As soon as Erica opened the fire door, several pairs of eyes looked in her direction.
She closed the door behind her as if nothing happened. A waiter came over immediately and asked politely, "Excuse me, can I help you?"
Erica was dumbfounded for a moment, then flashed him a charming smile. That was when she remembered she wore a mask and he couldn't see her face. "Room 205, please!"
The waiter led her to Room 205. When they passed by Room 206, three bodyguards in black snapped to attention and looked alert.
After entering Room 205 without incident, Erica was relieved by the voices of her henchmen greeting her one by one.
Taking off her hat and mask, Erica asked the people in the room to have a seat. Once everyone did as they were bidden, she asked softly, "Found anything yet?"
"Not yet. I heard them talking about a dock, but we don't know the location or what's going on there. Check out the photo, Erma." One of her minions handed his phone to Erica.
Erica enlarged the pic he took, the result of clandestine activity. She looked at it, but didn't recognize anyone. When she was about to give the phone back to the man, her gaze fell on a particular woman in that photo.
"Wait. Who's that?" She immediately enlarged the photo and re-centered it. Erica looked carefully at the woman holding a man's arm. The woman looked familiar, but she just couldn't figure out why.
She spent more time looking at it, and the longer she stared, the more the woman resembled Noreen.
She gave the phone back to the man, took out her own and called Chantel. "Hey, it's me. You busy now?" she asked.
"No, I just finished a shoot. I'm on my way back." Chantel leaned against the back of the seat wearily. She'd taken on too much work to handle. Fortunately, the day after tomorrow was her day off. She could visit her son.
"Any idea what Noreen is up to, by chance?"
Hearing her mention Noreen, Chantel shook her head and said, "When we humiliated her on the cruise ship, Noreen and I have become mortal enemies. I haven't even so much as bumped into her in forever."
She really hadn't given her a second thought. She had no clue what TV shows she was on or interviews she gave.
"Here's the thing—I ended up at that bar thanks to the intel my brother gave you. Our people snapped a pic of the group. One of them looked like Noreen, but I'm not sure. She wore shades, and it was dark out. I figured you might have more contact with her than I do," Erica explained.
Gifford told Chantel where this group of thugs was, and she told Erica. It was a rather efficient information pipeline.
"I'll have someone look into it." With something to take her mind off show business, Chantel cheered up quickly.
Erica nodded, "Ask my brother. Your hubby is pretty good at sussing these things out!"
Chantel sighed and answered, "Let me have a crack at it first."
"Okay. I can't wait to find out what you turn up."
If her suspicions were confirmed that Noreen was one of those people in the photo, things would be much easier.
After the two ended their call, Chantel asked her agent first, "Do me a favor. There's an actress, Noreen, that I want to talk to. Can you find out what she's doing tonight? If she's taping, I can catch her afterwards."
"I'll try. But no guarantees." The agent made a few calls, but no one knew.
Chantel had no choice but to call Gifford.
The phone rang twice before someone picked up. "It's me. You home now?" the man asked.
"No," she answered. Chantel was a little nervous talking to him. "I wonder if you could do me another favor."
Instead of replying, Gifford took a deep breath. Finally, he asked, "You've been busy lately. When do you get some time off?"
"I already booked my flight. I'll be there the day after tomorrow," she answered.
"Awesome! Now what do you need?"
Taking a deep breath, Chantel pushed away the excitement and nervousness in the bottom of her heart and asked, "Do you know Noreen?"
Gifford thought for a while, but he didn't remember the name. "No. Should I?"
Amused, Chantel couldn't help but tease him, "She's the 'it girl' in the industry right now. You can't tell me you haven't heard of her."
"I don't really watch TV. Why should I know who she is? And why do you care?" Gifford asked in reply and thought she was just being funny. He didn't run in those circles. The only big star he knew was Chantel. And he liked it that way.
"No, it's not like that. Fine. I just want to know where she was this evening."
"Well, I need a little more info than that."
"Well, she's a big star right now, her full name is Noreen Xia, and she's 35. That's really about it, but IMDb is bound to have something on her."
Gifford sighed helplessly. "All right. I'll call if I find anything."
"Okay. Did I disturb you?" she asked.
Gifford smiled, "Little late for that, isn't it? I mean, we just had a conversation, right?"
Chantel blushed. "I was really nervous. After all, Rika's still waiting for the info."
Gifford knew it was his sister who made Chantel come to him for the goods. "Tell her to take care of herself. If anything happens to her, I end up as Matthew's wife!" He really didn't know if that was the case, but he also didn't want to find out, either! Anyway, he and Erica were all Li family members.
"You want to be Mr. Huo's wife? I'm sure he'd spoil you," Chantel said, not knowing whether to cry or to laugh.
"You can't be serious. I think we've established which team I'm batting for,"
he said in a serious tone. She seemed to be quite clear about it. "You can prove it to me the day after tomorrow. Now let's focus on that info that your sister wants."
"Okay."
After the two ended the call, Gifford thought he should call Matthew and tell him about it. He was afraid Erica would go off and her husband wouldn't know.
After delegating the task to his men, he dialed Matthew's number.
It was not until the two of them talked on the phone that Gifford realized how bold his sister was. She really wasn't waiting for anyone this time! She not only did what she wanted, but also went there when Matthew was not in the city.
'Erica might not know what these thugs are capable of! She doesn't know how many people they've killed, and now she goes into the proverbial lion's den to investigate!' he thought to himself.
Matthew was out of town on a business trip and wouldn't be back for a while. After receiving the news, he had to ask Sheffield to gather his bodyguards and head to the bar to protect Erica.
When Sheffield found Erica, Chantel had just hung up the phone. She confirmed to Erica that Noreen was in that establishment.
When Sheffield swaggered into Room 205, Erica looked at him in astonishment. "Sheffield, why are you here?" she asked.
He sat leisurely on the sofa and said, "Your husband called. From thousands of miles away, he gave me this bodyguard duty! I must have done something pretty bad to Carlos and Matthew in the previous life!"
Erica rushed over excitedly and asked in a quiet voice, "Does he know?"
Raising his eyebrows, Sheffield nodded, "Of course. And he was pretty pissed. Rika, do you know how dangerous those guys are? They kill with impunity."
Those people ran in the shadows, while Erica and Chantel were the army of light. And no one knew who was running the show as far as the thugs were concerned.
But Erica wasn't dumb. She explained to Sheffield, "I haven't done anything yet, have I? I just want to make sure if it's them. If it's true, I'll call the police or Matthew as backup."
She knew what she was doing, and what kind of danger she was in. That was why she had people in place downstairs, to help her beat a hasty retreat if necessary.
Sheffield looked at Erica up and down and said, "You look like a killer. I thought you came here alone." He made a gesture of rubbing his neck.
Erica was amused. "Have you ever seen a killer in sportswear?"
"No, I have never seen him before." Sheffield's phone rang. It was Matthew.
He answered the phone and called out in an exaggerated effeminate voice, "It's dear Matthew."