10 Misrouted
With a pounding heart that threatens to explode out of her chest, Cathy scrapes her left foot heel nervously off the last step of the stairwell. Behind, she can hear the loud thumping of boots. It is contrasting to the quiet clatter of her heels.
Moving quickly and hearing the loud thumping of boots drawing nearer to her, her heart pounds faster. It is not the pounding of sensing her world crash nor the pounding of anticipating the horrific unknown. It is the pounding of living in a crashed-up world with monsters lurking everywhere. Monsters in the form of the two men from the roof who are now chasing after her. It is the pounding of the known.
Cathy runs and runs, running for her life but running with the truth. Up on the roof, she was slapped out of her doubt and kissed with the truth. The truth that has been deep down inside of her in the shape of a feeling. That Nathan is in trouble. Nathan is in trouble and somehow, Detective Russo is involved, along with the man with the dragon tattoo. The latter's involvement doesn't puzzle Cathy as much. She knows that there has always been something off about him from the moment they had the encounter in the corridor.
Cathy steps onto the elevator and reaches out for a card inside her jean pocket. It is the card that Detective Bianchi gave her. She quickly mulls over whether she should call her or not, whether she can trust her or not. She might be in on Nathan's disappearance and just masquerading as someone who wants to help her. She sighs. Given her circumstances, she has no choice, she's the only one in the entire world that can help her, it's worth a try. She pulls out her cellphone and dials the number. The phone rings.
"Hello," a tiny voice comes out on the other end. It is clear to Cathy that the person on the other end must be the Detective's daughter.
"Hello, please connect me to Detective Bianchi" she politely asks as she presses the Ground floor button on the elevator.
On the phone, Cathy can hear the distant voice of the little girl handing the phone to her mother.
The loud thumping of boots draws nearer as the elevator door struggles to close. Cathy's heart pounds faster. Sweat dribbles from her forehead. Spikes of terror tear into her and fingers uncontrollably claw onto the buttons on the elevator, engaging onto them simultaneously.
The loud thumping sound of boots stings into Cathy's ears as she waits for Detective Bianchi to come to the phone.
Suddenly, out in the far distance from the elevator, Cathy sees Detective Russo and the man with the dragon tattoo running towards her.
She furiously presses down on the ground floor button
The door does not budge as the two men draw closer and closer.
In helplessness, Cathy slams the elevator wall with her free hand.
On her other hand, the phone that is being glued to her ear hums to life as Detective Bianchi comes to the phone "Hello" she greets.
"Hello Detective, I'm in trouble," Cathy says with terror in her voice "Two men from the hotel are chasing after me and they might have kidnapped my husband"
The two men draw near but within three feet of the elevator, the door finally closes.
Cathy breathes a sigh of relief and leans her free hand against the wall of the elevator
"Hello mam, stay calm. Have you called the police? May I ask who I'm talking to?" inquires Bianchi "Are they still chasing you?"
"I'm Cathy, we meet at your office earlier" she replies as she catches her breath "And yes, they are still chasing me."
"Oh yes, Cathy Miller. I remember you. What happened? What's happening? Where are you?"
"I overheard two men at the hotel talk about Nathan's disappearance. They spotted me eavesdropping on them and now are chasing me." Cathy says as she catches her breath with more ease "I'm at the hotel and I'm on my way out. Can we meet"
"Don't leave the hotel, stay in the lobby. You'll be safer there and I'll send a unit" she instructs
"No!" rejects Cathy "No cops. I need to meet with you and you alone. I'll be safe. I have a plan to misroute them"
"Cathy this is not CSI Miami or any exciting television crime show, your life is in danger!" reprimands the detective "I'm sending a unit there!"
"Yes, I know - and my husband is missing!" she snaps "A unit is not going to help me, one of the men after me is a cop by the way! I need to see you alone."
"A policeman is after you?" asks Bianchi concerned "What does this policeman look like?"
"I don't have time to talk right now" answers Cathy "Can we meet at La Busola in half an hour"
"No, La Busola is not safe enough, La Casa is safer. Let's meet there. Do you know how to get there?"
"Yes" replies Cathy
"Be careful" warns the detective as Cathy hangs up and slides her phone back into her pocket.
The elevator stops at an empty ground floor. As part of her plan to misroute the two men, Cathy breaks off one of the heels of her shoe, planting it near the elevator and hoping it will fool them into thinking she exited the hotel through the lobby.
She re-enters into the elevator and presses the number 5 button. If memory, compounded by her love and obsession for hotel architecture, serves her correct, she remembers that the fifth floor, otherwise known as the utility floor, is the floor that houses uniform for staff. Ascending the elevator, she hopes that her plan has worked and that the two men have left the hotel in false pursuit of her.
She reaches the fifth floor and with minimal fuss, slips on a matron uniform to look indistinguishable from the rest. Just as she's about to exit the laundry room, she notices a set of binoculars standing idle on a stand, facing the outside window. A thought comes into her mind to peep into them, hoping that they might lead to the outside of the hotel foyer. She carefully walks towards them then takes a peep. The pounding of her heart eases as relief washes over her from what she sees. It is the man with the dragon tattoo and Detective Russo boarding onto their separate vehicles in a quickfire rush as they go on to look for Cathy with firearms in hand. Having successfully misrouted them, it buys her a little time - time to smuggle herself out and meet Bianchi. She makes her way onto the elevator and up to her hotel room. In her hotel room, she calls Maria to organize a shuttle to La Casa. She slips out of the matron uniform, into red tracksuit pants topped by a red hoodie. She grabs the envelope filled with the letter that the man with the dragon tattoo had planted. Knowing that he was in her hotel room fills her with dread and disgust. The bile in her throat rises but she's able to compose herself.
She heads towards the door and out of the corner of her eye, spots something shiny and silver on her dresser. It is her wedding ring. Suddenly, she feels her world stop for a second as she grabs it and slips it on her finger with sweet memories flooding in. She longingly looks at it and It feels as though she has been transported back to the moment he asked her to marry him.
She forms a fist with her left hand. 'For Nathan', she thinks as she clutches onto the ring with her other hand. For Nathan. With a strong spirit of determinism rising inside of her, she quickly leaves the room.
