THE WAITRESS SLID MY HUSBAND A HOTEL KEY AND WHISPERED, “YOUR WIFE CAN LEAVE NOW”—THEN SHE REVEALED HIS TERRIFYING SECRET ABOUT MY FATHER’S DEATH!

I called Detective Kim as we crossed the empty catering kitchen. She answered on the first ring.

"Don't go to the loading bay," she said. "My people are on the way."

"They took a woman. She's sixty-two."

"And walking into an abduction will give me two victims instead of one. I need the video and your location."

We sent both. Kim told us to stay in a locked office. I refused to abandon Inez entirely, but I knew she was right. We took shelter behind the hotel's old accounting suite, where my father once let me stamp envelopes.

I spread the paper under a desk lamp. There were twenty-three names: bellhops, cooks, a night porter. Beside each sat an amount, an account number, and the same initials: GP.

"Graham Voss?" Miles asked.

"Graham's middle name is Edward."

I pointed to the bottom line. "G.P. is Gregory Price. Delaney's father."

My phone rang. Delaney.

"They gave you the clock list," she said before I could speak.

"Where is Inez?"

"I don't know. Pike took her before I could warn her. You need to stop digging."

"Your father signed those withdrawals."

There was a long silence. "My father has been dead for twelve years."

I looked again. The paperwork was dated six years ago, two years after my father's death.

"That's impossible."

"That's the point." Her voice cracked. "They've been using his name since they buried him."

"Then why play games with my husband?"

"Because Voss told me if I made you angry enough to leave the gala, he'd keep my mother safe. I was supposed to make it look like an affair. The room key was my idea."

"Why?"

"Because I wanted you to find the clock."

A fist hammered on the office door. We froze.

"Police," a voice called.

I moved toward it, but Miles caught my wrist. Through the frosted glass, the person outside raised a badge. Something about it looked wrong: the shield was hanging upside down.