Chapter 2
The little girl’s fingers tightened around mine.
I looked down at her.
“What’s your name?”
She swallowed.
“Mia.”
The woman immediately snapped, “Stop talking to her.”
One of the security officers stepped between us.
“Ma’am, you need to remain where you are.”
Her expression changed.
Not fear.
Calculation.
She looked toward the elevators.
Then toward the front doors.
My manager, Mr. Bennett, held the tablet against his chest.
“The camera footage shows someone removing the necklace from your purse at 6:42.”
The woman lifted her chin.
“Exactly. Her.”
“No.”
Mr. Bennett turned the tablet around.
The video was grainy but clear enough.
The woman had been sitting near the lobby bar.
Her handbag rested on the chair beside her.
Mia had passed behind her, looking around nervously.
She never touched the purse.
Thirty seconds later, a man in a dark suit walked up.
He leaned down.
His hand disappeared into the handbag.
Then he walked toward the elevators.
The woman stared at the screen.
“That proves nothing.”
“You know that man?” security asked.
“No.”
Mia suddenly whispered, “She does.”
The woman spun toward her.
“Be quiet!”
Mia flinched so hard that I felt it through her hand.
I stepped closer to her.
Security officer Marcus Hale noticed too.
His voice became colder.
“Ma’am, step away from the child.”
“I told you, she’s my granddaughter.”
Mia shook her head.
“My grandma is dead.”
The woman’s face hardened.
“You’re confused.”
“I’m not confused.”
Mia was crying again now.
“My name is Mia Carter.”
The woman laughed, but there was nothing natural about it.
“Children make up things when they’re scared.”
Marcus looked at Mia.
“Do you know this woman?”
Mia stared at her.
“Yes.”
My stomach dropped.
Then Mia added, “But she’s not family.”
The woman’s eyes flashed.
“Mia.”
It was the first time she had used the girl’s name.
Marcus caught it immediately.
“You just said she was confused, but you know her name.”
The woman realized her mistake.
For the first time, genuine panic crossed her face.
“I heard the waitress say it.”
“No,” I said.
“I didn’t say her name until after you did.”
Mr. Bennett looked toward another security officer.
“Call Chicago police.”
The woman moved instantly.
She grabbed Mia again.
Hard.
Mia screamed.
Marcus caught the woman’s wrist and pulled her hand away.
“Do not touch her.”
Guests backed away.
Someone gasped.
The woman shouted, “You have no idea who you’re dealing with!”
Marcus didn’t move.
“I know you’re an adult trying to forcibly remove a frightened child from this hotel.”
The woman pointed at Mr. Bennett.
“My husband owns half the properties on this block.”
Mr. Bennett looked unimpressed.
“Then he can afford an attorney.”
Mia pressed against my side.
I knelt beside her.
“You said that wasn’t why she wanted you upstairs.”
Mia looked at the woman.
The woman stared back at her.
A warning without words.
Mia’s mouth trembled.
I lowered my voice.
“You’re safe right here.”
“No, I’m not.”
The answer came so quickly it frightened me.
“Why?”
“Because he’s upstairs.”
“Who?”
Mia glanced toward the elevators.
“The man from the video.”
The lobby seemed to shrink around us.
Marcus heard her.
“The man who took the necklace?”
Mia nodded.
“He told her to make everyone think I stole it.”
The woman laughed loudly.
“This is ridiculous.”
Marcus ignored her.
“Why?”
Mia hesitated.
Then she reached under the collar of her sweater.
She pulled out a tiny silver chain.
Hanging from it was a key.
The woman lunged.
“Give me that!”
Marcus blocked her.
Mia screamed and hid behind me.
The entire lobby erupted.
“What is that key?” I asked.
Mia clutched it inside her fist.
“My mom gave it to me.”
The woman stopped struggling.
Her expression went still.
Too still.
Mr. Bennett noticed.
“What does it open?”
Mia shook her head.
“I don’t know.”
The woman suddenly smiled.
“There. You see? Children tell stories.”
Mia looked at me.
“My mom told me if anything happened to her, I had to keep it.”
I felt a chill.
“When did you last see your mother?”
Mia’s eyes filled with tears.
“This morning.”
“Where?”
“Here.”
The woman’s face changed again.
Mia pointed toward the elevators.
“She works in the rooms.”
A housekeeper.
Mr. Bennett immediately looked at me.
“What’s her mother’s name?”
“Caroline Carter.”
Mr. Bennett froze.
I knew that look.
“What?”
He lowered the tablet.
“Caroline didn’t come to work today.”
Mia shook her head.
“She did.”
Mr. Bennett looked confused.
“No. Her supervisor marked her absent.”
“She came.”
Mia was becoming frantic.
“She brought me because the babysitter canceled. She told me to sit in the employee lounge until her break.”
Mr. Bennett turned toward security.
“Check staff entrances.”
Marcus radioed the control room.
A voice answered seconds later.
“Confirming Caroline Carter entered through the service entrance at 5:51 this morning.”
Mr. Bennett went pale.
“Did she leave?”
A pause.
Keyboard clicking.
Then the voice returned.
“No recorded exit.”
Mia’s breathing became shallow.
I squeezed her hand.
“What happened after you got here?”
“She took me downstairs.”
“To the employee lounge?”
Mia nodded.
“She gave me breakfast and said she had to clean the presidential floor.”
Mr. Bennett frowned.
“Caroline wasn’t assigned to the presidential floor.”
The woman looked toward the doors again.
Marcus noticed.
“Don’t.”
She stopped.
Mia continued.
“Mom came back later.”
“What time?”
“I don’t know.”
“What happened?”
“She was scared.”
Mia wiped her face with her sleeve.
“She told me we had to leave.”
My stomach tightened.
“Did she say why?”
“She said she found something in a room.”
The woman interrupted.
“She’s making this up!”
Marcus turned sharply.
“One more interruption and you’ll wait in the security office.”
Mia looked toward the elevators.
“Mom told me not to tell anybody until we were outside.”
“What did she find?” I asked.
“I don’t know.”
Then Mia’s face changed.
“She said, ‘They’ll hurt people if this gets out.’”
Nobody spoke.
Even the nearby guests were silent.
Mr. Bennett crouched beside Mia.
“Did you leave with your mother?”
Mia shook her head.
“We got to the employee hallway.”
“And?”
“A man stopped us.”
“The man in the video?”
“Yes.”
She started shaking.
“He told Mom she forgot something upstairs.”
“What did your mother do?”
“She told me to run.”
The woman suddenly shouted, “Enough!”
Marcus caught her as she tried to move again.
Mia buried her face against me.
“She pushed the key into my hand and told me not to lose it.”
I held her close.
“What happened to your mother?”
“I ran.”
Her voice broke.
“I hid behind the laundry carts.”
“And your mom?”
“They took her into the elevator.”
“Who is they?”
Mia pointed at the woman.
“Her.”
Every head turned.
The woman stopped struggling.
“That is a lie.”
Mia stared at her.
“You slapped my mom.”
The woman’s expression became murderous.
Marcus immediately moved her farther away.
Mia continued through tears.
“You told her she should’ve minded her own business.”
Mr. Bennett looked horrified.
I asked, “How did you end up in the lobby?”
“I waited.”
“For how long?”
“A long time.”
“Then what?”
“I came upstairs looking for Mom.”
She looked at the woman.
“She saw me.”
“And accused you of stealing the necklace?”
Mia nodded.
“She said if I went upstairs quietly, I could see Mom.”
The woman closed her eyes for half a second.
That was all I needed to see.
This was no misunderstanding.
The necklace was a distraction.
Mia had never been the thief.
She had been the target.
Marcus spoke into his radio.
“Lock down service elevators. No guest departures from the presidential floor until police arrive.”
Mr. Bennett turned toward him.
“We have occupied suites up there.”
“Then we handle it carefully.”
The woman suddenly smiled again.
“You’re too late.”
Mia looked terrified.
“What does that mean?”
The woman said nothing.
Marcus stepped closer.
“What do you mean, too late?”
Her smile widened.
“My husband doesn’t wait around when things go wrong.”
Then the elevator chimed.
Everyone turned.
The doors opened.
The man from the security video stepped into the lobby.
He took one look at the woman being held by security.
Then at Mia.
Then at the key hanging from her neck.
May you like
His face changed.
And he ran.
