Chapter 7 - What Poppy Kept in Her Shoe
The archive safe was empty. Not simply unlocked: its shelves had been wiped clean, leaving pale rectangles in the dust where boxes had stood. On the floor beside it lay one torn shipping label bearing the name MORROW HOUSE FUND.
"Who knew the key was here?" Marisol asked Ruth.
"The general manager. Security. Maintenance. Maybe six people."
Adrian looked at the row of old cabinets. "Elise must have put something here before she was caught."
"Or she wanted us to know where it was taken," Marisol said.
A scream crackled over Adrian's phone.
"Adrian!" Beth shouted. "The lounge door! Somebody tried to take her!"
He ran, taking the stairs three at a time. By the time he reached the second floor, an officer was blocking the corridor and a young hotel employee in a dark uniform lay facedown on the carpet, his hands cuffed behind him.
Poppy stood beside Beth, crying without making noise. The employee had entered with a room-service cart and said her father wanted her downstairs. Beth had refused. The man seized Poppy's wrist. Beth hit him with the nearest object, a silver water pitcher, and yelled until the officer came running.
"I broke the pitcher," Beth said shakily.
"I'll buy the hotel another one."
Poppy reached for Adrian. "He said the lady in the white dress would be mad if I didn't go."
Adrian held her until her breathing slowed. "Listen to me. Nobody gets to take you anywhere unless you hear it from me or Aunt Beth. Not even somebody who says they're helping Mommy."
"Okay."
She shifted her weight and winced. Adrian looked down. Her pink shoe had rubbed a blister into her heel. He knelt to take it off, and something hard slid beneath the insole.
A tiny silver memory card had been taped there with a piece of blue painter's tape.
"Where did this come from?" he whispered.
"Mommy gave it to me before she went missing. She said it was our secret until she came back." Poppy sniffed. "I forgot it was there. I wore my blue shoes all the other days."
Adrian stared at the card. It was scarcely larger than a thumbnail. The first honest mistake he had made all day was thinking he had already found every clue.
May you like
Then Poppy said, "Mommy told me to never give it to the man who says he loves you like a brother."
Adrian's oldest friend, and Simone's business accountant, was standing downstairs beside the wedding cake.
