Chapter 4 - The Wrong Kind of Welcome
"Mateo," I said, "I need a quiet chair and some water for my daughter."
"Of course." He took a step toward the lounge.
"Stop," Karl snapped. "Management needs her off the property."
Mateo's face tightened. "I'm not putting a little girl outside."
For the first time I saw the divide inside my hotel. Two men were protecting an order. One was looking at a child.
Evelyn removed her coat and offered it to me as a blanket. I thanked her but shook my head. Lily had tucked her face against my shoulder again, and I didn't want to move her.
I called Naomi. She answered immediately.
"I saw the alert," she said. "The system says it came from an administrative account linked to operations director Martin Vale."
Martin. Daniel had hired him eleven years ago. I had promoted him after the funeral because he knew every part of the business. He had sent Lily birthday cards. He'd spoken warmly about Daniel at the memorial.
"Where is he?"
"At a donor dinner in the private ballroom. Clara, the restriction was entered nine minutes before your flight landed."
Nine minutes. Nobody had merely mistaken me for an unwanted guest.
I looked at the camera fixed above the reception desk. "Can you preserve tonight's footage?"
"I'm issuing a hold now."
Patrick leaned across the counter. "You can't record employees."
"I'm talking on my phone."
"Then end the call."
"No."
He looked at Karl. Karl slipped into the back office.
Mateo guided me toward an empty couch near the lobby windows. I sat with Lily curled against me while Evelyn stayed nearby. My daughter touched the ribbon on the roses.
"Daddy liked red," she murmured.
"He did."
The elevator chimed. A woman in a tailored black dress crossed the lobby at a quick, purposeful pace. I'd seen her name on reports but never met her.
May you like
"I'm Audrey Bell, general manager," she announced. "And I understand you are impersonating a member of the ownership family."
I could still picture Daniel showing Lily the revolving doors when she was a toddler, standing behind her with both hands out so she could spin safely. He had remembered employees' children's names, too. I wondered which of those employees were still here, and which had disappeared because somebody like Karl found them inconvenient. Naomi told me not to confront Martin alone. She was right. My first responsibility was getting Lily somewhere she could sleep without a stranger deciding she was a threat. But I also knew that if I walked out without preserving what happened, Patrick would tell a different story by morning. So I asked Mateo to write down the time of every conversation and to keep his own notes where management couldn't edit them.
