Chapter 6 - The List in Suite 1804.
Claire stood over the employee files without touching them.
Her own face looked back from the top page.
The photograph had been copied from her personnel record.
Below it were her home neighborhood, emergency contact, work schedule, and a short note about her father's medical leave from his warehouse job.
Claire felt the same cold anger she had felt when Trevor mentioned the bills.
"They used my employee file."
Adrian looked toward Miles.
"Photograph everything before we move a page."
Miles began documenting the room.
Claire pointed to the handwritten note beneath her name.
"What does 'she saw him arrive' mean?"
Adrian did not answer immediately.
He was looking at another folder.
"Do you remember everyone who entered the lobby this morning?"
"No."
"Try."
Claire closed her eyes.
She pictured the breakfast rush.
A family checking in early.
Two flight attendants asking about coffee.
Trevor at his usual table.
Adrian near the windows.
Dennis walking quickly toward the elevators.
Then something else surfaced.
A man wearing a dark green overcoat had entered through the east doors around ten forty-five.
He carried a narrow silver briefcase.
He had not approached reception.
Dennis had met him near the elevators.
Claire had noticed because Dennis nearly collided with her tray while hurrying over.
"There was a man."
Adrian's attention sharpened.
"Describe him."
"Late fifties, maybe. Gray hair. Green coat. Silver briefcase."
Miles stopped taking photographs.
"Did he have a pin on his lapel?"
Claire looked at him.
"A small silver triangle."
Adrian and Miles exchanged a look.
Claire caught it.
"Who is he?"
Adrian picked up a folder using a clean handkerchief from the suite desk.
"Graham Pike."
"Should I know that name?"
"Probably not."
"I hate answers that begin like that."
Adrian set the folder down.
"Pike is a crisis consultant."
Claire frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"Officially, he protects companies during public problems."
Miles finished the thought.
"Unofficially, he knows how to make one version of a story louder than another."
Claire remembered the photograph spreading online.
"He created the post about me."
"We don't know that yet."
"But you think it."
Adrian nodded once.
Claire looked back at the files.
Several employee names had colored marks beside them.
A housekeeper named Rosa Diaz had a blue line.
A concierge named Malik Grant had two question marks.
A banquet server named Olivia Chen had the word CAMERA written beside her name.
Claire knew Olivia.
They had worked the same breakfast shift for nearly a year.
"Why is Olivia on this list?"
Miles leaned closer.
"Where does she work today?"
"Lobby bar until three."
Adrian checked the time.
It was almost five.
"Call her."
Claire did.
The call went straight to voicemail.
She tried again.
Nothing.
Claire opened their staff group chat.
Olivia had sent no messages all day.
"Maybe she's home."
Miles was already speaking into his earpiece.
"Check whether Olivia Chen clocked out."
A response came seconds later.
Miles looked at Adrian.
"She left at eleven twenty-two."
Claire's stomach tightened.
Five minutes after the confrontation.
"Why?"
"Her timecard says family emergency."
Claire shook her head.
"Olivia's family is in Seattle."
Adrian walked toward the bedroom area of the suite.
"Check the employee exit cameras."
Miles made another call.
Claire noticed something beneath the dining table.
A small black memory card rested near one chair leg.
"Don't touch it."
Miles crouched and photographed it before placing it in an evidence sleeve from his security kit.
Adrian returned from the bedroom holding nothing.
"The suite was cleaned too carefully."
Claire gestured toward the files.
"Not carefully enough."
"These may have been left on purpose."
That possibility made her stop.
"Why would anyone leave evidence?"
Adrian looked at her name on the top page.
"To make us chase the wrong person."
Miles's phone rang.
He listened silently.
"Olivia didn't use the employee exit."
Claire frowned.
"Then how did she leave?"
"Service elevator to the parking garage."
"Does she drive?"
"No registered parking pass."
Adrian looked toward the memory card in Miles's hand.
"Find out what's on that."
They returned to the executive floor.
A security technician examined the card on an isolated laptop.
There was only one file.
A thirty-seven-second video.
The image shook as though someone had filmed from behind a plant in the lobby.
Graham Pike appeared near the east elevators.
Dennis approached him.
Pike handed Dennis the silver briefcase.
Then Olivia crossed the background carrying glassware.
She looked directly at them.
Dennis noticed.
The video ended.
Claire whispered her name.
"Olivia."
The technician checked the file details.
"Recorded at ten forty-seven this morning."
Miles looked at Claire.
"She saw the handoff."
Claire shook her head.
"Then why does my file say I saw him arrive?"
Adrian walked back to Claire's personnel folder.
He lifted the top sheet.
A second page had stuck beneath it.
There was another handwritten sentence.
May you like
Claire read it first.
BENNETT IS THE BACKUP IF CHEN WON'T COOPERATE.
