Chapter 12 - the person wearing Elaine’s coat
The power failure lasted twelve seconds.
When the lights returned, Isabella was gone.
The guard outside the conference room lay unconscious beside an open service door, breathing steadily but unable to explain what had happened.
Officer Reyes ordered the floor locked down.
Marcus returned immediately to Khloe.
“You are going back to the medical suite.”
“I am not leaving you.”
“You are not leaving me. I am going with you.”
Elaine picked up the tablet she had dropped.
A message appeared on its screen.
Return what belongs to him.
Beneath the words was a live image from the hospital nursery.
One empty crib stood beneath the camera.
Khloe looked at the screen.
“Our baby has not been born.”
“It is a warning,” Marcus said.
“No,” Elaine replied. “It is a memory.”
The crib number was 29.
Marcus’s age.
Officer Reyes contacted hospital security and learned that Owen Shaw had also disappeared from the office where he was being questioned.
The door had been opened using Marcus’s executive credential.
“But the card is in evidence,” Marcus said.
Officer Reyes checked the sealed bag.
The card was still there.
“Someone duplicated it.”
Frank Delaney contacted them from the basement monitoring room.
The analog camera had captured another recording.
They returned to the basement while a medical team remained beside Khloe.
The new video showed the person wearing Elaine’s coat entering the service stairwell after unlocking Suite 1708.
For several seconds, the figure remained hidden by shadows.
Then the person removed the coat.
It was not Elaine.
It was Owen Shaw.
He removed a wig and the diamond bracelet, placed them inside a maintenance bag, and walked downstairs.
Marcus stared at the screen.
“Owen unlocked the suite.”
“But he was not the man in the tuxedo,” Khloe said.
Officer Reyes replayed the footage.
Owen had unlocked the suite at 9:18 p.m.
The second man entered at 9:20 p.m.
Two minutes separated them.
“Owen helped create the scene,” Officer Reyes said. “The second man was supervising him.”
Frank found another camera angle from the service staircase.
It showed Owen reaching the lower floor and speaking to Isabella through a headset.
The audio was faint but understandable.
Owen said, He wants the original certificate before midnight.
Isabella answered, Khloe does not have it.
Owen looked directly toward the hidden camera.
Then where did she get the photograph?
The recording ended.
Khloe touched her handbag.
“The photograph was placed inside my bag before I reached the suite.”
Marcus looked at the guests captured in the gala photographs.
“Who stood near you?”
“Dozens of people.”
Elaine checked the event footage from her tablet.
At 8:53 p.m., Khloe spoke with a group of doctors.
Behind her, a waiter carried a tray past her chair.
The waiter lowered one hand beside Khloe’s handbag.
Officer Reyes enlarged the image.
The waiter had Marcus’s height and dark hair.
His face remained turned away.
But the hand beside the handbag wore Malcolm’s ring.
Khloe looked toward Marcus.
“He was in the ballroom.”
“He was close enough to touch you.”
A second photograph appeared from another camera.
The false waiter stood beneath the chandelier, watching Marcus and Khloe together.
This time, part of his face was visible.
He did resemble Marcus.
But a thin scar crossed his left eyebrow.
Elaine gripped the edge of the table.
“I have seen him before.”
May you like
“Where?” Marcus asked.
“At Malcolm’s funeral.”
