Chapter Five
Louise slammed open the door of the hotel and turned to dash up the stairs, not hearing the desk clerk’s calls after her. Everything around her was a blur as she rushed towards the room she and Kid had shared since their wedding night.
“Mrs. Brookfield! Mrs. Brookfield!?” he called.
Two businessmen walked down the hall towards her, intently studying some seemingly important documents. Louise pushed passed them, falling to the floor in the process, their papers flying. She picked herself up and continued down the hall as one of the men shouted after her, “Watch where you’re runnin’, missy! You’re gonna kill someone tearin’ through here like that.”
But Lou didn’t care. She finally reached the door of their room and fumbled in the pockets of her split skirt, unable to find the key. Her panic about to turn to hysteria, silent tears poured down her face. It had been so much easier wearing trousers! She finally remembered she’d put the key on a chain around her neck, and she fumbled with her blouse in an effort to find it, finally ripping the chain off. She grasped the key as the broken chain fell to the floor.
Her hands shaking, Lou finally managed to insert the key into the lock, turn the knob and throw open the door. She closed her eyes, afraid of what she wouldn’t find, afraid she was too late.