay with Bella today.” He pulled out his phone. “You can probably check the cell towers…”
“No need.” Brock waved him off. “Just had to cross all the T’s. You know. The guy probably banged up the rental car himself out of anger.” He shook his head. “A man like that… loose cannon.”
“He spat and cursed at me the entire time I booked him,” Eric said with a chuckle.
“Well, it looks like the guy bailed.” Brock stepped out of the room. Calvin spotted Sandra at the end of the hall and informed her she could clean that room next.
“Not checking out of a hotel isn’t as bad as bailing on a rental car company after destroying their property.” Brock sighed. “Consider yourself lucky he didn’t trash the room too.”
“Yeah,” Calvin said following them down the stairs.
He watched as they headed out the front doors.
“Calvin?” Heather fell in step with him. “What’s up?” She pointed towards the front door.
He stopped and looked at Heather. The woman had worked as the resort’s event coordinator longer than he’d been there. He knew that at one point she’d worked the front desk and still occasionally filled in when Stacey or Gavin was busy or needed a break. He liked Heather. She’d been one of the first friends he’d made when he had started working there.
“Looks like the groom slipped out sometime last night.” He shrugged. “Put an extra charge on his card for not checking out properly then make sure the room is cleaned.”
As he headed back up to his office, he thought of the sock to the jaw Ben had given him when he’d thought he was taking advantage of his little sister and wondered what kind of beating he’d take when he told him he was planning on getting his sister to move in with him. Shit.
The place was going to feel empty for a few days. The wedding party had pretty much rented out the entire resort, which meant every room was now sitting empty until Sunday.
Walking into his office, he pulled out his phone and shot Ben a quick message.
“Groom skipped out sometime last night.”
Ben responded almost instantly. “Yeah? Good riddance from what Bella told me.”
Calvin chuckled. “How’s your sister?”
He had to wait for this response and was just about to set his phone down when it rang.
“That was too big of a response to type out,” Ben said when Calvin answered the call.
“Okay,” he waited.
“She’s good. She and Sarah are out shopping.”
“Again? She dragged me all over town yesterday,” he joked.
“Food shopping. They’re planning a dinner tonight. Which you are required to attend,” Ben said.
“I’ll be there. Your place?” he asked.
“You know it. JT and family are coming as well. My sister wanted to see the twins.”
“Sounds good.” He waited for a moment then changed the subject. “Did she show you the messages?”
The phone went quiet for a moment. “Yeah. I called the cops in charge in LA.”
“And?” he asked. He’d thought of doing that himself but figured Ben would get to the bottom of it before he had a chance to.
“They seem competent. They don’t think it’s someone in LA. Which was a surprise to me.”
“Why don’t they?” He frowned.
“Well, a few reasons. The burner SIM cards the messages came from were sold in a store in Colorado.”
“So, they have the guy’s information then?”
“No, they were cash sales.” Ben sighed. “But they believe he traveled to LA to break into her apartment.”
“Wait.” Calvin stood up. “Her place has been broken into before?” He felt his temper grow.
“I know what you’re thinking, but she wasn’t there and that time nothing was disturbed. He left a threatening message, which is when the police got involved.” Calvin took a couple of deep breaths as he sat down again. “It was the week before she came out here. She followed the police’s advice and came out here. They’ve had a look-alike staying at her place. Well, they did, until the break-in yesterday.”
“They were trying to catch the guy that way?”
“Yeah. They think the picture of you and Bella on the sailboat here blew that plan out of the water.” Ben took a deep breath. “We still don’t know how they found out she was here in town and not LA.”
“I asked all the staff. Everyone claims they didn’t spill. Because of our clients, when we hire them, they sign an NDA.”
“That never stopped someone who wants a little extra cash. I talked Brock into having a chat with the reporters he chased out of town,” Ben said.
“Are we sure they’re gone?” he asked, thinking about the stolen items and the ladder. Could it have been one of the paparazzi trying to use it to get a picture of Bella? Then why use the shears to cut up her things? That screamed it was personal not professional.
He thought of where he’d found the ladder and if they could have had a view into her rooms from there. He didn’t think so, but as soon as he could, he was going to walk out there and make sure.
“According to Brock, he warned the bunch of them that if they were spotted in Silver Cove again, they’d be arrested. Then he warned the vendor who rented them the boats. When the guy heard that the group had harassed Bella, he’d been pissed and swore he’d watch out for them.”
“Good.” Calvin relaxed slightly. He knew that everyone in Silver Cove looked out for their own and since Bella had come to town when she was younger, she’d been one of their own.
It had taken a little over a year for Calvin to be accepted into the fold. The moment he’d purchased his sailboat, the Dame, he was officially deemed a local.
“I’ll keep you posted. They’re looking into what Brock sent them on the break-in there. How’s the room?”