Chapter 2 - The Suite Had Been Entered Before I Arrived, and the Only Thing Missing Was the One Photograph I Kept of My WifeThe executive suite door was unlocked.
That should have been impossible.
Only three people had access.
Me.
The general manager.
And the security director.
I put Lily down carefully on the sofa.
“Stay here.”
She looked up.
“Daddy?”
“I'm right outside.”
Lupita stood beside her.
“I'll stay with her.”
I nodded.
“Thank you.”
I entered the suite.
Nothing looked disturbed.
The bed was untouched.
The television was off.
The curtains were closed.
But the flowers beneath Sarah's portrait were gone.
My stomach tightened.
I walked toward the portrait.
The frame was still there.
The photograph was missing.
The photograph of Sarah holding newborn Lily.
The photograph I had carried from hotel to hotel.
The one thing in the room that had absolutely no financial value.
I called security.
“Lock the floor.”
Within thirty seconds, guards arrived.
The general manager followed.
I pointed toward the portrait.
“Who entered?”
He looked at the access log.
“No one.”
“Then explain the door.”
He checked.
“An override was used.”
“By whom?”
He froze.
“The owner's emergency credential.”
I stared.
“I never used it.”
Someone had copied my access.
That was impossible.
Or at least, it was supposed to be.
I called the security director.
He arrived breathless.
“Mr. Vance.”
“Who has access to my emergency credential?”
“No one.”
“Wrong answer.”
I pointed at the door.
“It was used seven minutes before I arrived.”
He checked the system.
His face changed.
“That's impossible.”
“Then find out.”
He began working.
Lupita entered.
She was carrying Lily.
“She won't stay in the room.”
I took my daughter.
She pointed at the empty frame.
“Mommy is missing.”
I hugged her.
“I know.”
“She was there.”
“She'll still be with us.”
Lily looked at the frame.
“Who took her?”
I didn't know.
Then I noticed something on the carpet.
A small gold thread.
I picked it up.
It matched a scarf worn by one of the hotel executives.
I didn't say anything.
I called the manager.
“Get me footage from every camera covering this floor.”
He nodded.
Minutes later, the footage arrived.
At 11:43 p.m., a housekeeping cart entered the hall.
At 11:44, the camera flickered.
At 11:45, a woman in a dark coat walked toward my suite.
Her face was hidden.
But her walk was familiar.
I paused the recording.
Lupita stared.
“I know her.”
“Who?”
“Ms. Harper.”
The hotel's director of guest services.
The woman who had greeted me at the lobby on my first surprise inspection three months earlier.
She had smiled.
Called me “Mr. Vance.”
Then asked whether I was enjoying the anonymous life.
At the time, I'd thought nothing of it.
Now I wondered how much she knew.
I called her.
She didn't answer.
Her phone went straight to voicemail.
The manager whispered:
“She left the hotel ten minutes ago.”
I stared.
“Without checking out.”
“Yes.”
“Track her.”
He hesitated.
“She has executive authorization.”
“So?”
“We can't access her personal data without—”
“You can.”
He nodded.
The security director traced her car.
She was driving toward the old downtown property.
The one scheduled for demolition next month.
I knew immediately why.
That hotel had been the first property Sarah and I ever bought.
The same place where we had lived above the lobby when we were newly married.
The same place where Sarah had told me she was pregnant.
The same place where she later received the diagnosis that changed everything.
I had refused to demolish it.
Until now.
Someone was going there.
I handed Lily to Lupita.
“Stay here.”
Lupita nodded.
I took the elevator down.
The general manager followed.
“Mr. Vance, should we call the police?”
“Yes.”
He looked surprised.
“I'll handle the rest.”
I walked toward the garage.
Then Lily called from upstairs:
“Daddy!”
I turned.
She stood at the elevator.
She was holding something.
My wife's photograph.
I stared.
“Where did you get that?”
She pointed down the hallway.
“Mommy was here.”
My blood ran cold.
“Who?”
“She gave me the picture.”
“Who?”
May you like
Lily pointed at the service stairwell.
“A lady.”
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