Chương 3
“What room?”
“The executive consultation suite.”
“Who else accessed it?”
“I need to check.”
“Check while we go.”
Wynn stiffened. “Detective, there are patients in this building.”
“There are no patients in this hotel.”
“The hospital owns the conference level and outpatient offices connected by the east bridge.”
Mara looked at her.
“I know.”
The bridge had appeared on architectural plans obtained during the investigation. St. Aldwyn’s leased three floors of the hotel’s adjoining tower for fundraising, administration, and visiting-family services. The fourteenth floor contained executive offices and a consultation suite used for private donor meetings.
It also contained no overnight clinical facilities.
Mara told Chen to remain with Lily. Ross assigned two officers to Adrian’s conference room. Wynn insisted on coming upstairs, which Mara preferred. People behaved differently when forced to walk beside the consequences of their own decisions.
The elevator rose in polished silence.
A muted screen above the buttons displayed photographs from the gala: a bald child ringing a brass bell after completing treatment, Adrian shaking hands with surgeons, Wynn beneath a banner that read EVERY CHILD DESERVES TOMORROW.
Mara watched Wynn’s reflection in the elevator doors.
“Why would Graves take Elena Hart upstairs?”
“I don’t know that he did.”
“Her daughter says a woman asked her to go.”
“Children misunderstand.”
“Adults do too.”
Wynn’s eyes met hers in the reflection.
“You arrived at our event under a false name.”
“Yes.”
“You cultivated employees.”
“Yes.”
“You accepted our hospitality.”
“I ate one mushroom tart.”
Ross looked at Mara.
“What?”
“Nothing,” he said.
The fourteenth-floor hallway smelled faintly of lemon cleaner and hotel carpet. White orchids had been placed on narrow tables at twenty-foot intervals. The flowers were beginning to brown along the edges, though the ballroom arrangements below were fresh.
The executive consultation suite was locked.
Wynn used her master card. The light blinked red.
The security supervisor tried his. Red again.
Ross stepped aside and called for hotel engineering.
Mara knocked.
“Police. Is anyone inside?”
Nothing.
She knocked again.
A faint sound came from beyond the door.
Not speech. A scrape, then two quick impacts.
Ross heard it too.
He looked at the hinges, then at the supervisor. “Override key.”
“Engineering has it.”
“How long?”
“Five minutes.”
Ross took off his coat.
The security supervisor lifted a hand. “Lieutenant, this is reinforced—”
Ross drove his shoulder into the door near the latch.
It did not open.
Mara said, “That was inspiring.”
“Help or shut up.”
They hit it together. The frame cracked on the third attempt. The latch tore through a strip of molding, and the door swung inward.
Elena Hart sat on the carpet beside an overturned chair.
One wrist was secured to the chair leg with a plastic restraint. A bruise colored the side of her mouth. Her dark hair had come loose from its pins, and her green dress was torn at one shoulder. A desk phone lay on the floor near her foot. She had been kicking it against the wall.
She looked past them.
“Where’s Lily?”
Mara knelt.
“She’s safe.”
Elena’s eyes filled, but no tears fell. “Is she hurt?”
“She has a bruise and a scratch. She’s being examined.”
Elena closed her eyes.
“Did Vale get the vial?”
“No.”
Her eyes opened again.
Wynn stood just inside the doorway.
Elena’s face changed.
“You,” she said.
Wynn’s hand went to her chest. “Elena, I had no idea—”
“You sent him.”
“Sent whom?”
“Martin.”
Wynn took one step back. “That’s absurd.”
Elena laughed once. It was a dry, damaged sound. “Of course it is.”
Mara cut the restraint with Ross’s folding knife. The skin beneath it was red but not broken.
“Who put you here?”
“Martin Graves and one of the private security men. I don’t know his name.”
The security supervisor turned pale.
Wynn looked at him.
He said, “We use contractors during large events.”
“Where’s Graves?” Mara asked.
“I don’t know. He took my phone and said I was going to sit here until I remembered what loyalty looked like.”
“What did he want?”
“The vial.”
Wynn shook her head. “Detective, she has been under disciplinary review for inventory irregularities. You cannot accept—”
Elena lunged toward her.
It was not graceful. One leg had gone numb from sitting on the floor, and she nearly fell. Ross caught her around the waist.
“You locked my daughter down there with him.”
“I did no such thing.”
“He knew she had it.”
Mara steadied Elena by the elbow.
“How did Lily get the vial?”
Elena looked at her.
For the first time, hesitation entered her face.
Mara felt Ross notice it beside her.
“I gave it to her,” Elena said.
The room went still.
“Why?” Mara asked.
“Because Martin was coming. Because Adrian was in the service hall. Because I had nowhere else to put it.”
“You placed evidence in your seven-year-old daughter’s possession?”
“I put it inside her little purse and told her to wait by the orchids. I thought I’d be gone two minutes.”
Mara’s voice sharpened despite herself. “You thought the safest place for a stolen medicine vial was with a child?”
Elena flinched.
“I thought no one would search her.”
“Someone did.”
“No.” Elena’s gaze moved toward the broken door. “Lily must have taken it out.”
Mara stared at her.
Elena’s mouth trembled now. “She gets curious when she’s scared.”
Ross asked, “What is in the vial?”
“A pediatric infusion drug.”
“Which one?”
“I’m not answering that in front of her.”
She meant Wynn.
Wynn folded her arms. “This is becoming defamatory.”
Ross turned to the security supervisor. “Escort Dr. Wynn downstairs. Do not let her speak to Vale, her staff, or anyone connected to this event.”
“You have no authority to isolate me.”
“We can discuss my authority in the lobby while I decide whether to handcuff you.”
Wynn’s composure held, but color climbed her neck.
The supervisor did not move.
Ross looked at him. “Tonight is full of career decisions.”
May you like
The man stepped toward Wynn.
She left without another word.
