Chapter 8 - Suite 1908
Emergency lighting turned the suite red.
Alexander tried calling Vivian back, but the burner phone had disconnected.
The security chief reported a controlled power interruption affecting the hotel’s private floors. Backup generators would restore service within minutes.
Lucy examined the audio recorder.
“The third voice knew about the child.”
Alexander stood at the dark window.
“My mother said someone had been sleeping for twenty-nine years.”
“How old are you?”
“Thirty-two.”
“Then it might not be about you.”
He looked at her.
Lucy pointed toward the photographs.
“Vivian tracked me, Mara and the hospital documents. But someone else tracked Vivian. That photograph of her burying the folder was taken without her knowledge.”
“Whoever wrote the message knew she buried the wrong folder.”
“Which means there were at least two.”
The lights flickered back to life.
On the far wall, a section of patterned wallpaper had lifted near the floor.
Lucy pulled it aside.
A small safe was built into the wall.
The keypad required a six-digit code.
Alexander tried Vivian’s birthday.
Incorrect.
He tried his father’s birthday.
Incorrect.
Lucy studied the room.
A framed photograph rested on the desk. It showed the Grand Hale’s original opening ceremony.
At the center stood Alexander’s grandfather, Richard Hale.
Beside him was a young Vivian.
Behind them were two identical baby carriages.
Lucy pointed to the date printed beneath the photograph.
“Try the opening date.”
Alexander entered the six digits.
The safe clicked.
Inside were several jewelry boxes, old share certificates and a red ledger.
Lucy opened the ledger.
The entries began thirty-two years earlier.
They documented private payments from Hale family accounts to hospitals, attorneys and security firms.
One name appeared repeatedly.
Eleanor Bishop.
Alexander read it aloud.
“So Bishop was a person.”
“Maybe the protocol was named after her.”
“Who was she?”
Lucy turned pages.
The final entry associated with Eleanor Bishop stated:
Birth records secured.
Child A transferred to Vivian Hale.
Child B transferred under protective order.
Further contact prohibited.
Alexander read the lines again.
“Child A and Child B.”
Lucy looked at the photograph of the two baby carriages.
“Were you a twin?”
“No.”
“Are you certain?”
He almost laughed, but the sound died before it formed.
“My birth certificate lists one child.”
“The same family that changed my hospital identity could change yours.”
Alexander searched the safe and found a sealed envelope bearing his father’s handwriting.
For Alexander, when the first Hale child is expected.
His hands shook as he opened it.
The envelope was empty.
Someone had removed the letter.
On the inside flap was a brown stain and a partial fingerprint.
Lucy examined the red ledger again.
Several pages had been cut out.
The remaining entries connected Vivian to Eleanor Bishop and Dr. Rowe, but the most recent transactions came from a numbered company.
Julian joined them after the elevators restarted.
He photographed every page.
“The company is called Northstar Custodial,” he said. “I’ve seen that name before.”
“Where?” Alexander asked.
“In the merger documents. Northstar is purchasing debt connected to several Hale properties.”
“Conrad Vale?”
“Possibly, but the ownership is concealed.”
Lucy continued searching the desk.
Underneath the drawer, her fingers found a taped flash drive.
Julian connected it to the suite’s computer.
The drive contained scanned hospital documents, surveillance photographs and an encrypted video.
One file was not encrypted.
It was a security recording from St. Aurelia Hospital on the day Lucy disappeared.
The video showed Vivian standing near the underground transfer vehicle.
Dr. Rowe handed her the brown folder.
After Lucy was driven away, Vivian walked toward the magnolia courtyard entrance connected to the hotel’s rear service road.
Then Natalie entered the frame.
She took the folder from Vivian.
The two women argued.
Natalie removed several pages and placed them inside her handbag.
Vivian buried what remained.
Lucy paused the video.
“Natalie had part of the file.”
Alexander called security.
“Find her.”
A reply came moments later.
Natalie had been seen entering a private vehicle in the underground garage.
The driver used credentials belonging to Conrad Vale.
Alexander turned toward Julian.
“Call the police and tell them to intercept her.”
Lucy replayed the video.
Natalie’s lips moved as she argued with Vivian.
There was no sound, but Lucy watched the movement carefully.
“She says a name.”
Alexander leaned closer.
The video resolution was poor.
Lucy played it again.
Natalie’s mouth formed the same word.
Eleanor.
Julian searched the ledger.
“Eleanor Bishop would be nearly seventy now.”
“Is she alive?” Lucy asked.
“I don’t know.”
Alexander examined the photograph of Vivian and the two baby carriages.
“Find out.”
A notification appeared on the computer.
Someone was attempting to access the flash drive remotely.
Julian disconnected it.
The screen turned black.
A line of white text appeared.
YOU WERE WARNED NOT TO WAKE HIM.
Then a second line followed.
ASK LUCY WHAT HER FATHER BUILT BENEATH THE HOTEL.
Alexander turned toward her.
Lucy’s face had gone pale.
“My father did not only restore the ballroom.”
“What did he build?”
“A passage connecting the hotel to the old Hale residence.”
“That building was demolished twenty years ago.”
“The building above it was demolished.”
May you like
Lucy looked toward the floor.
“The rooms beneath it were sealed.”
