Chapter 3
He didn't go to the front desk. Instead, he sat down in the lobby seating area and picked up a magazine to hold in front of his face.
But his gaze kept following Lily.
From checking in, to getting her room key, to entering the elevator.
He watched the entire time.
A chill ran down my back.
"Fast forward," I said.
The security supervisor sped up the playback.
Day one, afternoon.
Lily left the hotel to go shopping.
The camera cut to the hotel entrance surveillance. About two minutes after she left, Nathan followed.
Same baseball cap, same mask.
Keeping about twenty meters distance.
Day one, evening.
Lily ate dinner at the hotel's first-floor restaurant.
Nathan sat in a corner of the restaurant with a cup of coffee.
His position gave him a perfect view of Lily's table.
Lily never noticed him the entire time.
Day two.
Lily went out to visit a temple.
Nathan followed.
Lily went to a night market.
Nathan followed.
Lily bought coconut water on the street, crouched down to pet a stray cat.
Nathan stood at a convenience store across the street, pretending to look at his phone.
Every shot, every frame.
He was there.
My hands started shaking.
This wasn't an affair.
People having affairs don't act like this.
Wearing a mask, keeping distance, tracking throughout.
People having affairs walk side by side, eat together, have intimate contact.
But he didn't.
From beginning to end, he never said a word to Lily.
From beginning to end, Lily never knew he was there.
This wasn't an affair.
This was stalking.
"What about day three?"
I asked, voice dry.
The security supervisor pulled up day three's footage.
Day three morning, Lily checked out—or rather, she left the hotel.
She carried a backpack, held a map in her hand, looked cheerful.
The surveillance showed her walking out the hotel entrance, heading east along the street.
Two minutes later.
Nathan came out the hotel side entrance, walking in the same direction.
Then the footage ended.
The hotel's surveillance only covered about fifty meters around the hotel.
Beyond fifty meters, I couldn't see anymore.
"Is there other surveillance?" I asked.
The security supervisor shook his head. "The hotel only has these. For street cameras, you'd need to contact local police."
I was silent for a long time.
Then I stood up, thanked him, and walked out of the monitoring room.
Standing at the hotel entrance, I opened the map on my phone.
The direction Lily walked was east.
Following that road east, you'd pass several streets, a market, a gas station.
The final destination was the coast.
A cliff coastline.
I stared at that marker on the map, fingers ice cold.
She went there.
He followed.
Then she disappeared.
I rented a motorcycle and rode along that road for forty minutes.
The end of the road was an open coastline.
The cliff was high. Below were rocks and waves.
The wind was strong, making it hard to stand.
This wasn't a tourist spot. No guardrails, no warning signs. Just a path overgrown with weeds leading to the cliff's edge.
I stood at the cliff edge looking down.
Below were broken rocks, bushes, and a beach repeatedly washed by seawater.
If a person fell from here—
I didn't dare think about it.
I started asking around the area.
Near the cliff was a small fishing village, sparsely populated with a few households.
I went door to door with Lily's photo.
No one had seen her.
I asked over a dozen households. All shook their heads.
I was about to leave when, under a large tree at the village entrance, I saw a small boy.
Maybe seven or eight years old.
Wearing a dirty blue T-shirt, barefoot, sitting on the ground playing with mud.
He held something in his hand.
A phone.
Pink phone case.
With a cat paw-shaped phone stand attached.
My mind went blank.
That phone case was a birthday present I'd given Lily.