Chương 2
“I’m going to ask you a few things,” he said. “You don’t have to answer everything right now.”
“I want my mom.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
The statement was not defiant. It was exhausted.
Alexander swallowed the answer he might have given. Lily was right. His mother lived in a house in Connecticut and called him every Sunday whether he answered or not. His father had been dead for three years, but death was not disappearance. Death did not leave room for a child to imagine every possible cruelty.
He took off his suit jacket and offered it to her.
She recoiled.
He folded it and placed it on a dry section of stone ledge instead.
“Where were you before you came here?”
“At Miss Elena’s.”
“Who is Miss Elena?”
“She lives downstairs.”
“Downstairs from your home?”
Lily nodded.
“How did you get here?”
“Bus.”
“By yourself?”
She stared at the pavement.
Alexander felt something unpleasant shift beneath his ribs.
“Lily.”
“I know the number.”
“That doesn’t make it safe.”
“I had six dollars.”
The service door opened again. This time Vanessa Cho, the hotel’s general manager, stepped outside with two security officers behind her.
Vanessa wore a charcoal suit and a cream blouse. Her hair was pinned neatly at the base of her neck. She was forty-two, capable, controlled, and rarely seen moving quickly. Now she crossed the pavement so fast that one heel slipped on a wet leaf.
“Alexander, what happened?”
He looked at the officers. “Stay there.”
They stopped.
Vanessa saw the child and then the badge in Lily’s hands. Something passed over her face—recognition followed by an effort to erase it.
Alexander noticed that too.
“Do you know Claire Harper?” he asked.
Vanessa took a breath. “She worked here.”
“Worked?”
“She was suspended yesterday pending an investigation.”
Lily pushed herself behind Alexander’s leg.
“What investigation?” he asked.
Vanessa looked toward the service camera. “Not outside.”
“What investigation?”
“There was a payroll discrepancy.”
“Was she fired?”
“No. Not officially.”
Lily’s hand closed around the fabric of Alexander’s trousers.
Vanessa lowered her voice. “We should take this inside. The child shouldn’t be standing in a vehicle lane.”
“The child says hotel employees took her mother.”
One of the security officers shifted his weight.
Vanessa’s eyes went to him before returning to Alexander.
It was only a glance, but Lily saw it. She pressed closer to Alexander.
“Which hotel employees?” Vanessa asked.
Lily would not look at her.
Alexander turned to the officers. “Names.”
“Ethan Cole,” said the younger one.
“Luis Ramirez,” said the other.
“Who is on duty as security director?”
“Mr. Morrow,” Ethan replied.
“Where is he?”
“In his office.”
“Call him. Tell him not to leave.”
Ethan reached for his radio.
Vanessa said, “Alexander, we need counsel before you start issuing instructions in front of—”
“Call Grant Morrow.”
The officer obeyed.
Static sounded from the radio. Then a dispatcher’s voice. Then silence.
Ethan tried again.
No response.
“Check his office,” Alexander said.
The officers exchanged a look.
“Together,” he added. “And do not use the radio after this. Use your phones. Do not let anyone remove records, equipment, vehicles, or property from the building.”
Vanessa stepped closer. “You’re treating this as though her accusation has already been verified.”
“I’m treating a missing mother and an abandoned child as though waiting for our attorneys to approve our concern would be obscene.”
A siren sounded several blocks away.
Lily looked up sharply. “You called them.”
“Yes.”
“You said you’d bring her back.”
“I said I would help.”
“You said not to lie.”
“I’m not lying.”
“You didn’t say police.”
Alexander crouched again. Her fear was no longer vague. It had a direction.
“Tell me why your mother didn’t want police.”
Lily’s eyes moved between the adults.
“She said people listen when rich men call. They don’t listen when women like her call.”
Vanessa’s expression changed.
Alexander felt the words land more heavily than the child could have intended. He was accustomed to people listening when he called. He had mistaken that access for an ordinary feature of the world.
“What else did she say?” he asked.
“She said if she didn’t come home, I had to find you.”
“Me specifically?”
Lily nodded.
“How did she expect you to do that?”
“Your car comes Thursdays.”
Alexander looked at Raymond.
Raymond frowned. “We use this entrance after the lender meetings. Usually Thursdays.”
“How would Claire know?”
“She worked here eleven years,” Vanessa said. “Employees know routines.”
The siren grew louder.
Lily stepped away from Alexander.
“You told them.”
He could not deny it without breaking the promise immediately.
“Yes.”
She looked as though he had confirmed something terrible.
“They’ll make me go.”
“Who will?”
“The child people.”
Alexander glanced at Vanessa. “Do we have a private room near this entrance that isn’t under hotel security control?”
Vanessa hesitated. “The training office.”
“Clear it.”
“Alexander—”
“Now.”
Vanessa turned toward the door. One of the officers pulled it open for her. Lily backed away at the movement, nearly stepping into the lane.
Alexander extended his hand again.
She did not take it.
He lowered it.
“All right,” he said. “You can walk beside me.”
They entered through the service door just as two police cruisers and an ambulance turned into the drive.
The corridor smelled of detergent, onions, and hot metal. Employees stood along the walls pretending to read schedules or inspect carts. Conversations died as Alexander passed. Lily kept close enough that her sleeve brushed his hand, but she refused to touch him.
A woman in a housekeeping uniform saw the cracked badge and covered her mouth.
Lily stopped.
“Aunt Rosa?”
The woman’s eyes filled. “Baby.”
She started toward Lily, but a male supervisor caught her elbow.
“Back to work,” he muttered.
Alexander turned.
The supervisor released her.
“What is your name?” Alexander asked the woman.
“Rosa Alvarez.”
“Do you know where Claire Harper is?”
May you like
Rosa looked at the supervisor. Then at the security camera above the time clock.
“I don’t know.”
