Sophia had gone to the front desk to talk to Max about how to locate the women’s living quarters. He was done with his work, so he told her he would walk her over to that building. She didn’t really have time to do a thorough search before her interview with Irene, but she at least wanted to see where the building was and walk through at least one room if possible.
As they walked across the grounds the living quarters were located behind the main restaurant facility. It was a clean and well maintained building and they went in through the front entrance. There was a small reception and sitting area that Max explained was a common space that everyone could use.
The building was a two story structure with fifteen rooms on each floor. Max told her that they had a policy that the men were assigned to the first floor and women were on the second. He unlocked a door and took Sophia into an empty room on the first floor and explained that all of the rooms looked the same. The room was bigger than she thought it would be. It had a double bed with a desk on one side and a little kitchenette on the other. The attached bathroom was roomy and pleasant with natural light streaming through the skylight. It was very nice.
Sophia walked back into the main space while looking at her watch. She had better get over to Irene’s office, but before she went she asked Max “Is each room kept locked when occupied?”
“Yes,” he answered. “Each employee has their own key, but Irene keeps copies in case they lock themselves out or lose their key and I have a master key to all of them.”
“OK, thanks,” Sophia replied. “Could you possibly show me the way to Irene’s office?”
“Yes, right this way,” he answered while locking the door and motioning to the exit.
Irene’s office was back at the main resort.
Max knocked on the office door and opened it slightly.
“Ok to come in hon?” he called out to his wife.
“Yes dear, come on in,” Irene answered.
“I brought you a visitor,” He said while ushering Sophia into the office. “Sophia meet my wife Irene, Irene this is Sophia Adams. She is on the investigation team with Luke.”
Irene stood up and walked around the desk to greet Sophia. Sophia held out her hand expecting to shake the woman’s hand, but Irene reached out and circled the woman in her arms and gave her a genuine hug.
“I am so glad to have you here Sophia,” Irene whispered in her ear before pulling away from her and taking her hands in her own warmly. “I have heard great thing about you from Luke. He really does admire you, you know?” she revealed with a smile.
Sophia was astounded “I had no idea, but thank you,” she responded with a smile. “There is nowhere else I’d rather be right now. I really want to help with this search.”
The first thing Sophia noticed about Irene was her friendly and down to earth personality. She looked to be in her late sixties, which would make her younger than Max. She was a very stylish woman who was impeccably dressed and put together. Her hair and make-up looked professionally done yet she seemed very gracious and approachable, not aloof or superior.
“I appreciate you meeting with me,” resumed Sophia. “If you don’t mind, can we talk about the women who went missing?”
“Absolutely!” exclaimed Irene. “However I can help, please, just let me know. I feel dreadful about this whole business. I am so worried about those girls. We are like family and this tragedy is just heart breaking.”
“I understand,” said Sophia sensitively as she got out audio recorder she has purchased for this trip and laid it on the desk. “And I hope we can bring them all back safely.”
After turning on the recorder Sophia slipped into her interviewer mode and started asking Irene some questions about each girl.
“Tell me about Christine if you would,” she said. “Where she was from and about her family.”
“Sure,” Irene began. “Christine had just turned eighteen not long ago. She was a referral to us from a hotel on the mainland where she only worked for a few weeks. She confided in me not long ago that she had lied about her age when coming to the island over a year ago. She was a run away from America and had a rough childhood. She was abused by someone in her family and just needed to get away. She told me that she was glad to have a fresh start and was very grateful for this opportunity.”
“Can you tell me where she was referred from?” asked Sophia.
“Yes, the Graycliff Hotel,” Irene replied. “Does that matter?”
“Just trying to get the most information I can, Irene,” Sophia answered. “So you don’t know anything about her family and if they are looking for her?”
“No, I don’t,” Irene said. “I never really thought of that before. I just assumed since she was abused that it might be better for her to live in secrecy, if you know what I mean.”
“She had a room here, correct,” Sophia continued.
“Yes,” answered Irene. “She was always very quiet and kept to herself mostly.”
“What did she do here?” Sophia asked.
“She was in housekeeping and she cleaned guest rooms,” responded Irene.
“Did you ever have any complaints about her stealing or anything? Sophia asked.
“No! Never!” called out Irene looking upset.
“I’m very sorry,” Sophia said calmly looking into Irene’s eyes and leaning towards the desk touching her hand. “It’s nothing personal; I just have to get the whole picture about these women’s lives, OK?”
“Yes, I understand and I’m sorry,” Irene answered back. “We’ve never had any complaints about any of the girls for any reason. They were all good employees.”
“OK, that’s good to know,” Sophia said optimistically.
“Did Christine have a boyfriend?”
“I don’t think so,” Irene said thinking about the question. “We have a no fraternizing policy here at the resort, so it is unlikely that any of the girls were seeing anyone that worked here and I don’t believe any of them were seeing boys from the island either. I don’t remember anyone ever hanging around or showing up to pick any of them up. Of course I don’t have eyes everywhere, so it would be hard to know for sure. I just don’t have any knowledge of that at this point.”
“OK, that’s fair,” Sophia added. “Can we talk about Lea?”
“Sure,” Irene responded. “Lea was the oldest of the girls that went missing. She was so beautiful. She could have been a model with that long blonde hair and blue eyes. I put her at the front desk to help me out. She was a smart one that girl, definitely manager material. Lea was originally from Canada, but did a lot of traveling after her Mom and Dad died in a car accident when she was 18. She told me that her life ended that day, so she just wandered around trying to find peace. She was an only child and had no family to speak of. I think she found comfort here helping the other girls. They confided in her and she was very protective of all of them. She came down this way on a cruise ship and just never left. I hired her after someone talked to her on the mainland about working here and she showed up to fill out an application.”
“Do you know who approached her?” Sophia asked.
“I don’t. Lea just said it was a man and he gave her my name,” Irene said.
“OK,” Sophia said. “How about Bella?”
“Bella was my little wall flower,” began Irene. “She was so shy and timid, and she was just a tiny thing. She was so cute with her curly brown hair. She worked the morning shift in the kitchen and helped out at banquets too. She came from a resort in France that we get a large supply of wine from. She didn’t have much in the way of work history but came highly recommended from her employer. She said she was an orphan and never knew her parents, but I don’t know that for sure. Bella was a hard worker and kept to herself mostly after her shifts, but she sure loved to swim and lay on the beach.”
Sophia smiled. “She sounds like a very nice woman. Can I ask the name of the referral resort?”
“It was Château de Prye in Burgundy” replied Irene.
“OK good. What can you tell me about Susanna?”
“Susanna hasn’t worked here very long, so I don’t know much about her,” Irene said. “She works in housekeeping. She’s a very outgoing girl and made friends easy with the other employees. A few would always go out shopping together or to the beach. She was a direct hire from a facility we have dealings with in Sweden, Halstad Resort, I believe. She seemed very sweet. I never really had a chance to get to know her or ask about her family or anything.”
“Is it normal to get so many transfers from other places?” asked Sophia questioning this information.
“Well, most of the time we have local people applying for jobs, which we still do, but occasionally we have received transfers from other hotels in the last couple of years,” replied Irene.
As Sophia leaned up to turn off the recorder she said “Thank you Irene, you have been very helpful. If I could ask you one favor, though, I’d like to get keys to all of the girl’s rooms, so I can search their belongings for clues? Irene looked at Sophia very seriously and uttered “I’d be happy to give them to you Sophia, but I’m afraid they are all missing…”