Chapter 3 - The Recording That Vanished)
Simone Carter sat in a small security office beneath the hotel.
The room contained a desk, three monitors, two chairs, and no windows.
Daniel Rourke stood near the door.
The other security guards had left.
Simone folded her arms.
“If I stole something, call the police.”
Daniel looked exhausted.
“That can still happen.”
“No. It happens now.”
“Simone.”
“You said there was a report. Show me.”
Daniel rubbed his jaw.
“Give me your phone.”
“No.”
“Then I have to search you.”
“You touch me and I scream loud enough for every employee in this building to hear.”
Daniel looked toward the security camera.
Its red light was off.
Simone noticed.
“Why isn’t that recording?”
Daniel said nothing.
Her stomach tightened.
“Daniel.”
“Give me the phone.”
“Why?”
“Because if Malcolm gets it first, you will have a much bigger problem.”
Simone stared at him.
“You’re working for him.”
“I work for the hotel.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
Daniel stepped closer.
His voice dropped.
“Do you have a daughter?”
Simone’s face hardened.
“You know I do.”
“Then listen carefully. Whatever you think you saw, walk away.”
“I watched Evelyn Vale put something on Arthur Whitmore’s dessert tray.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Keep your voice down.”
“She opened a silver packet. She emptied it onto one dessert. Malcolm stood beside her. They moved the plate to the head table tray.”
“You don’t know what was in the packet.”
“No. But I know people don’t hide vitamins in their sleeves.”
Daniel turned away.
Simone continued.
“I started recording after I saw them arguing. I caught Malcolm telling her the dosage was enough.”
Daniel spun back.
“You recorded that?”
“Part of it.”
“Where?”
She smiled without humor.
“Wouldn’t you like to know.”
His expression changed.
Not anger.
Fear.
“Simone, this is bigger than you understand.”
“Then explain it.”
“I can’t.”
“Can’t or won’t?”
Daniel walked to the desk.
“James Whitmore came to me three weeks before he died.”
Simone fell silent.
“He thought someone inside the company was moving money. He wanted copies of security access logs.”
“Did you give them to him?”
Daniel hesitated.
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He died.”
Simone felt the air change.
“And the logs?”
“Gone.”
“Who deleted them?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re security director.”
“I know.”
“Then either you’re terrible at your job or you’re lying.”
Daniel gave a bitter laugh.
“Maybe both.”
He looked toward the dead camera.
“My wife was sick that year. Cancer. Insurance denied an experimental treatment. Malcolm found out.”
Simone understood before he finished.
“He paid.”
“Two hundred and eighty thousand dollars.”
“And now he owns you.”
Daniel’s eyes flashed.
“My wife is alive.”
“So that makes everything acceptable?”
“No.”
“Then help me.”
“I’m trying.”
“By threatening me?”
“By getting you out before they realize exactly what you recorded.”
Simone watched him.
“Where’s my daughter?”
Daniel stiffened.
“She’s not with you?”
“No.”
“You brought her into the hotel?”
“Childcare fell apart. She was in the break room.”
Daniel cursed under his breath.
Simone stood.
“I need to find her.”
The security office door opened.
Malcolm entered.
Two guards stood behind him.
“Ms. Carter,” Malcolm said calmly. “We have contacted the police.”
Simone looked at Daniel.
Daniel’s face became blank.
Malcolm extended his hand.
“Your phone.”
“No.”
“We have video showing you entering a restricted area.”
“I work in the kitchen.”
“Not the executive staging zone.”
“I saw what Evelyn did.”
Malcolm smiled.
“I have no idea what you mean.”
“Then call Arthur.”
“That won’t be necessary.”
Simone stepped backward.
One guard moved closer.
Malcolm nodded toward her apron.
The guard grabbed her.
Simone fought.
Daniel said, “Enough.”
Malcolm looked at him.
“Search her.”
Daniel did not move.
Malcolm’s voice hardened.
“I said search her.”
The guard reached into Simone’s apron and pulled out her phone.
Malcolm took it.
Simone laughed.
“That’s not the only copy.”
His smile disappeared.
“Where is it?”
“Go to hell.”
Malcolm looked at Daniel.
“Take her downstairs.”
“Where?”
“The west loading office.”
“That area is closed.”
“Then nobody will interrupt.”
Daniel stared at him.
Malcolm stepped closer.
“You remember who paid for Claire’s treatment?”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
Simone was escorted out.
She did not know Nia was still inside the break room cabinet.
She did not know her daughter had heard nearly everything.
And she did not know that before leaving the break room, Nia had found something on the floor.
A tiny silver packet.
It must have fallen from Simone’s apron when she hid the brass key.
Nia picked it up.
The packet was empty.
On one side was a small blue emblem.
A crown surrounded by a circle.
Nia could not read the tiny letters underneath.
But she remembered the symbol.
May you like
Because she had seen the same crown before.
On Evelyn Vale’s handbag.
