Chapter 3 - Suite 1704
Charlotte returned to the hotel at 3:12 the next morning.
Not through the lobby.
Samuel had written instructions on the bottom corner of the photograph.
SERVICE ENTRANCE C.
Charlotte wore a black housekeeping uniform purchased from a supply store across town.
Her hair disappeared beneath a simple cap.
A laundry truck blocked part of the loading dock as she slipped through the basement entrance.
The service corridors smelled of detergent and industrial cleaner.
Charlotte had spent her childhood running through these hallways while her father attended meetings upstairs.
She remembered almost every turn.
But the hotel felt different now.
More cameras.
More security doors.
More fear.
She reached the service elevator and used an old maintenance code.
The doors opened.
Seventeen.
Charlotte pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
Then she inserted the brass key into a narrow slot beneath the control panel.
A hidden light appeared.
The elevator began moving.
Charlotte held her breath.
When the doors opened, she stepped into darkness.
The seventeenth floor was silent.
Room 1704 stood at the end of a private corridor hidden behind decorative wall panels.
Charlotte inserted the key.
The lock clicked.
Inside, the suite was almost empty.
No furniture.
No paintings.
No minibar.
Only a desk.
A computer.
And dozens of filing cabinets.
Charlotte moved quickly.
She opened the first cabinet.
Contracts.
Bank statements.
Property deeds.
The second contained insurance policies.
The third contained employee records.
Then she saw her own name.
CHARLOTTE ELEANOR VALE.
She pulled out the folder.
Inside were copies of her passport.
Her birth certificate.
Her university records.
Even childhood medical documents.
Someone had collected every piece of her identity.
A second folder contained legal petitions declaring Charlotte mentally incompetent.
The petitions had never been filed.
Not yet.
Charlotte's stomach turned.
She heard voices outside.
She switched off her flashlight.
The door opened.
Charlotte hid behind a heavy curtain.
Two people entered.
Marcus Reed.
And Celeste Harrington.
"You shouldn't have attacked her in public," Marcus hissed.
Celeste scoffed.
"She looked like a nobody."
"She is Charlotte Vale."
Silence.
Charlotte pressed a hand over her mouth.
Celeste whispered.
"You're sure?"
"I saw her eyes."
"Then why didn't you say anything?"
"Because there were two hundred witnesses."
Celeste started pacing.
"What does Adrian want us to do?"
Marcus answered immediately.
"Find her before she reaches the board."
"And if she already knows?"
Marcus turned toward the window.
"Then we finish what we started with Eleanor."
Charlotte stopped breathing.
Celeste's voice became quieter.
"You said Eleanor's death was clean."
"It was."
"And Charlotte?"
Marcus opened a drawer.
"She won't be as difficult."
The two left moments later.
Charlotte waited until their footsteps disappeared.
Then she crawled out from behind the curtain.
Her hands were shaking.
Her mother hadn't died naturally.
Marcus had just admitted it.
Charlotte searched the desk frantically.
The black ledger wasn't there.
But underneath the computer keyboard she found a memory card.
She placed it in her pocket.
Then the computer screen suddenly turned on by itself.
A message appeared.
HELLO, CHARLOTTE.
She stepped backward.
Another line appeared.
May you like
YOU'RE SIX MONTHS TOO LATE.
Then the door locked behind her.
