Chapter 5 - Someone Had Been Following Them
Daniel could not feel his hands.
The photograph showed Lily asleep in the passenger seat at a gas station forty miles outside the city.
Daniel remembered the stop.
11:02 p.m.
He had gone inside for coffee.
Lily had remained locked in the SUV for less than two minutes.
Someone had been close enough to photograph her through the glass.
Rebecca saw his face.
“What?”
Daniel showed her.
She covered her mouth.
Naomi was still on speakerphone.
“Send that to me now.”
Daniel forwarded it.
“You’re calling police,” Naomi said.
This time Daniel did not argue.
Within twenty minutes, two detectives arrived with uniformed officers.
The Bellmont lobby, so calm an hour earlier, filled with quiet movement.
Security footage was secured.
GM-02 was bagged as evidence.
The threatening messages were photographed.
The officers searched the property.
Robert was nowhere inside.
Neither was Victor.
The black sedan across the street disappeared before police reached it.
Detective Maria Alvarez took Daniel’s statement in a private conference room.
She listened without interrupting.
When he finished, she asked, “How many people knew your travel route?”
“My assistant. Possibly corporate travel.”
“Did you post anything publicly?”
“No.”
“Your daughter?”
“No.”
“Ex-wife? Family?”
“My wife is dead.”
Alvarez paused.
“I’m sorry.”
Daniel nodded.
The detective looked at the photograph again.
“This wasn’t random.”
“I know.”
“You have corporate security?”
“Yes.”
“You’re going to use them.”
“Of course.”
“No, Mr. Mercer. I mean tonight. From now on. Until we know who took this.”
Daniel understood.
Lily would not be out of his sight.
At 3:00 a.m., police cleared the suite after checking locks, adjoining doors, balcony access, and service hallways.
Lily slept through almost everything.
When she finally woke around seven, she found Daniel sitting in a chair beside her bed.
“Daddy?”
“Morning.”
She rubbed her eyes.
“Why are you dressed?”
“I never changed.”
“That’s gross.”
Daniel laughed despite himself.
“Yes, ma’am.”
She picked up Mr. Buttons.
“Did he get two pillows?”
“Three.”
“That’s too many.”
“You asked for two.”
“Mr. Buttons says fame changed him.”
Daniel stared at his daughter.
For several precious seconds, the entire night disappeared.
Then Lily noticed the security officer outside the door.
“Who’s that?”
“A friend.”
“He looks like a police friend.”
“He’s helping me with some hotel stuff.”
Lily narrowed her eyes.
“You always say ‘hotel stuff’ when something is bad.”
Daniel smiled sadly.
“You’re getting too smart.”
“I’m already smart.”
“That’s true.”
He ordered breakfast.
Pancakes for Lily.
Coffee for himself.
At 8:30, Naomi arrived from the airport with two attorneys, an independent forensic accountant, and a cybersecurity specialist.
By nine, the executive conference room was full.
Daniel placed Lily in an adjoining office with cartoons, breakfast, and a female security officer she quickly convinced to play Uno.
Then he entered the meeting.
Naomi had documents spread across the table.
“This is bigger than the Bellmont.”
“How much bigger?”
“Potentially five properties.”
Daniel sat down.
Naomi continued.
“We found similar irregularities in premium-room revenue in three hotels supervised by Robert Haines’s regional team.”
“Same accounting codes?”
“Variants of them.”
“And discrimination complaints?”
“Eleven complaints were escalated to regional operations over eighteen months.”
“How many reached corporate legal?”
“Two.”
Daniel stared at her.
“Where did the others go?”
“They were closed before escalation.”
“By Robert?”
“Mostly.”
Rebecca sat at the far end of the table.
Her eyes were swollen from exhaustion.
Daniel looked at her.
“You said you contacted corporate.”
“Yes.”
“Your complaints were closed by Robert’s office.”
She nodded.
Daniel leaned back.
He had trusted Robert.
Not casually.
Completely.
After Daniel’s father suffered a stroke seven years earlier, Robert had become the bridge between generations.
When Daniel was overwhelmed after Rachel’s death, Robert had told him to step back.
“Be a father,” he had said. “I’ll protect the company.”
Daniel had believed him.
Maybe that was the point.
Naomi slid another document forward.
“There’s more.”
Daniel almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
“Vendor payments.”
“What kind?”
“Consulting.”
“To whom?”
“A company called Meridian Guest Solutions.”
Daniel frowned.
“Never heard of it.”
“You shouldn’t have.”
Naomi turned her laptop.
“Registered eighteen months ago.”
“Owner?”
“Shell company.”
“Beneficial owner?”
“We’re working on it.”
“How much?”
“Two-point-four million dollars.”
Silence.
Daniel looked at the accountants.
“Over eighteen months?”
“Yes.”
“For what services?”
“Guest experience consulting, security consulting, reputation management.”
“Any work product?”
“None we can find.”
Daniel rubbed his forehead.
“And Victor approved invoices?”
“Victor, Robert, and managers at four other hotels.”
Rebecca whispered, “That’s why he was scared.”
Daniel looked at her.
“Who?”
“Victor.”
She swallowed.
“He always talked like Robert could destroy anyone.”
Naomi closed one folder.
“Daniel, I need to ask something uncomfortable.”
“Ask.”
“Did Robert have authority to act on your behalf while you were away?”
Daniel went still.
“Operationally, yes.”
“How much authority?”
“Broad.”
“Signature authority?”
“For specific contracts below threshold.”
“What threshold?”
“Five million.”
Naomi exchanged a glance with the other attorney.
Daniel saw it.
“What?”
She slid a photocopy across the table.
It was a board resolution.
Daniel recognized the signature at the bottom.
His.
Except he had never signed it.
The resolution expanded Robert’s emergency powers.
Daniel’s voice was quiet.
“That’s forged.”
Naomi nodded.
“We believe so.”
“When was it filed?”
“Three weeks after Rachel died.”
Daniel could not speak.
That period of his life existed in fragments.
Funeral arrangements.
Lily screaming at night.
His mother sitting silently in the kitchen.
Robert bringing documents to Daniel’s house.
Sign here.
I’ll handle this.
Don’t worry about work.
Daniel stared at the forged signature.
Three weeks after Rachel died.
Someone had looked at the worst moment of his life and seen an opportunity.
His phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A voicemail appeared.
No ring.
Just a file.
Daniel played it.
Robert’s voice filled the conference room.
“You always wondered why Rachel was driving home alone that night.”
Daniel stopped breathing.
Naomi whispered, “Daniel.”
The recording continued.
May you like
“You should ask what she discovered before she died.”
Then the message ended.
