Chapter 107

Book:Mr Garcia Published:2024-5-31

Jeremy frowns. “You know, that’s a strong possibility.”
“You think?”
“Bart looks after Bart, and if he thought for a moment that there might be something on those tapes that would make me leave him for good, he wouldn’t deliver it, no matter what the consequences. I know he wouldn’t.”
I drag my hands through my hair. “Shit, maybe I should call Penelope and ask her to look at the tapes. I haven’t told her anything about the baby allegations, but maybe it’s time I did.” I look at my watch. “Damn it, I have to go to fucking work now.”
Jeremy’s eyes hold mine. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“That we both just got sever stomach viruses?” I wince.
“Exactly. I’m shitting through the eye of a needle right now, aren’t you?”
I burst out laughing. “You’re what?”
He chuckles. “You get my drift.”
“Not the needle drift, that’s for sure.” I laugh.
I take out my phone. “My god, I’m so getting fired. Since I’ve been with Sebastian, I have had so much time off.”
“Who cares? You’re going to have your own law firm one day and they’ll all be eating your dust.”
I smile over the table at my dear friend. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For always being here for me. It means a lot.”
He gives me a beautiful, broad smile. “What are friends for if not to have fake sick days, bust cheating assholes and conniving ex-wives with?”
I laugh and raise my coffee cup to him. “Cheers to that.”
I knock on Penelope’s door, and she opens it in a rush.
“Hi.” She leans in and hugs me.
“Penny, this is Jeremey. Jez for short,” I introduce them.
“Hey.” She smiles.
“Hello.” He shrugs nervously.
“Come in.” She gestures into her apartment. “Excuse the mess.”
Much to our surprise, Penelope had the day off. When I called and gave her the dates and hotel details, she said to come straight over.
So, here we are.
She pulls two extra chairs up to her computer.
“Here are the hotel details and date. We’ve been told that there is no footage.” I shrug. “I’m not sure if there’s even anything to look at.” I hand her a piece of paper, and man, do I feel sick.
This could be the answer, but it could also be the confirmation I’m dreading.
Either way, we have to know.
Penelope begins to type furiously. Jeremy and I sit in silence as we watch on.
Ten minutes later, she hits enter. “Okay, let’s see what we’ve got.”
We hold our breath as we wait.
“Why didn’t you call me before?” she asks me.
“Because this is illegal. Besides, we were told there was no footage.”
“By who?”
“My boyfriend, who incidentally woke up with two women,” Jeremy answers.
“Hmm.” She types at the speed of light.
My heart is hammering hard.
Please, please, be innocent, I silently pray.
Something comes up, and she hits enter. Something rolls on the screen. “We’re in.”
“What?” Jeremy and I sit up. “You’re into the security system?”
“Yep.” She types more things in. “Piece of cake.” She picks up the piece of paper and reads the date. “Do we know the room and floor?”
I scratch my head. I look to Jeremy, and he shrugs. “I don’t, sorry.”
“That’s okay.” She brings up a second screen and logs into the reservations.
“Holy fuck,” Jeremy whispers in awe. “This is the Motherload of fucking motherloads of spying.
Penelope smirks proudly. “Right?” She scrolls down. “Here we go. Sebastian Garcia, room 313, level 3.” She flicks back to the other screen. “What time are we thinking?”
I think for a moment. “He last called me at 8:20 p. m., so sometime after that.”
“Okay.” She scrolls down and hits play, then she narrows her eyes in concentration. “So, this here…”-she points to a door on the right of the screen- “is his room.”
We all lean in and watch.
A man walks down the hall and out of sight. Two women walk out of a room and get into the elevator.
The elevator opens, and we see a security guard struggling with someone. He puts his arm around a man to help him.
“Sebastian,” I gasp.
He’s so out of it, highly intoxicated and unable to walk alone.
The security guard walks into his room with him, and then he walks back out alone after another minute.
“So, that part of the story is true,” I whisper.
Jeremy smiles and taps my leg. “Told you.”
Penelope speeds up the footage and we all sit and watch. She goes forward one hour… then two, and then three.
“This has to be, like, midnight by now.” I frown.
Penelope points to faint numbers at the bottom of the screen. “That’s the time there. It’s 11:42 p. m., do you see?”
“Yes, okay.”
A man walks down the corridor and looks left and right, eventually stopping in front of Sebastian’s door. Penelope puts the footage onto real time.
We all sit up and lean into the screen.
He looks left and right again and brings a key out of his pocket. He swipes it through the lock and steps into Sebastian’s room.
“Who’s that?” I whisper, wide-eyed. My blood runs cold just knowing that someone was with Sebastian while he was unconscious.
“It’s not Helena, that’s for sure.” Jeremy puts his arm around me and pulls me close.
We watch on and wait. Ten minutes. Twenty. Thirty.
“What’s he doing in there? This is a long time,” I say.
The door opens slightly, and the man peers out to see if the coast is clear. He walks out, and we get a full-frontal view of his face.
“Gerhard!” I gasp.
Jeremy’s mouth falls open. “That fucking snake.”
We watch on as he walks to another room before disappearing into it.
“He was staying on the same floor,” I whisper. “What the fuck?”
“How else would he have gotten up to the floor? It’s all secured.”
Holy shit.
Penelope speeds up the footage again and we watch on while I hold my breath.
3:00 a. m.
4:00 a. m.
5:00 a. m.
I begin to hear my heartbeat in my ears. This seems promising.
7:30 a. m., and the door opens. Sebastian strides out, dressed in his suit. He marches down the hall and gets into the elevator.
“It was a set up.” Jeremy claps his hands in glee.