Chapter 5
The sound came again.
Three weak knocks.
From behind a row of old metal shelves.
Ruiz motioned to the officers.
They pulled the shelving away from the wall.
Behind it was another door.
No handle.
Just a narrow maintenance panel.
Mr. Bennett stared.
“I didn’t know that was there.”
Ruiz found a recessed latch.
The panel opened inward.
A cold, narrow corridor appeared.
Mia tried to run inside.
I caught her.
“Wait.”
“My mom is in there!”
“I know.”
Two officers entered first.
Their flashlights moved through the darkness.
“Chicago Police!”
No answer.
Then another knock.
Closer now.
One officer called back.
“We found someone!”
Mia screamed her mother’s name.
Ruiz stopped us from entering.
Seconds felt like hours.
Then an officer appeared.
“We need paramedics.”
My knees nearly buckled.
“Is she alive?” I asked.
“Yes.”
Mia began crying.
“Can I see her?”
“Not yet.”
Paramedics rushed through the basement.
A stretcher followed.
Finally, they brought Caroline out.
I had never seen her before, but I knew immediately.
Mia had her eyes.
Caroline was conscious, barely.
There was bruising along one side of her face.
Her wrists were marked from restraints.
A blanket covered her.
When she saw Mia, everything changed.
“Mia.”
Her voice was barely a whisper.
Mia tore out of my arms.
“Mom!”
The paramedics tried to slow her.
Caroline reached one hand out.
Mia grabbed it.
“I’m sorry!”
Caroline’s eyes filled.
“For what?”
“I ran.”
Caroline shook her head.
“You did exactly right.”
Mia sobbed.
“I thought you were dead.”
“I’m here.”
She touched her daughter’s face.
“I’m right here.”
Everyone in that basement looked away.
Even Detective Ruiz.
Caroline’s gaze moved past Mia.
She saw me.
“Who are you?”
Mia answered.
“Grace saved me.”
I shook my head.
“I just stopped her from leaving.”
Mia looked at her mother.
“Victoria tried to take me upstairs.”
Caroline’s face filled with panic.
“She touched you?”
“I’m okay.”
Caroline looked at me.
“Thank you.”
“You don’t owe me anything.”
“Yes.”
She squeezed Mia’s hand.
“I owe you everything.”
The paramedics needed to move.
Mia refused to let go until Caroline promised she could ride in the ambulance.
Ruiz arranged it.
Before Caroline left, she grabbed Ruiz’s sleeve.
“The drive.”
“We found one.”
Caroline’s eyes widened.
“One?”
“Yes.”
“Then you don’t have everything.”
Ruiz leaned closer.
“What are we missing?”
Caroline glanced at Mia.
“Not in front of her.”
Ruiz nodded.
“We’ll talk at the hospital.”
Caroline shook her head.
“No.”
“Why?”
“They have people everywhere.”
“Who?”
“Whitmore.”
Ruiz lowered her voice.
“Richard Whitmore?”
Caroline nodded.
“It’s bigger than him.”
Then she was taken away.
I thought that was the end of my involvement.
I was wrong.
Mr. Bennett told me I could go home.
The hotel would cover my shift.
Police had my statement.
Mia was safe with her mother.
I should have walked out the front door and never looked back.
Instead, Detective Ruiz stopped me.
“Grace.”
I turned.
“Yes?”
“You said Mia trusted you.”
“She was scared.”
“She still trusts you.”
I waited.
“Caroline may need someone familiar nearby while we question her.”
“You want me at the hospital?”
“For Mia.”
I didn’t hesitate.
“I’ll come.”
At Northwestern Memorial, Caroline was treated for dehydration, bruising, and a mild concussion.
Nothing life-threatening.
That was the first good news of the day.
Mia sat beside her bed eating crackers from a vending machine.
I stayed near the door.
Ruiz arrived with another detective.
Caroline looked nervous.
“They found me too easily.”
“You were hidden behind a wall,” Ruiz said.
“Not me. You.”
Ruiz paused.
“What do you mean?”
Caroline looked at the hallway.
“Richard knows how to control people.”
“He doesn’t control this department.”
Caroline gave a tired laugh.
“You sure?”
Ruiz didn’t like that.
Neither did I.
She pulled a chair close.
“Tell me what happened.”
Caroline looked at Mia.
I understood.
“Come on.”
Mia looked at me.
“Where?”
“Let’s get hot chocolate.”
She glanced at her mother.
Caroline nodded.
“Go with Grace.”
Mia and I walked to the family lounge down the hall.
She barely touched the hot chocolate.
“Are they going to arrest my mom?”
“No.”
“She recorded people without permission.”
“That isn’t why she’s here.”
Mia stared at the cup.
“Victoria said my mom would go to jail.”
“Victoria lied about a lot of things.”
Mia looked at me.
“Will she go to jail?”
“I don’t know.”
“Should she?”
I thought about the red marks on Mia’s arm.
The fear in Caroline’s eyes.
“Yes.”
Mia seemed satisfied with that.
After nearly an hour, Ruiz came into the lounge.
“Mia, your mom wants you.”
Mia ran back.
I stayed.
Ruiz sat across from me.
“What did she tell you?” I asked.
“A lot.”
“Can you say?”
“Some.”
She leaned forward.
“Caroline entered the Sterling Suite to replace towels. She heard voices in the bedroom. She realized they were talking about money and city contracts.”
“So she recorded them.”
“At first, accidentally.”
“How do you accidentally record something?”
“She had her phone in her apron pocket. She was sending Mia a voice message.”
I remembered Mia waiting downstairs.
“The message kept recording?”
“Yes.”
“Then they came out.”
“She hid in the closet.”
“And filmed them.”
Ruiz nodded.
“She knew she had something serious.”
“What else was on the video?”
Ruiz’s expression darkened.
“The bribe was only the beginning.”
My stomach tightened.
“What else?”
“Whitmore and Dempsey discussed three buildings.”
“The development?”
“Not exactly.”
She lowered her voice.
“They discussed forcing tenants out before inspections.”
“How?”
“Cutting heat. Delaying repairs. Creating safety violations.”
I felt sick.
“In Chicago winter?”
“Yes.”
“People could die.”
Ruiz stared at me.
“That may already have happened.”
I remembered a news story from months earlier.
An apartment fire.
Three people killed.
One of the properties had been owned by a Whitmore subsidiary.
“Are you saying—”
“I’m saying Caroline recorded Richard Whitmore talking about getting rid of evidence related to an electrical fire.”
I sat back.
“Oh my God.”
“And there’s more.”
“How can there be more?”
“The second copy contains financial records.”
“Where?”
“That’s the problem.”
“Caroline doesn’t know?”
“She does.”
“Then why not give them to you?”
Ruiz glanced toward the hospital room.
“Because she thinks someone in law enforcement is working for Whitmore.”
I remembered her fear.
“Is she right?”
“I don’t know.”
That answer scared me.
Ruiz continued.
“The USB we recovered contains video. The second copy contains documents, payment records, names.”
“Who has it?”
“She hid it in the hotel.”
“Where?”
“She won’t tell me.”
“Why?”
“She says she’ll only give it to a federal investigator.”
I understood.
“So call one.”
“We are.”
Ruiz stood.
“Until then, nobody knows where it is.”
“Except Caroline.”
“And possibly Mia.”
I looked toward the room.
“No.”
“Caroline says she never told Mia.”
“But Richard thinks the key leads to it.”
“Exactly.”
The hospital doors opened.
Mr. Bennett rushed toward us.
His face was pale.
“Detective.”
“What happened?”
“The hotel.”
“What about it?”
“Someone broke into the security office.”
Ruiz stood straighter.
“When?”
“Twenty minutes ago.”
“What did they take?”
“Nothing obvious.”
“Then why are you here?”
Mr. Bennett looked at me.
“They erased the camera archive.”
My heart sank.
“All of it?”
“Everything from today.”
Ruiz swore under her breath.
“What about backups?”
“Off-site servers.”
“Are they safe?”
“I don’t know.”
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
A few seconds later, his face went blank.
“What do you mean, deleted?”
Ruiz grabbed the phone.
“Who is this?”
Mr. Bennett whispered to me.
“The backup.”
The off-site footage was gone.
Someone had erased every video showing Victoria, Daniel, Mia, Caroline, and Richard.
Ruiz ended the call.
“Someone had administrative access.”
Mr. Bennett shook his head.
“Only three people have that level of access.”
“Who?”
“Me.”
“Who else?”
“Our regional security director.”
“And?”
Mr. Bennett went silent.
“Mr. Whitmore.”
I stared at him.
“What?”
“Our hotel ownership group has investors.”
Ruiz understood before I did.
“Whitmore owns part of the hotel.”
Mr. Bennett nodded.
“Through a holding company.”
Suddenly everything made sense.
Why Richard had used the Sterling Suite.
Why Daniel had a master key.
Why Victoria behaved as if she owned the lobby.
Maybe she practically did.
Ruiz looked toward Caroline’s room.
“Move them.”
Mr. Bennett stared.
“What?”
“Now.”
Ruiz called for officers.
I ran toward the room.
Mia was sitting beside her mother.
Caroline saw my face.
“What happened?”
“We need to leave.”
She immediately understood.
“Richard?”
“We don’t know.”
Caroline reached for Mia.
Then the lights went out.
The entire hallway went black.
Mia screamed.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Ruiz shouted from the hall.
“Everyone stay inside!”
A loud crash came from the stairwell.
Then footsteps.
Running toward us.
Caroline grabbed my wrist.
“He found us.”
I pushed Mia behind the hospital bed.
The door handle started turning.
Ruiz shouted.
“Police! Stop!”
A man entered.
He wore hospital scrubs.
A mask covered his face.
For one second, he looked like a doctor.
Then I saw the syringe in his hand.
He lunged toward Caroline.
I grabbed the metal water pitcher from the bedside table and swung.
It hit his arm.
The syringe flew across the floor.
Ruiz crashed into him from behind.
They hit the wall.
Another officer rushed in.
Within seconds, the man was pinned.
Mia cried against her mother.
The lights came back.
Ruiz pulled the mask down.
Mr. Bennett gasped.
I recognized the man too.
Officer Mason.
The hotel security officer who had supposedly disappeared upstairs.
Ruiz stared at him.
“You attacked your own partner?”
Mason said nothing.
Caroline looked terrified.
“He works for Richard.”
Ruiz pulled him up.
“You’re under arrest.”
Mason smiled.
“You still don’t understand.”
Ruiz’s eyes narrowed.
“What?”
Mason looked directly at Caroline.
“You should have given him the files.”
Caroline stared back.
Mason’s smile widened.
“Because Richard isn’t the person you should be afraid of.”
Then Caroline whispered a name.
“Victoria.”
I looked at her.
“What?”
Caroline shook her head.
“No.”
She stared at Mason.
“Richard wasn’t running it.”
May you like
Mason laughed.
And for the first time, I realized we might have arrested the wrong Whitmore.
