Chapter 3 - The Brooch.
The strip of champagne silk lay inside the evidence pouch like an accusation waiting for a voice.
Evelyn looked down at her gown.
There was no tear anywhere along the sleeves, waist, or hem.
Marcus noticed the same thing.
"That's not from her dress."
Daniel turned the pouch beneath the chandelier.
"I didn't say it was."
Celeste's lips parted.
"Someone is setting me up."
Evelyn's attention moved from the fabric to the emerald brooch still pinned to Celeste's gown.
A memory surfaced with painful clarity.
Her mother had owned more than one champagne silk evening dress.
Margaret Hart had worn the color constantly because Evelyn's father used to tell her it made her look like candlelight.
After Margaret died, most of her formal clothes were sealed in the private family storage suite on the hotel's nineteenth floor.
That suite had not been opened in years.
At least Evelyn had believed it had not been opened.
"Daniel."
"Yes?"
"Check the nineteenth floor archive suite."
Marcus frowned.
"Why?"
Evelyn looked at him.
"Because that fabric may be my mother's."
Celeste laughed too quickly.
"You think I broke into your dead mother's closet?"
"I think you're wearing jewelry stolen from her vault."
"Marcus gave it to me."
"And Marcus has already admitted taking it."
Marcus turned on Evelyn.
"Stop talking about me like I'm not standing here."
"Then stop behaving like a suspect."
The words landed hard enough that nearby guests pretended to become fascinated with their phones.
Marcus lowered his voice.
"You are enjoying this."
Evelyn felt a sudden wave of exhaustion.
"My marriage ended in public twenty minutes ago."
She pointed toward the evidence pouch.
"Someone forged my signature, sabotaged my hotel, and may have broken into my dead mother's private rooms."
Her eyes burned.
"No, Marcus, I am not enjoying this."
Daniel received a radio call.
He listened for several seconds.
Then he looked at Evelyn.
"The archive suite door is open."
Evelyn's heart dropped.
"Open?"
"The electronic lock shows no authorized entry tonight."
Marcus stepped forward.
"Then how is it open?"
Daniel did not answer immediately.
"The physical lock was drilled."
Evelyn started toward the elevators.
Marcus followed.
"I'm coming."
"No."
"Evelyn."
She stopped and turned.
"You stole my mother's brooch from a locked vault and gave it to your mistress."
Marcus flinched at the word mistress.
"You don't get to tell me what room you're entering next."
Celeste descended the last step.
"I'm not staying down here while everyone looks at me like a criminal."
Evelyn gave her a cold stare.
"Then take off the evidence you're wearing."
Celeste touched the brooch again.
Something about that movement caught Evelyn's attention.
The brooch sat slightly crooked.
Margaret had once shown Evelyn a tiny hidden clasp behind the central emerald.
The clasp concealed a miniature compartment meant for a photograph.
Her grandfather had commissioned it in the 1980s.
Evelyn walked toward Celeste.
"Don't move."
Celeste stepped back.
"Stay away from me."
"The brooch opens."
Marcus frowned.
"What?"
Evelyn looked at him.
"Did you know?"
He shook his head.
Celeste's hand covered the jewelry.
"You're not touching me."
Daniel moved closer.
"Miss Rowan, that item may now be relevant to an active security investigation."
"This is insane."
"Then voluntarily remove it."
Celeste looked around the lobby and realized the crowd was no longer admiring her.
They were watching her.
Slowly, she unpinned the brooch.
She dropped it into Evelyn's palm with unnecessary force.
"Happy?"
Evelyn ignored her.
She turned the brooch over.
The hidden clasp was exactly where she remembered it.
Her fingernail slipped beneath the tiny hinge.
It opened.
There was no photograph inside.
Instead, there was a folded scrap of paper.
Marcus leaned closer.
"What is that?"
Evelyn unfolded it.
The paper was old and yellowed at the edges.
Three handwritten numbers appeared across it.
19-11-7.
Below them was one sentence in her mother's handwriting.
If Evelyn ever needs the truth, show her the room beneath the room.
Evelyn read it twice.
Her skin prickled.
"What does that mean?" Marcus asked.
She shook her head.
"I don't know."
Arthur, still on the phone, asked her to repeat the message.
She did.
He became quiet.
"Arthur?"
"Your mother made me promise never to discuss certain family records unless you discovered them yourself."
Evelyn's anger sharpened.
"That's not an answer."
"No."
"Did you know about this note?"
"No."
"Do you know what nineteen-eleven-seven means?"
Arthur hesitated.
"I may."
"Tell me."
"Not over the phone."
Evelyn stared toward the elevators.
The numbers repeated in her mind.
Nineteen.
Eleven.
Seven.
Floor nineteen.
Room eleven-seven.
The archive suite was numbered 1911.
But there was no room 1907 on the official hotel plans.
Daniel's radio crackled again.
A guard on the nineteenth floor was speaking too quickly.
Daniel's face changed.
"Say that again."
Static.
Then the guard repeated himself.
Daniel lowered the radio.
"The archive suite isn't empty."
Evelyn felt cold.
"What did they find?"
"A hidden staircase behind the wardrobe."
Marcus stared at her.
Celeste's face turned even paler.
Daniel continued.
"It goes down one level into a sealed room that doesn't appear on the hotel plans."
Evelyn looked at the note in her hand.
The room beneath the room.
May you like
Then Daniel delivered the part that made Marcus stop breathing.
"And somebody is already inside."
