Chapter 4 - the hotel that should not exist)
Nathan did not sleep.
At two in the morning he sat in a hospital conference room with Detective Bennett, Elena Briggs and Marcus Vale.
The brass key lay on the table.
Bennett photographed it.
"Start from the beginning."
Elena folded her hands.
"I worked private events before I joined the Aurelia. Mostly luxury hotels, charity galas, weddings. About two years ago I was hired through an agency for a three day corporate retreat at a property outside the city."
"The Black Stag Hotel?"
"That wasn't the official name."
"What was?"
"Arden House."
Marcus reacted.
Nathan noticed.
"You know it?"
Marcus leaned back.
"My family owned Arden House years ago."
Bennett turned toward him.
"Your family?"
"It was sold before I joined the company."
"To whom?"
"I don't remember."
Nathan stared.
"You didn't think that was important?"
"I didn't know where Elena was going with this."
Elena continued.
"Employees called it the Black Stag because of the symbol. It was everywhere. Keys, napkins, stationery."
"And Anna was there?"
Elena nodded.
"One evening."
"Doing what?"
"I don't know."
"Who was she with?"
"A man."
Nathan's jaw tightened involuntarily.
Elena saw it.
"It didn't look romantic."
"Describe him."
"Tall. Maybe fifty. Gray hair. Expensive suit."
Marcus stood so suddenly his chair scraped the floor.
"What?"
He looked at Elena.
"Was he wearing glasses?"
"Yes."
"Round silver frames?"
Elena nodded.
Marcus whispered a curse.
Nathan stood.
"Who?"
"My uncle Harrison."
Silence filled the room.
Bennett wrote something.
"Harrison Vale."
Marcus nodded.
"Chairman of Vale Holdings."
Nathan remembered the name from earlier.
The man whose voting power would decrease after Rachel and Marcus married.
"What was my wife doing with him?"
Marcus shook his head.
"I don't know."
Elena looked between them.
"There was another person."
Nathan turned.
"The server?"
"I think so. Younger then. Shorter hair."
"What were they doing?"
"They went into a private conference room. I was serving drinks nearby. Your wife looked upset."
"Did you hear anything?"
"Only a few words."
Nathan waited.
Elena closed her eyes, trying to remember.
"She said, 'If Nathan finds out, he'll go to the police.'"
Nathan felt the air leave his lungs.
Bennett leaned forward.
"And Harrison?"
"I couldn't hear him."
"What happened afterward?"
"Anna left through a side entrance. The younger man followed her."
Nathan gripped the chair.
"The man Lily saw."
"Maybe."
"And the fire?"
"That happened months later."
Nathan frowned.
"You said the hotel burned the night Anna died."
"It did. But the meeting was before that."
Bennett turned toward Nathan.
"When exactly did your wife's accident occur?"
"October seventeenth."
Elena nodded.
"Arden House burned October seventeenth."
Nathan stared at Marcus.
Marcus looked equally disturbed.
Bennett asked, "Were the events connected publicly?"
"No," Nathan said.
Anna's crash happened thirty miles away.
The hotel fire had been reported as an electrical incident.
Nathan remembered seeing something about it on local news but had never connected the two.
Why would he?
Bennett opened her laptop.
"I'll request records."
Marcus reached for his phone.
"I can get company archives faster."
Bennett gave him a look.
"Don't delete anything."
"I'm trying to help."
"Then help legally."
Nathan walked to the window.
Chicago lights glowed below.
Anna had secrets.
That realization hurt more than he expected.
For eighteen months he had grieved a woman he believed he knew completely.
Now a stranger at his sister's wedding was carrying a photograph of Nathan's house.
The same stranger may have known Anna.
The same symbol connected Anna's death, the burned hotel and the poisoning.
Behind him, Lily cried out.
Nathan ran.
She was awake on the hospital sofa.
Her eyes searched the room wildly.
"Daddy."
"I'm here."
She grabbed him.
"I had the bad dream again."
Nathan held her.
"What dream?"
She buried her face against his shirt.
"The fire."
Nathan looked over Lily's head at Elena.
Lily had never seen Anna's accident.
Nathan had never described it.
"What fire?"
"The house with the deer."
Nathan froze.
"What house?"
"The deer house."
Nathan pulled back.
"Have you been there?"
Lily's face crumpled.
"Mommy took me."
Nathan felt cold.
"When?"
"I don't know."
Anna had never told him.
"What happened?"
Lily shook her head.
"I don't remember."
Nathan looked at Bennett.
The detective's expression had changed.
"Children can preserve fragmented memories," she said carefully.
Nathan looked back at Lily.
"Did you see the man there?"
Lily thought.
Then nodded.
"The cake man."
Every person in the room went silent.
May you like
Lily whispered one more thing.
"He was angry at Mommy."
