Lodge Inn Wrightstown - Fort Dix

Good afternoon: This is Ana Maria Herrera-Brown. I made a reservation for my parents to stay at the Lodge Inn Wrightstown on Friday 15-DEC through booking.com due to their background check turnaround (there was no guarantee that they would access Ft. Dix as they are here on a tourist visa from Guatemala). It turns out that that afternoon they were cleared to go on post where we live. I then requested a cancellation and a refund. The next day, I noticed that I was charged for the stay even though I never checked in. I reserved and cancelled within two hours, so I dont know how this happened. I contacted booking.com and received an e-mail stating that they would contact the establishment and make an exception. I received another e-mail that day stating that booking tried to contact the hotel and could not. On Sunday morning, my husband spoke in person to the owners of the hotel asking about a possible refund. All he would say was that booking.com was the intermediary and they made the profit, and only they could issue a refund. If we had reserved with the hotel directly, we would see a refund immediately. However logical that sounds, it directly condradicts the e-mails I received from booking.com, none of which he wanted to even read when he tried to show him. What am I dealing with here? Can I just get my money back and who can I really talk to? Both sides are pointing to each other and I am out ~$100 for not even using a service. Dissatisfied customer