Marilyn by J.D. Lawrence Read Free Book Online Page B

mind about that, I want to see his room. Come on, let’s go.'
    Elwood dragged his sweaty palms down the front of his shirt twice, checking them.
         'OK. Let’s go and get the key. We'll check it out. But I want you to wait outside while I check, OK? I'll go in first. Just in case.'
    'Just in case?'
    'Just… wait outside.'

FOURTEEN
     
    Elwood Bailey led the way back through the seemingly endless corridor-filled maze of the motel, and to the outdoors, Marilyn right behind, biting at his heels. The weather wasn't nearly as bad as it had been. In fact, now, it could be mistaken for your slightly worse than average rainy day. It didn't even feel that cold yet, but it was steadily dropping, still, it was not pleasant, and things could change with the flip of a coin.
    They jogged briskly over the decking, under the shelter and to the room.
    Elwood took the keys from his pocket and brought them to the keyhole when he saw that the lock had been forcefully broken. The door was splintered and the frame was cracked perfectly. 'That bastard must have kicked the door in,' Elwood snapped, sharply. 'There's a knack to opening these old, warped doors. Practice makes perfect. Doesn't anyone have any god-damn patience these days?' He gripped the handle and pushed it open with two fingers. There it was. The moment of truth. The door unlocked, open, the room waiting to be viewed.
    Elwood glanced across to Marilyn, bracing himself before stepping in and carefully rubbing his feet on the mat, leaving her outside as they had agreed. He brought his hand up to his chest, held a lengthy blink and blew out a relieved gust of air. He was speechless. Marilyn followed behind, quavering all the way to her toes.
    They stood beside one another, taking in the abated picture that filled their eyes. The bed was ruffled and slept in, unmade. The cover haphazardly strewn across the mattress. No sign of blood. No sign of a struggle. Nothing broken, smashed or out of place. The sofa was clean and tidy, but looked recently used, the cushions squashed and out of alignment. They skimmed around the room observing, not touching a thing.
          'There doesn't seem to be anything left behind, or missing,' Elwood confirmed. 'It's pretty much as it was before I rented him the room. Just a little messier.' He scratched at his stubbly cheek with his bitten down nails. 'Certainly looks like he left in a hurry.'
         'Sure does. What's in there?'
    She was pointing to the closed door.
    'That… that's the bathroom. Hey, wait!'
         Before Elwood could complete his sentence, Marilyn was off across the room, heading toward unexplored territory, leaving a trail of wet footprints in her wake. She snatched open the door without giving it a second thought, the breeze blowing her hair across her face. Elwood turned his head, he couldn't watch, but he didn't cover his eyes. He heard exactly what he wanted to hear. Nothing. Nothing was good news. Nothing was great news. The room was empty, unused.
    'There's nothing here, either, doesn't look like anyone even went in here,’ she said, closing the door, disappointed. Relieved.
    'That's good, that's good,' Elwood blew out, appeased. 'Means nothing happened here. Jack's still safe.'
    Marilyn didn't answer him, instead she rushed to the phone that was attached to the wall and picked up the receiver, holding it to her ear with both hands. She bowed her head as the hope fizzled from her face.
    'There's no tone. The lines are still down. Shit.' She slammed the receiver back against the wall.
    'I thought they would be,' Elwood admitted. 'They'll be down for a good few days, I expect. Nothing ever gets done around these parts.'
    Elwood paced across the room and placed his hand on her shoulder.
    'I don't think there's anything to be found here,' he uttered. I'm sorry, Marilyn.
         'Shit. There has to be something, anything that we can do from here.' She put both hands on the top of her head in a thinking pose and