Chapter 6 - Room 314
Three knocks.
Slow.
Polite.
Maya whispered, “Don’t open it.”
I was already dialing 911.
Another knock.
“Hotel security,” a man called.
I looked through the peephole.
Dark uniform.
Baseball cap.
His face angled away.
Something was wrong.
Real hotel security didn’t hide from the peephole.
I whispered our room number to the dispatcher.
The man knocked again.
“Ma’am, we’ve had a noise complaint.”
We hadn’t made noise.
I pointed toward the bathroom.
Maya moved quietly.
Then the doorknob turned.
Once.
Twice.
The man was testing the lock.
“Police are on the way,” I called.
Silence.
Then footsteps moved quickly down the hallway.
I opened the door only after uniformed officers arrived.
The hallway was empty.
The front desk had no security employee matching the description.
But a camera near the elevator had captured him.
Detective Reed arrived thirty minutes later.
He watched the footage.
“Recognize him?”
Maya shook her head.
I stared.
Something about the man’s walk bothered me.
Then I remembered.
The vineyard.
Family Christmas parties.
Eleanor’s charity dinners.
“That’s Charles’ driver.”
Maya looked at me.
“Gordon?”
“Yes.”
Detective Reed paused the video.
“You’re sure?”
“Completely.”
He called another unit.
Then turned to Maya.
“I need to ask about your husband.”
She went pale.
“He’s connected to evidence from Natalie’s disappearance.”
“I know.”
“You knew?”
“No. Claire got a photo.”
I showed him.
Reed examined the image.
“Where did this come from?”
“Anonymous email.”
He immediately forwarded it to his department.
Maya called Daniel again.
This time he answered.
“Where are you?” she demanded.
“I’m trying to fix something.”
“What did you carry out of the basement in 2018?”
Silence.
“Daniel?”
“I didn’t know.”
She started crying.
“Know what?”
“I swear to God, Maya, I didn’t know.”
“What was in the tarp?”
“I thought it was stolen property.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“My father told me Adrian had gotten into trouble. He said we needed to move something before police came.”
“What?”
“I never looked.”
Maya pressed a hand over her mouth.
“Where did you take it?”
Daniel said nothing.
Detective Reed leaned close to the phone.
“Daniel, this is Detective Marcus Reed. You need to tell me where you took that tarp.”
Daniel breathed heavily.
Finally:
“Old quarry road.”
“Which quarry?”
“North side of the property. There’s an abandoned limestone pit about six miles past the Mercer vineyard.”
Reed stood immediately.
“Stay where you are.”
“I can’t.”
“Why?”
“Because my father called me twenty minutes ago.”
“What did he say?”
Daniel’s voice dropped.
“He said he needed help cleaning up another family problem.”
My blood went cold.
“What problem?” I asked.
Daniel hesitated.
Then he whispered:
May you like
“You.”
The line went dead.
