Taking her firmly by the shoulders, I shook her gently, then harder until she stopped keening and looked at me. “Candy, I want you to look through Sherima’s clothes and tell me if anything is missing. We have to find out what she was wearing when she left the hotel. While you do that, I have to go back to my room for a minute, understand? I want you to keep this door closed and locked. Don’t let anyone in except me. Are you listening? Do you understand what you’re to do?”
With chin trembling and tears still rimming her eyes, she nodded. Her lips quivered as she asked: “Nick, what are we going to do? We have to find her. Shouldn’t we call the police? Or Abdul? What about Hassan? We should let him know? And the embassy?”
“I’ll take care of everything,” I assured her, holding her close for a moment to comfort her. “You just do as I say and see if you can find out how she was dressed. I’ll be right back. Now remember what I said about not letting anyone in. And no phone calls to anyone right now. Stay off the phone so that if Sherima tries to call you, the line won’t be busy. Will you do that, Candy?”
Sniffling, she lifted one sleeve of the expensive peignoir and wiped away the tears that had streamed down her face. “All right, Nick. I’ll do what you say. But come right back, please. I don’t want to be here alone. Please.”
“I’ll be back in a couple of minutes,” I promised. As I went out the door, she snapped the lock behind me.
There was still no sign of the hotel security man in the hallway. Either he had gone off duty, which didn’t seem likely if he weren’t relieved by another member of the staff, or… Turning back, I pushed the button that rang the chime on the door to Sherima’s suite. When Candy asked, nervously, “Who is it?” I identified myself softly and she threw the bolt and let me in.
She started to say, “Nick, I was just starting to look for—”
Brushing past her, I dashed into her room and checked the bathroom. Nothing there. Running back into Sherima’s quarters, I went into her bathroom. The shower curtain was pulled across the tub and I whipped it aside.
Obviously, I wasn’t the only one who had stashed a body that night. Lying in a congealed pool of blood in the tub was the aging house detective I’d seen earlier fumbling for his keys. Death had been the only relief he’d had, I could see where the blood had poured from several stab wounds in his chest. He had probably made the mistake of getting too close to whoever had gone to the door of Sherima’s suite without first pulling his revolver. I spread the curtain across the tub again and went out of the bathroom, closing its door behind me.
My face must have revealed something, for Candy asked hoarsely, “Nick, what is it? What’s in there?” Suddenly she gasped and her hand flew to her mouth, “Nick, is it Sherima? Is she in there?”
“No, it’s not Sherima,” I said. Then, as she reached for the bathroom doorknob, I grabbed her hand. “Don’t go in there, Candy. There is someone in there… He’s dead. I don’t know who he is, but I think he may be a hotel security officer who was trying to protect Sherima. There’s nothing we can do for him now, so I don’t want you to go in there.”
Candy looked as though she was about ready to collapse, so I led her into the main sitting room again and made her sit down for a minute, stroking her beautiful hair as she choked back sobs. Finally, she looked up at me and said:
“We have to call the police, Nick. And I have to let the embassy know, so they can contact Hassan. It’s my job. I was supposed to be with her and help protect her.” She started to sob again.
I was wasting valuable time, I knew, but I had to keep her from making any calls that would spread the word about Sherima’s disappearance as far as the palace in Sidi Hassan. It was time to tell her the truth — at least a version of the truth. I lifted her head, and fixing my eyes on hers, tried to sound completely sincere as I said:
“Candy, I have to tell you something. What I told you last night about being an investigator for the oil company isn’t true.”
She started to say something, but I put a finger across her trembling lips and kept on talking.
“I’m an investigator, sort of, but for the United States government. I’m with the Executive Protection branch of the Secret Service. I was assigned to protect Sherima after we got word through sources overseas that someone might try to assassinate Sherima.”
Candy’s eyes had widened at my words and I paused so she could ask her question. “Why, Nick? Why would anyone want to hurt Sherima? She isn’t the Queen anymore.”
“To embarrass the United States,” I explained. “That’s what the whole thing is about. There are people in Adabi who would like to see the United States lose its influence with Shah Hassan. And if anything happened to Sherima here in the States, that’s just what we are positive would happen. You know he still cares for her very much, don’t you?”
“Of course,” Candy said, wiping away another tear. “He loves her more than anything. He always has. He didn’t want to divorce her, but she’s the one who made him do it. Nick, that’s the secret she has; you remember, I told you everyone has a secret? Well, Sherima said Hassan had to give her up to save his life and the children’s… Oh, Nick, what’s going to happen to her? What have they done with her?”
“Don’t worry,” I said, hoping that I sounded confident. “We’ll find Sherima and get her back safely. But you have to help. Not just Sherima, but your country.” In response to the question that flashed across her face, I continued, “You see, if you contact the Adabian embassy now, the news will spread that Sherima has been kidnapped. -Right away, the world will know that the United States couldn’t protect her. And that’s just what her kidnappers are counting on. I think they plan to hold her for a while, probably just long enough to focus everyone’s attention on the hunt for her and then…” I didn’t have to say the obvious — the look on Candy’s face told me she understood what I meant.
“So you see,” I went on, “as long as we can keep her disappearance quiet, she’s safe. The people who took her away need the headlines. For a while at least, we can keep them from getting them. But I need your help. Will you pretend that Sherima is here and safe? It may save her life, and it will help your country.”
“Nick; I’ve been away from here for so long that I don’t even think of this as my country anymore. But I’ll do whatever you think will help Sherima.”
“It will help Hassan and Adabi, too,” I pointed out. “If the Shah pulls away from the United States, he won’t last long. There are people in the Mideast just waiting for the chance to move in on his country. And it wouldn’t be just a matter of driving him from the throne. It would mean his life.”
For a moment fire flashed in Candy’s eyes and she spat out, “I don’t care about him. He deserves whatever he gets.” My surprise must have registered on my face, for she continued, much subdued, “Oh, Nick, I didn’t mean that that way. It’s just that it’s Sherima I’m most concerned for. She’s never done anything to hurt anybody.”
I didn’t have time to question her about her obvious implication that Hassan had hurt people, but I made a mental note to get back to it later. Instead, I said, “Then I can count on you to help?” When she nodded, I said, “AM right, here’s what you’ll have to do…”