Is everything satisfactory with your room?”

Glancing at her name badge, Danny answered, “Yeah, everything looks great. Thanks, Geri.”

“I’ll be looking after your room for your stay. If you need any extra towels or anything like that, just call housekeeping.”

Danny thanked her again. Geri turned and moved back to the utility trolley stacked with soaps, towels and toilet rolls.

“Hey, Geri.”

She paused. “Sí, señor?”

“Did you hear anything about those college kids who went missing last week? Kinda crazy, wouldn’t you say?”

Geri looked up and down the hallway before answering. She stepped close to Danny, her lips contorting into an irregular pout. “Those kids are not the first to go missing. Between you and me, they won’t be the last.”

“Where’d they go?”

“I’m not sure. There are a few rumours going around.” She shrugged her rounded shoulders.

“Gangs?”

“Not the kind you mean.”

“So not cartels or street hustlers?”

“No, but they both cause a lot of trouble of their own.” Geri shook her head and puffed out her cheeks. “But no, this is something… different. But like I say, it’s only rumours.”

Dropping his voice and adding a little of his Scottish brogue, Danny said, “Well now, you’ve got me on a hook. What kind of rumours?”

“The hotel doesn’t like us talking about it, none of the hotels do. Bad for business…”

Danny inched closer. “I guess kids from the States going missing isn’t the kind of thing they would put in their brochures.”

“You got that right. All of the staff know about the missing kids; we hear the stories. But we have to work here, so…”

“I get it, Geri, but you can tell me. I love a good mystery.”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

“Try me.”

“Most of the ones that disappear go out into the jungle on day trips and don’t come back.”

“And what do you think happens to them? Kidnapped?”

Geri crossed herself before she answered. “El Diablo takes them.”

“The Devil?” Danny raised an eyebrow. “Really? I know I’m a gringo, but I’m not a stupid gringo.”

Geri gave him the flat-eye. “I know most people do not believe in him but he’s very real. He doesn’t take many of them but if you think how many people visit Cancún every year, he doesn’t have to. If he took one in every ten thousand…”

Danny rubbed his chin. “So, what makes you think this is the work of the Devil rather than the cartels?”

“When the cartels take someone they usually turn up dead in the street as a warning not to cross them. These kids get lost and stay lost—not the cartel’s style. They go out on their own into the jungle and are… taken. This has been happening for two or three years now.” Geri held up a finger. “El Diablo.”

“What have the police got to say about it?”

Geri gave a single huff of a laugh that spoke volumes. “Police? Most are fat or lazy or in the pocket of those cartels you just mentioned. Police? Pah!”

Feeling like he was getting nowhere fast, Danny fished his wallet from his pocket. He pulled out twenty bucks.