Chapter 4 — The Service Corridor
Lena ran.
She heard her father call her name, but she did not stop.
The service corridor behind the ballroom was narrow and brightly lit, with polished carts lined against one wall and stacks of folded tablecloths against the other.
At the far end, the man in the gray suit pushed through a metal door.
“Stop!”
He looked back.
That single glance told Lena he had no intention of stopping.
She kicked off her low work shoes and ran faster.
The man entered the hotel kitchen, knocking a tray of glasses from a counter.
Crystal shattered across the floor.
Chefs and servers jumped aside.
Lena followed him through the confusion.
He reached the loading dock.
A black SUV waited outside with its engine running.
The man threw Walter’s medical bag toward the open rear window.
Lena grabbed his jacket.
He spun around and shoved her backward.
She struck the side of a steel shelf.
Pain shot through her shoulder.
The man rushed toward the SUV.
“Don’t move!”
Priya’s voice cracked across the loading dock.
Two security officers entered from the opposite side.
The driver of the SUV accelerated away, leaving the man behind.
He raised his hands.
“I didn’t do anything.”
Lena stared at him.
“You stole a guest’s medication.”
“It was my bag.”
“Then why did you throw it into a moving car?”
He looked at her as though calculating how much she had seen.
Priya approached slowly.
“What’s your name?”
“Daniel Voss.”
Lena recognized it.
He was the Caldwell Foundation’s chief financial officer.
Priya’s radio crackled.
“Medical emergency in the ballroom. Elderly male, unconscious.”
Lena’s stomach dropped.
“Walter.”
She ran back toward the ballroom.
By the time she arrived, Walter was slumped in his wheelchair.
A doctor who had been attending the gala knelt beside him.
“He needs his emergency medication,” the doctor said.
“It was in the bag.”
Celeste stood several feet away.
She looked pale.
But not surprised.
Lena crouched beside Walter and took his cold hand.
“Stay with me.”
Walter’s eyes opened slightly.
His lips moved.
Lena leaned closer.
“Blue folder,” he whispered.
“What?”
“Room... 714.”
His eyes closed again.
The paramedics rushed through the ballroom doors.
May you like
As they lifted Walter onto a stretcher, Celeste watched Lena from across the room.
And slowly smiled.
