Chương 4
“So you know I had a right to review the archive.”
“You had a right to review designated maintenance records. Ms. Marlowe’s attorney says some documents came from an executive office.”
“They did not.”
“I believe that may be true.”
“May be?”
“Ivy, I am trying very hard not to become part of somebody else’s lawsuit.”
She looked across the lobby at Celeste.
“She already made you part of it.”
Wright followed her gaze. “Probably.”
He rubbed a thumb along the edge of his notebook. “I need a formal statement. You should have counsel present.”
“Tessa Nguyen is outside.”
“I know who she is.”
“Most people do after she talks for six minutes.”
“I can let her in.”
“Then let her in.”
He stood but did not leave.
“Why did Nia call you?”
“Because staff have been reporting elevator problems to me for months.”
“Why?”
“I used to work here.”
“So did a lot of people.”
“I answered.”
That seemed to satisfy him more than any professional explanation would have.
Tessa entered the lobby wearing black trousers, running shoes, and a raincoat despite the clear night. Her dark hair was clipped carelessly at the back of her head. She crossed the marble without looking at Celeste and stopped in front of Ivy.
“Let me see.”
“I have gauze on it.”
“Move the gauze.”
“No.”
Tessa’s eyes narrowed. “Did a doctor look at you?”
“A paramedic.”
“Did a doctor look at you?”
“No.”
“Then we’re leaving.”
“Police want a statement.”
“Police can want things.”
Wright approached. “Ms. Nguyen.”
“Officer Wright.”
“You’ve met?”
Tessa looked at Ivy’s face. “We met during the laundry strike.”
Wright said, “That was not a strike. It was a public-safety closure.”
“It became a strike because management called the closure a vacation.”
“I did not write the press release.”
“You stood behind the person who did.”
Wright exhaled through his nose. “Ivy is not under arrest. I’d like her statement tonight while events are fresh. She may stop at any time.”
“She needs medical care.”
“I agree.”
Tessa turned to Ivy. “Do you?”
“I want to go to the hospital where Nia is.”
“That was not the question.”
Ivy stood too quickly. Pain shot through her knee, and she caught the planter.
Tessa’s hand moved toward her, then stopped before touching. “You always do that.”
“Do what?”
“Use somebody else’s emergency to avoid your own.”
“This is barely an emergency.”
“You were dragged across a ballroom.”
“Lobby.”
“Oh, good. Medically insignificant, then.”
Wright looked away, perhaps hiding a smile.
Celeste’s communications director approached carrying a phone and a face arranged into concern.
“Ms. Calder, Ms. Marlowe would like to offer transportation to the hospital.”
Tessa answered. “No.”
“She also wishes to express that tonight’s physical confrontation was deeply regrettable.”
“Did the word apology get lost in the elevator?”
The director glanced at Wright. “Our understanding of the incident differs.”
“Then your regret is noted and rejected.”
“We are trying to lower the temperature.”
Tessa’s voice remained calm. “Your employer pulled a bleeding woman through a room full of donors while shouting that she was a thief. The temperature has already been set.”
The director looked at Ivy. “There may be a way to address this privately.”
Ivy thought of Nia trapped beneath the banquet cart. “No.”
“I don’t think you understand what I’m offering.”
“I do.”
The director’s expression cooled. “Then I hope you understand what refusing may cost.”
Wright took one step forward. “That’s enough.”
The director held up both hands. “I’m speaking about reputational consequences.”
“You can explain that to the detective assigned to the complaint.”
For the first time, the director appeared uncertain.
Tessa leaned toward Ivy. “Now we’re leaving.”
At the hospital, Nia was taken for imaging while Laverne sat in a plastic chair beside a vending machine. The emergency department had no private waiting area for fear, so everyone carried theirs beneath fluorescent lights.
Laverne had changed out of her housekeeping shoes but still wore the uniform. She held one of Nia’s earrings in her palm. A nurse had removed it before the scan.
When Ivy approached, Laverne closed her fingers around the earring.
“I did not mean what I said back there.”
“You meant some of it.”
“I meant all of it. I shouldn’t have said it then.”
Tessa sat across from her. “Has anyone from the hotel spoken to you?”
“Three people. One asked whether Nia had taken anything tonight. One asked if she had ever complained about her ankle before. The last one brought flowers without water.”
“Names?”
Laverne pointed to a business card on the chair beside her. “Hospital liaison.”
Tessa picked it up.
Ivy remained standing. Her knee was stiffening. “What did the doctor say?”
“They think the ankle is broken. Maybe two places. They’re checking her back.” Laverne looked at Ivy’s cheek. “Sit down before you fall down and make this about two people.”
Ivy sat.
For a while, none of them spoke. A man across the room slept with his mouth open beneath a television showing a cooking competition. Someone’s child rolled a toy truck along the baseboard. Every few minutes the vending machine compressor started with a heavy rattle.
Laverne stared at the earring in her hand.
“She bought these at the drugstore,” she said. “Twelve dollars. Told me they were real silver because the package said plated. I said plated means somebody waved silver over them from across the room.”
Tessa smiled despite herself.
“Nia said I was old.”
“You are old,” Ivy said.
Laverne looked at her.
Ivy shrugged. “You called me old when I turned thirty.”
“That was different. You behaved forty.”
The small laugh that followed hurt Ivy’s cheek.
Laverne’s face softened, then closed again. “Why did you come back there?”
“An insurance group hired me.”
“That’s the answer for people with folders.”
“Nia called.”
“She should not have had to call you.”
May you like
“No.”
“She should have been able to tell her supervisor that a machine felt wrong and have somebody believe her.”
