The Message in the Teacup - Part 2

If you have not read part 1, please do so via the link below:

“I told you a million times! Someone has framed me! I don’t know who! That’s not my name! That’s not my license!”

Niko’s eyes were wide in shock, as he stared in disbelief at the French license that had a photo of him on it.

“I wasn’t born here in France at all! I’m Italian. I moved to Chicago to go to college at University of Chicago. After college, I landed a job in finance and then I got married. My wife and I, we came here on our honeymoon.”

“Is that photo on the French drivers license you?”

Niko winced. His head spun but he tried hard to remain calm as he sat at the interrogation table.

“Yeah… that picture is me… but that’s not my name! I’m not Lucas Lefebvre at all!”

“Then where is your passport?”

“It’s back at the hotel we were staying at… where my wife is staying. I’ve told you before… I was abducted from the hotel by three masked men. They knocked me out and the rest is blurry. The next thing I know, I’m being arrested by policeman and brought here. They must have planted this wallet with a fake ID in my pocket. Shoot! These aren’t even my clothes! I was still wrapped in a freaking bathrobe when they shot down the window and pulled me from the room!”

“Okay. What is your legal name then if you are not Lucas Lefebvre as you are stating?”

“Niko Giordano.”

“Did you notice anything strange just before the abduction that occurred?”

Niko paused.

“Yeah… When I ordered room service, I noticed that there was a tightly wrapped note in the teacup.”

“What did it say?”

“It said ‘You are on the list’.”

“What did you do with the note?”

“I threw it away.”

“Why?

“Because I didn’t wanna freak my wife out!”

“I see. The problem that we are running into, sir… Niko Giordano… is that we have called the hotel that you supposedly were staying at and they have said that there is no record of anyone with that last name having ever checked into that hotel. However, there is record that Lucas Lefebvre checked into that very hotel on the date that you mentioned. The problem with that is that Lucas Lefebvre is a wanted criminal.”

“What the? This is not possible!”

“Sir, we will need to hold you for further investigation and questioning…”

“I just don’t know how this is even possible?”

Niko hit the table in anger with his right palm. The handcuffs chinked on the edge of the table loudly.

~~~~~~~

Lyric waited for the police to show up but it felt like they were taking forever. She felt sick to her stomach. She ran to the bathroom toilet and puked up the food that she had eaten earlier. Reaching toward the counter for tissues to wipe her face, she kicked over the trash can. The crumpled note that Niko had received earlier fell out of the trash can. She grabbed the note, read the haunting sentence, shivered and threw up a second time in the toilet.

She put jeans and a sweatshirt on and walked down to the lobby counter.

“Excuse me!”

She barked at the front counter attendant.

“The police were called on my behalf upstairs and they were supposed to be coming as I am in the midst of an emergency! My husband was just abducted!”

The attendant shook his head in confusion.

“The police have not been called. We always get notified at the front desk before any incidents are reported to the police and I have not received anything from anyone about any abduction at all. Who called to report the incident?”

“One of the cleaning ladies who came by the room… Her English was not great…”

Lyric’s throat stung. She held onto the scrap of paper with the message. She slammed her hand down on the front desk. Raw emotion pierced through her expression.

“Will someone call and have the police come immediately! I don’t know what the heck is happened here! Three masked men came and just took my husband right out of the room! What kind of security does this place even have anyway? Call the police now and… let me show you the room which has been broken into.”

The attendant went back to see a manager and the manager came out after making the phone call. The manager walked with Lyric to the room to see the glass all over the floor.

Lyric was sweating terribly. Her heart was racing wildly. She thought to call her parents. Looking for her cell phone, where she’d left it on the nightstand by the bed, she saw that it was nowhere to be found. Her purse was gone too, which had all her credit cards and both her and Niko’s passports. The only things in the room were her and Niko’s suitcases with their clothes and some extra shoes.

“Oh, dear God, this is not good…”

She peered out of the broken glass of the broken door. Panicking more than ever, she feverishly groaned.

“Great! Husband abducted. Weird hitlist message found. Robbed of phone, credit cards, and identification! I have to get out of here now!”

A flash of uncontrollable anger came over her from what had just occurred. Without thinking, she grabbed one of the teacups on the tray that her and Niko had used earlier, and threw it against the wall. It broke into several pieces by the tv. She quickly zipped up her suitcase and ran out the door to get out of the building.

The manager was clearly unnerved by the breaking of the teacup. She yelled after Lyric, who was already barreling halfway down the hallway.

“Ma’am, but the police are on the way!”

Lyric realized that the police were clearly too late to do any good and that she had to get out of the hotel immediately before something else scary happened.