Chapter 2 - the box)
The alarm beneath the ballroom floor lasted twenty-three seconds.
Then it stopped.
Preston stared toward the ceiling.
Margaret whispered something Claire could not hear.
The security manager, whose name was Thomas Reed, immediately spoke into his radio.
“Control, identify alarm location.”
Static answered.
Then a voice.
“Basement archive corridor.”
Preston moved.
Thomas blocked him.
“Sir, stay here.”
“Get out of my way.”
“You just attempted to interfere with security evidence.”
“This is my family’s property.”
Thomas did not move.
“This hotel isn’t.”
Preston looked toward Margaret.
“Tell him.”
Margaret remained silent.
Vanessa slowly approached the tablet.
“Show me the rest.”
Thomas hesitated.
Claire spoke first.
“Show her.”
Preston snapped, “Nobody asked you.”
Vanessa turned toward him.
“I did.”
Something in her voice changed the room.
For the first time, Preston seemed to realize his sister was no longer simply shocked.
She was angry.
Thomas resumed the video.
The footage showed Preston placing the necklace inside the ivory box.
Then another person entered the corridor.
Only the person’s shoulder appeared.
A dark jacket.
Preston handed the box over.
The unidentified person removed the necklace.
Then placed something else inside.
A small black object.
Preston closed the box.
The stranger disappeared.
Preston waited.
Three minutes later, Sophie entered the corridor.
She looked uncertain.
Preston stepped partly outside camera range and pointed toward the box.
Sophie picked it up.
Claire clenched her jaw.
“You used my child as a courier.”
Preston said nothing.
Thomas zoomed in.
The black object inside the box was rectangular and thin.
Vanessa frowned.
“That isn’t jewelry.”
Claire thought about Preston’s statement.
Something your husband died trying to find.
“What was it?”
Margaret answered before Preston could.
“Nothing.”
Claire turned.
Margaret’s voice became firmer.
“It was obviously nothing. Preston was behaving foolishly. Perhaps this was some ridiculous prank.”
“A two-million-dollar prank?” Vanessa asked.
Margaret’s expression tightened.
“Your wedding ceremony begins in less than an hour.”
Vanessa stared at her mother.
“My brother framed a child.”
“We will address it privately.”
Claire laughed.
It was not amused.
“Privately?”
Margaret stepped closer.
“I am prepared to compensate you for the distress.”
Claire looked at Sophie’s scattered belongings.
Then back at Margaret.
“You kicked my daughter’s purse across the floor.”
Margaret said nothing.
“You called her trash.”
Silence.
“And now you want to buy my silence.”
Margaret’s voice dropped.
“You have no idea what you are involving yourself in.”
Claire froze.
There it was again.
Not embarrassment.
Fear.
Before she could answer, Thomas received another radio message.
His face changed.
“What?”
Everyone watched him.
He listened.
Then looked toward Preston.
“The archive corridor door was opened.”
Preston’s breathing changed.
Thomas continued.
“And a secure storage cabinet is empty.”
Vanessa whispered, “What cabinet?”
Preston suddenly turned toward the ballroom exit.
Two guards blocked him.
Thomas stepped forward.
“Mr. Blackwood, I need your phone.”
“No.”
“This incident now involves suspected theft and potential evidence tampering.”
“You don’t have authority.”
“I have enough authority to preserve hotel security records until police arrive.”
Margaret intervened.
“There will be no police.”
Claire looked at her.
Margaret repeated it.
“There will be no police.”
Thomas stared.
“A child was falsely accused of theft, your son is on camera staging evidence, and something has apparently disappeared from a restricted archive.”
Margaret took out her phone.
“I own twenty-two percent of the management company controlling this hotel.”
Thomas did not blink.
“And?”
Margaret seemed genuinely surprised.
Thomas held out his hand toward Preston.
“Phone.”
Preston laughed.
Then smashed it against the marble floor.
Everyone jumped.
He stomped on it twice.
The screen shattered.
Claire looked at Thomas.
“Can you preserve the footage?”
“Already backed up.”
Preston’s head snapped toward him.
Thomas continued.
“Three locations.”
For the first time, Preston looked frightened.
Vanessa folded her arms.
“What did Sophie carry?”
Preston stared at Claire.
Claire stared back.
Finally he said, “Ask her dead husband.”
Claire stepped toward him.
“Daniel is not here.”
“No.”
Preston smiled faintly.
“But maybe his secrets are.”
Sophie tugged Claire’s sleeve.
“Mommy.”
Claire turned.
Sophie pointed toward the broken ivory box lying near the aisle.
“There was writing inside.”
Every adult stopped.
Claire crouched.
“What writing?”
“When I picked it up. On the bottom.”
“What did it say?”
Sophie squeezed her eyes shut, trying to remember.
Then opened them.
“Carter.”
Claire felt cold.
“Anything else?”
Sophie nodded.
“A number.”
“What number?”
“Seventeen.”
Margaret Blackwood sat down suddenly.
Not gracefully.
Not carefully.
She collapsed into a chair.
Claire turned toward her.
Margaret stared at Sophie as though seeing a ghost.
May you like
And whispered one word.
“Daniel.”
