Chapter 5 - The Room Above the Kitchen

Marisol Vega arrived with two uniformed officers and the look of a woman who disliked being surprised. Adrian handed her the button, the forged letter, and a screenshot of the message. She photographed Poppy's bruised arm before speaking to Simone.

"I'd like to ask you a few questions."

"With my attorney," Simone replied.

"That's your right. For now, don't leave the building."

Simone gave Adrian a look meant to injure. "She's turning you against me with a child's story."

"The child is mine," he said. "The story is ours to investigate."

Nina returned with her uncle, Walter Bell, a maintenance electrician. His blueprint showed the lift connected the suite to a disused storage floor above the kitchen, accessible with a staff override.

"There's no legitimate reason to run it during a wedding," Walter said.

Marisol ordered officers to secure both ends. Adrian followed as far as she allowed. The upstairs corridor smelled of detergent and dust. At the far end, an emergency door stood open to a fire staircase. In the storage room, they found a broken plastic wrist tie and a torn scrap of blue fabric.

Then one officer discovered a paper flower beneath a rolling shelf. Five petals cut from a receipt, colored with a blue pen.

Poppy made flowers like that with Elise. Adrian had made fun of their strange-looking petals once, and Elise had said, "They're supposed to be crooked. Real things are."

On the back, in small block letters, someone had written SIX FOURTEEN. Beneath it: ASK FOR THE WOMAN WITH THE KEYS.

"Room 614," Adrian said.

Marisol nodded. "We go through the front desk. You wait downstairs."

"If it's Elise, I'm coming."

"If you rush in, you could make things worse. You want your daughter to get her mother back, not watch you get arrested."

The words stopped him. He stayed beside the elevator as Marisol and the officers went up.

Three minutes later, Marisol called his phone. "Adrian, room 614 is empty. But somebody checked in under Elise's name."

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"When?"

"This morning." She paused. "And whoever did it left a photograph of your daughter sleeping in her bed last night."