Chương 3
“Do you know anything that might help us find her?”
Her lips parted. No sound came.
The supervisor said, “She told you she doesn’t know.”
Alexander looked at his name tag. Paul Dennison, Assistant Director of Housekeeping.
“I wasn’t asking you.”
Paul’s face reddened. “We have operational responsibilities. You can’t stop every employee because a former supervisor—”
“She isn’t former,” Lily said. “They didn’t fire her yet.”
No one spoke.
Alexander looked down at her. Lily was staring at Vanessa, who had gone pale.
The police entered the corridor before Alexander could ask why.
The first officer was a woman in her fifties with silver threaded through dark hair. She introduced herself as Sergeant Denise Holloway and immediately lowered herself to Lily’s height. Unlike Alexander, she did not ask a question at once. She commented on the two yellow leaves stuck to Lily’s shoes.
Lily looked down.
“They followed me,” she said.
“Looks that way.”
Sergeant Holloway asked whether Lily was hurt. Lily shook her head. A paramedic examined her from a distance before receiving permission to come closer. She had no visible injuries, but she was cold, hungry, and beginning to shake now that she was inside.
Alexander stood near the door while officers separated Vanessa, Raymond, Rosa, and the security staff for preliminary statements. He called his general counsel, Miriam Shaw.
She answered on the first ring.
“I’m between meetings,” she said.
“Cancel them.”
“What happened?”
“A six-year-old child stopped my car and reported that hotel employees abducted her mother.”
There was a pause.
Miriam’s voice changed. “Where are you?”
“Meridian service level.”
“Police?”
“Here.”
“Do not make statements. Do not access personnel files yourself. Preserve all recordings and access logs. Tell Vanessa—”
“Vanessa knew the mother was suspended.”
“That is not the same as knowing about an abduction.”
“I saw her face.”
“Faces are not evidence, Alexander.”
“They are when you’ve spent six years watching executives lie.”
“And your instincts are not admissible. Listen to me. Preserve. Do not investigate. Do not confront anyone. I’m coming.”
He ended the call before she finished.
Lily sat in the training office with a blanket around her shoulders. Someone had brought her hot chocolate in a ceramic cup, but she had not touched it. The room contained stackable chairs, a dry-erase board, and a framed poster declaring that hospitality began with trust.
Sergeant Holloway sat across from her. A second officer recorded the interview on a department camera. The paramedic waited near the door.
Alexander remained outside until Lily asked for him.
“Do you want Mr. Reed in the room?” the sergeant asked.
Lily looked at him through the glass panel.
“I want the door open.”
They left it open.
She described the previous afternoon in fragments. Her mother had collected her from school earlier than usual. They had taken two buses to Elena Morales’s apartment in Queens. Claire had packed Lily’s backpack with pajamas, a toothbrush, two books, and an envelope marked FOR ELENA. She had hugged Lily too tightly and told her it was because she was in a hurry.
“What was your mom wearing?” Sergeant Holloway asked.
“Blue shirt. Black pants. Her hotel shoes.”
“Did she say where she was going?”
“Back to work.”
“Was she scheduled?”
Lily glanced toward Vanessa, who stood in the corridor with an officer.
“She said schedules don’t matter when people are stealing.”
Alexander folded his arms.
Sergeant Holloway kept her tone even. “What did she tell you about Mr. Reed?”
Lily looked at him.
“She said his picture was everywhere but he never saw anything.”
Alexander felt Vanessa glance his way.
“Did your mother know him?”
“No.”
“Did she ever speak to him?”
“No.”
“Then why did she tell you to find him?”
Lily picked at the edge of the blanket.
“Because the bad men were scared of him.”
“Which bad men?”
“I don’t know their names.”
“Can you tell me what they looked like?”
“One had shiny hair.”
Vanessa closed her eyes briefly.
“The other one was big,” Lily continued. “He had a hurt thumb.”
“Did you see them take your mother?”
“No.”
“How do you know they did?”
Lily’s breathing shortened again.
Sergeant Holloway waited.
“I called her phone.”
“What happened?”
“A man answered.”
“What did he say?”
“He said my mom couldn’t talk.”
“Anything else?”
“He asked where I was.”
The room became very still.
“What did you tell him?”
“Nothing.”
“Good.”
“He said she knew too much. Then another man said to hang up before the brat heard more.”
Alexander saw Sergeant Holloway’s shoulders settle into a different posture. The interview was no longer being treated as an anxious child’s interpretation of an employment dispute.
“Do you remember what time you called?”
“After dinner.”
“Was Miss Elena with you?”
“She was in the shower.”
“What happened to the phone?”
“I dropped it in the sink.”
“Your phone?”
“Miss Elena’s old one. Mom gave it to me for games.”
“Do you have it?”
Lily nodded toward her backpack.
An officer collected the device in an evidence bag. The screen was cracked and the battery dead. Sergeant Holloway asked whether Lily had told Elena about the call.
“I tried. She said Mom was probably talking to a manager.”
“Why did you leave Elena’s apartment?”
“She went to work this morning. She told me not to open the door.”
“You were alone?”
Lily nodded.
“I waited. Mom didn’t come. I knew the car came today.”
“You traveled here by yourself and waited outside?”
“Not outside. The man said I couldn’t come in.”
“Which man?”
Lily pointed through the open door.
Paul Dennison was no longer in the corridor.
Alexander turned to the nearest officer. “Where did he go?”
The officer looked around.
Vanessa said, “He was just here.”
May you like
Sergeant Holloway stood.
The building changed in less than a minute. Police sealed the service exits. Security officers were ordered to surrender radios and remain in the conference room. Employees were told not to leave until officers had names and contact information, though those whose shifts ended were eventually allowed out through the lobby after brief interviews.
