Chapter 276 Where is She?
Lily called over the cleaning staff and waiters from the fifth floor. After asking around, she learned that they had only seen four girls coming and going, but a fifth person had indeed checked into the hotel.
She went to check the surveillance footage and was shocked to discover that the girl had left the room, entered the elevator, and gone straight up to the eleventh floor. Her room wasn't on the fifth floor at all—it was on the eleventh floor.
Lily's heart sank as she rushed to the front desk to check the guest list for the eleventh floor.
Meanwhile, Leopold walked over to the girls' table in the restaurant, greeting them with a warm smile, "What a coincidence, we meet again."
Mandy Drax, who had complimented Leopold's looks yesterday, said, "Yeah, quite a coincidence. You're here for dinner too."
Leopold took the opportunity to ask, "Which dishes are good?"
Mandy replied, "All the dishes are pretty good. We haven't had a single bad meal these past few days."
June Firth added, "I think the honey-glazed ribs and the red wine beef stew are really good."
Leopold nodded, then asked as if something had just occurred to him, "Aren't you missing someone? Where's that girl I held the elevator for?"
Mandy laughed, "Out of all of us, you only remember Eve?"
She exchanged a meaningful look with her friends and said with a smile, "Don't even think about it. Eve's not into your type. She likes the brooding type, like Ryan."
Leopold's tone remained gentle, but his attitude was firm as he asked, "So, where is she right now?"
Though his voice was soft, it carried an undeniable pressure.
June quickly tugged at Mandy's arm and whispered, "Stop talking. Let's go."
Leopold didn't make things difficult for the girls, but he still gave them a friendly warning, "Let me give you some advice—there's nothing wrong with liking celebrities, but you need to be rational about it. Once you cross the line, it becomes harassment, and that's illegal."
Mandy said unhappily, "Who do you think you are? You're not a cop. What gives you the right to tell us what to do?"
Leopold replied calmly, "I'm the manager of this hotel, and I have a responsibility to protect our guests' privacy. Is that enough?"
Hearing this, a flash of panic crossed Mandy's face, but she still said stubbornly, "We haven't done anything wrong. You don't need to lecture us. Come on, let's go back to our room."
She led the others away in a hurry as Leopold watched their retreating figures with a penetrating gaze.
Lily found Leopold, her expression serious, and said in a low voice near his ear, "I just found out that the girl named Eve is staying on the eleventh floor, right above Ryan's room."
Leopold's eyes immediately grew complicated. "Go to the front desk and get the room key. We're going up to the eleventh floor."
Lily opened her palm—she had already gotten the key card.
They needed to check on Eve's situation first, then notify Ryan, and keep this matter as contained as possible.
The two took the elevator to the eleventh floor. Lily said, "Nothing bad could have happened, right?"
Until they saw the truth, Leopold couldn't make that judgment.
Arriving at Eve's room, Leopold knocked on the door, but there was no response from inside. He knocked a few more times—still complete silence.
"Open it," Leopold said, indicating the door.
Lily took out the key card and swiped it on the door lock. The door opened.
The two walked in and found the room empty. Leopold went straight to the balcony. By this time, it was already dark, and the street lamps outside were all on.
By the light of the balcony's decorative lamps, Leopold noticed some climbing marks on the air conditioning unit. Looking down, not far from the ledge of the floor below, there was an ornamental iron wall. Looking closely, he could see handprints from climbing.
"Lily, look at this."
Lily came over and followed where he was pointing, her eyes widening in shock, "You mean she climbed down from here?"
Leopold nodded. "Let's go down and check."
Lily said worriedly, "If she's really in Ryan's room, this is going to be a huge problem."
Leopold entered the elevator, appearing exceptionally calm, "No matter how big the problem gets, we need to find her immediately. Not finding her—that would be the real problem for us."
Lily thought about it and realized he had a point.
"Judging by their age, these girls should all be adults. How can they still do such childish things?" Lily said helplessly.
Leopold stepped out of the elevator, walking quickly. When he stood in front of Ryan's door, something occurred to him, and he said to Lily, "Call a few more female staff members over."
"Got it."
Lily used her walkie-talkie to call over four female housekeeping employees and had them stand by at the door.
Once everything was ready, Leopold knocked on the door.
Dashiell heard the knocking and walked toward the door while asking through it, "Who is it?"
Lily answered, "Hello, room service. We need to change your sheets."
Dashiell muttered as he opened the door, "Changing sheets this late?"
He opened the door while complaining, only to see Leopold outside. "Mr. Wipere, what are you doing here?"
Leopold smiled and nodded, explaining, "I happened to be doing my rounds on this floor. The staff said when they came to clean this morning, Mr. Ashford was still resting. According to hotel policy, presidential suites require more detailed service, and the bedding must be changed daily."
His implication was clear—they needed to go in and clean now.
"He's in the bedroom going over his script. As soon as we finish recording the show, we have to join the film crew." Dashiell moved aside from the doorway, saying, "Come in and clean up. And throw away all the fruit and bottled water on the bedroom nightstand."
The four female staff members immediately split up to start cleaning. Ryan came out of the bedroom and greeted Leopold. He needed a quiet environment to memorize his lines, so he went directly to the second bedroom, and to avoid being interrupted, he even closed the door.
Lily also used the cleaning as an excuse to search around the room, checking all the places where someone could hide, but she didn't find Eve.
She walked over to Leopold and gently shook her head, signaling that she hadn't found anyone.
Leopold trusted his judgment. The marks he'd seen only showed downward climbing, not upward, so Eve must still be in this room.
But if Ryan and Dashiell had discovered her, their attitude definitely wouldn't be as calm as it was now. Especially Dashiell—he would certainly be complaining endlessly about it.
Leopold gave Lily a look, signaling her to check the second bedroom.
Lily had no choice but to steel herself and knock on the second bedroom door with her staff. "Sorry, Mr. Ashford, we need to clean this room."
Ryan's train of thought had been interrupted several times now, and he was showing clear irritation, "Nobody's staying in this room. You don't need to clean it."
Lily explained with an apologetic smile, "Mr. Ashford, our hotel has strict rules about room cleaning. If even one room isn't cleaned, the relevant staff members will have their wages docked for the day."
Ryan glanced at the older-looking female staff member standing beside Lily. Thinking about how she worked hard all day just to support her family, and how she'd lose wages because of him, he felt bad about it. So Ryan took his script and walked out of the second bedroom.
"Go ahead and clean."
Lily quickly scanned the room and headed straight for the wardrobe. The moment her hand touched the wardrobe door, she felt something was off.
There seemed to be slight movement inside the wardrobe. She listened for a moment, then suddenly pulled open the door and immediately saw Eve curled up on the floor.
When Eve saw her, her eyes filled with terror.
Lily said, "What are you doing in there? Come out right now."