Chapter 7 - the key carrying Marcus’s name
Marcus had not used his executive access card in six months.
After marrying Khloe, he had moved most of his personal and business security credentials into a biometric system. The old card had been placed in a locked drawer inside his private office.
Only three people knew the drawer code.
Marcus.
Khloe.
And Elaine.
Owen stared at the card as though he had never seen it.
“This was planted on me.”
Officer Reyes placed it inside an evidence envelope.
“Then you will have no objection to explaining why your fingerprints are on it.”
“You have not tested it.”
“I can see the print residue.”
Owen turned to Marcus.
“I protected your family for twelve years.”
Marcus did not move.
“Where did you get my card?”
“I told you. Someone planted it.”
“When?”
“I don’t know.”
“Before or after you lied about the camera?”
Owen’s face became red.
“I was ordered to protect the hospital.”
“By whom?”
Owen looked toward Elaine.
She met his gaze without blinking.
“Do not use me as your excuse,” she said.
Officer Reyes asked the guards to escort Owen to a secure office for questioning.
As he reached the door, Owen stopped.
“You should ask Mrs. Vale why she ordered Suite 1708 removed from the public reservation system.”
Marcus looked at his mother.
Elaine’s face did not change.
“I did that.”
Khloe felt Marcus’s hand tighten around hers.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because your father died in that suite.”
The words silenced the room.
Marcus’s father, Malcolm Vale, had died eleven years earlier after suffering a heart attack during a board meeting. Marcus had been told he died in the cardiac wing.
Not Suite 1708.
“You lied to me,” Marcus said.
“I protected you.”
“From what?”
Elaine looked toward Officer Reyes.
“This is a family matter.”
“My wife was attacked in that room. It is now a police matter.”
Elaine crossed to the window.
On the street below, emergency vehicles moved through the rain.
“Your father did not suffer a heart attack during a board meeting. He was found unconscious in Suite 1708. The security recording from that night was also missing.”
Khloe studied her.
“Who found him?”
“Owen.”
Marcus’s anger gave way to something deeper.
“What was my father doing there?”
“He had discovered irregular transfers from the family trust. He arranged to meet someone who promised evidence.”
“Who?”
“He never told me.”
“And you kept Owen employed after he found him?”
“There was no evidence against Owen.”
“There was no evidence because the recording disappeared.”
Elaine turned.
“I had a son who had just lost his father and a hospital that could have collapsed under investigation. I made the decision I believed would protect both.”
“You protected the institution,” Marcus said. “Not me.”
Elaine absorbed the accusation without defending herself.
Officer Reyes reopened the audio recording.
“The man in the corridor said the schedule changed. Mr. Vale, you said you recognized his voice.”
Marcus looked at the door through which Owen had been taken.
“I thought it was Owen.”
“But?”
Marcus listened again.
Is she down?
The voice resembled Owen’s, but the final word carried a different accent.
Marcus had heard that accent throughout his childhood.
“It sounds like my father.”
Elaine turned sharply.
“That is impossible.”
May you like
Marcus looked at her.
“Is it?”
