Chapter 7 - The Will in the Wall.
Miriam stood at the bottom of the hidden stairway in a cream suit, holding a medical bag.
Her white hair was perfectly smooth despite the fire alarm and the chaos above.
“Bring Elise down,” she ordered.
Rowan did not move.
“You brought her the tea.”
Miriam opened the bag and removed an injector.
“And now I am the only person carrying the antidote.”
Evan positioned himself between them.
Daniel's boots struck the upper steps.
Elise convulsed in Rowan's arms.
Rowan had no time to decide whether Miriam was a savior or the poisoner.
She held out her mother's arm.
Miriam injected the clear medicine and checked Elise's pulse.
Within seconds, Elise's breathing eased.
“The tea was prepared in the executive pantry,” Miriam said.
“I delivered it because Elise trusted no one else.”
“You knew it was poisoned.”
“I suspected it when my assistant vanished.”
Daniel reached the turn above them.
Miriam opened a laundry chute beside the stairwell.
“The shaft ends behind the ballroom kitchen.”
Evan lowered Elise first.
Rowan tucked the sealed will inside her jacket and followed.
Miriam remained behind.
Daniel found her alone on the stairs.
“Where are they?” he demanded.
Her answer was lost when Rowan slid into darkness.
They landed on bags of clean linens two floors below.
Elise woke beneath a pile of white tablecloths.
“The will,” she gasped.
Rowan showed her the sealed document.
Elise shook her head.
“That is not the will.”
Evan broke the wax seal.
Inside was a single page carrying six words.
THE WITNESS STANDS BENEATH THE CHANDELIER.
Rowan looked toward the ballroom doors.
Workers were evacuating the last guests from the lobby.
Above the circular logo hung the largest chandelier in the hotel.
Elise explained that Conrad distrusted vaults, attorneys, and banks.
He had hidden the original will where the entire world could see it but no one could reach it.
The fire crews were clearing smoke from the subbasement.
The police had sealed the lobby.
Marcus had moved the emergency board meeting to the ballroom and scheduled a vote for midnight.
If the board approved the sale of the Aurelia before the trust was verified, Meridian Development would own the building by morning.
They had forty-three minutes.
Evan found maintenance uniforms in the laundry room.
Rowan refused one.
“I am done entering my own hotel in disguise.”
She zipped her olive bomber jacket over the will's false envelope.
Elise leaned against a cart, still weak.
“Vivian will use your clothes, your bruises, and your anger as evidence that you do not belong.”
Rowan wiped the blood from her lip.
“Then she can explain why belonging looks exactly like her.”
The kitchen doors opened.
Miriam entered with Daniel's gun in one hand.
Blood marked her cream sleeve.
“Daniel will not follow us,” she said.
Evan looked at the weapon.
“Is he dead?”
“Not yet.”
Miriam handed Rowan a remote control.
“This lowers the chandelier.”
Rowan pressed the button.
Nothing happened.
On the ballroom screen, Marcus appeared at the board table.
He held up the real brass key.
The one in Rowan's pocket had become a worthless replica.
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THE WOMAN BENEATH THE CHANDELIERS
