The Liberation of Alice Love(61)
Author: Abby McDonald

He paused, no doubt to tease her.

“Nathan!”

“OK, OK. I’m going,” Nathan agreed. “Now, come watch the master at work.”

Alice rolled her eyes at his arrogance, but after watching him talk his way through the desk clerk, charm the manager in low, courteous tones, and secure them access to the security suite and those all-important date-stamped video files, she had to concede, he was very, very good at what he did. And after twenty minutes spent squinting at CCTV footage from the terrace on the day of the photograph, they found exactly what she was looking for.

“Which room is she going to?” Alice leaned forward on the edge of her seat with anticipation as Nathan deftly switched between camera views, tracking Ella’s familiar figure as she finished her drink and strolled back inside. She seemed carefree and relaxed, Alice decided, as if she didn’t have a care at all or any notion that someone might one day be watching.

“Hang on.” Nathan looked equally as transfixed as they watched her browse newspapers in the lobby, pause to chat with a passing guest, and finally—finally!—skip up the elegant staircase toward her room. “Second floor, number…” He paused as Ella swiped her card key, expanding the image on the screen until the discreet gold number on the door was visible. “Two one three.” Nathan announced. He turned quickly to the guest manifest printout, but Alice was already scanning the page.

“Two one three…” Her heart sped up as she looked for the name, the one piece of truth Ella might have inadvertently left behind. It might just be another alias, but that at least would give her something more to follow, something more to know.

And there it was. Ella had checked in on the twenty-fifth for four luxurious days of relaxation—registered with a passport in the name of Kate Jackson.

Alice looked back at the grainy black-and-white image, frozen on screen. Kate Jackson. She had her now.

***

Hugging the printouts to her chest, Alice was perfectly content to depart for the airport, and as they set about the airport checks and long security lines, she marveled at the chance discovery.

She’d done it.

Her sense of triumph was giddy and fierce, enough to make memories of that gray police cell melt away. All her intuition, all her quick thinking, every instinct she’d had about Ella, built from weeks of tracking and poring over those statements—they’d all paid off. Alice had been right about her. What had stung most about Ella’s early, shocking deceit was that Alice hadn’t known her at all. But now…

Well, Alice thought gleefully, settling into the scratchy airplane seat, now she knew Ella better than she would ever have imagined. She had found her, when police and professionals couldn’t. She knew how Ella thought now.

“I still reckon you’re taking this all too well.” They had been in the air a while when Nathan’s voice broke through her thoughts. “You didn’t even pause for breath after getting locked up by foreign police.”

Alice looked over, amused. “So, you’d have preferred to find me weeping and traumatized in that cell then?”

“Well, no,” Nathan corrected himself with a grin. “But maybe pale and repentant, with a single tiny tear.”

She laughed. Somehow, they’d slipped back into their easy banter, but this time at least, Alice knew there was truth lurking beneath the charm. Some substance. “Didn’t Stefan tell you?” she replied. “Crisis management is what I do best. I’m made of stronger stuff than that.”

“I’m beginning to see,” Nathan agreed. “Man, the first night I spent in jail, I was a mess.”

“You got arrested?” Alice perked up.

“Sure. Three times, so far, but that first one was the worst. I was a wreck,” he added. “I mean, up until then, most of my work had been staring at the computer screen, or interviewing bankers in their nice, air-conditioned offices. And suddenly, I’m sitting in the corner of a stinking jail cell in the far corner of the world with a bunch of drug dealers, wondering if anyone even knows I’m there.”

“But let me guess, by the end of it, you were playing cards with them and doing their secret handshakes like a pro.” Alice imagined the scene.

“Uh, nope.” Nathan grinned cheerfully. “By the end of it, I was still huddled in the corner, too scared to look anyone in the eye.”

“What about the other times?” Alice asked, digging a pastry from their bag of airport provisions. She passed it to him, the thick glaze dribbling between her fingers. “You said it happened more than once.”

“Yeah, but those stories aren’t as impressive.” He grinned, biting into the snack.

“Huddling is impressive?” Alice teased.

Nathan laughed. “You were supposed to be awed by my strength and resilience.”

“Oh, my mistake.”

“I suppose it’s a hazard of the trade, when you’re poking around in people’s bank accounts.” Nathan went on: “See, some investigators, well, let’s just say they operate in a legal gray area, but like I said before, your reputation is everything in this game, so I make sure to play by the rules. Or only bend them a little.”

Alice glanced out of the window. She doubted Nathan would approve of her more reckless approach to tracking Ella, but it had worked, hadn’t it? He would have told her that coming to Italy was a waste of time and that using her name to prompt investigations when it was still tainted by Ella’s crime was irresponsible, even dangerous. But without that dangerous impulse, she never would have discovered Ella’s next alias. Sometimes, Alice was coming to realize, recklessness was entirely necessary. Quiet questions and careful planning would only take you so far. Sometimes, you had to leap.

“Do you think it’s her real name?” That one, all-important question had been distracting Alice ever since confirming the check-in log.

“Could be.” Nathan looked up. “If she thought she put enough distance between herself and the Ella Nicholls identity, or even using your name…She might have risked it.”

“But you’re not convinced.” Alice read his expression.

He sighed, his shoulders seeming to lift and settle with the breath. “I really don’t know with this one. She’s not like the other cases I’ve worked.” He gave Alice a rueful smile. “It’s not just about the money here. To be honest, I’m not sure how much more help I can be. I’ll keep looking for your savings,” he added quickly, as if to reassure her. “And I’ll run that name through whatever checks I can, but if she’s gone, there’s not much good it’ll do.”