Chapter 10: The Woman Who Was Dead
I answered the call.
“Rebecca?””
A woman inhaled sharply.
“Yes.””
Her voice was older than I'd expected. Controlled. Almost fragile.
I looked across the street.
Harrison still stood beside the black sedan, watching the hotel entrance.
“Where are you?””
“Not where Harrison can find me.””
“Why did you text me?””
“Because Charles has been taken by police, which means Harrison has started the last part of his plan.””
“What plan?””
“To make your father carry the crimes Harrison committed.””
My eyes stayed on Harrison.
He lifted his phone to his ear.
At the same moment, Rebecca whispered, “Move away from the windows.””
I stepped backward.
“Can he see me?””
“He's been watching you since you left Room 17M.””
My stomach tightened.
“How do you know that?””
“Because I'm watching him.””
I scanned the buildings across Michigan Avenue.
“Where?””
“Emily, stop looking.””
I did.
Marcus appeared beside me.
“Who is it?””
I covered the phone.
“Rebecca Caldwell.””
His expression changed instantly.
“Put it on speaker.””
“No,” Rebecca said.
She had heard him.
“Not yet.””
“Why should I trust you?”” I asked.
“You shouldn't.””
That answer surprised me.
“Then give me a reason.””
There was a pause.
“Your mother called you Millie when you were frightened.””
My breath caught.
Nobody called me that anymore.
Rebecca continued.
“When you were seven, you fell in the hotel kitchen and cut your left palm on a broken dessert plate. Laura sat on the floor with you while the chef brought towels.””
My hand instinctively closed.
A thin white scar crossed my palm.
“How do you know that?””
“I was there.””
“No.””
“You don't remember me because your mother introduced me as Rebecca Cole.””
My head spun.
“Cole?””
“Yes.””
Richard Cole.
Our board chairman.
I looked toward the elevators.
“Is Richard involved?””
“Not the way you think.””
That was becoming everyone's favorite sentence.
“Then tell me the way I should think.””
Rebecca sighed.
“Meet me.””
“Where?””
“Your mother's old suite.””
My stomach tightened.
Mom had kept a private suite on the twenty-second floor while she was ill.
After her death, Dad sealed it.
Nobody used it.
“Why there?””
“Because Harrison doesn't know it still exists.””
“He knows everything about this hotel.””
“Not everything.””
The call ended.
Marcus stared at me.
“Absolutely not.””
“I'm going.””
“You've inherited your father's relationship with the word no.””
“I'll take that as a compliment.””
“It wasn't one.””
Ten minutes later, Marcus and I stood outside Suite 2201.
The brass number plate had been removed years ago.
Marcus opened the door with an executive master key.
Dust covered the furniture.
The curtains were closed.
For a moment, I was nine again.
Mom's perfume.
Her books.
Her blue armchair beside the window.
My throat tightened.
“Emily.””
A woman stepped from the bedroom.
Marcus reached beneath his jacket.
She raised both hands.
“Please.””
She looked around sixty.
Silver threaded through her dark hair.
Her face was thin but elegant.
And instantly familiar.
I'd seen a younger version of it in the photographs inside Room 17M.
“Rebecca Caldwell?””
“Yes.””
I stared at her.
“You're supposed to be dead.””
“That's what Harrison paid people to believe.””
Marcus kept himself between us.
“Start talking.””
Rebecca looked at me.
“Twenty-six years ago, I discovered my husband was moving money through Bennett properties.””
“The same transactions Mom found.””
“Yes.””
“Why didn't you go to police?””
“I tried.””
Her eyes hardened.
“Harrison had friends. Attorneys. Bankers. People who made problems disappear.””
“That sounds convenient.””
“It sounds unbelievable because Harrison spent decades making sure it would.””
She opened her handbag slowly and removed an old photograph.
Mom stood beside Rebecca.
Both were smiling.
On the back, Mom had written:
*For R — someday our daughters will know we did the right thing. Laura.*
I looked up.
“Daughters?””
Rebecca's face changed.
“I was pregnant.””
The room went quiet.
“With Harrison's child?””
“Yes.””
“What happened?””
“Harrison found out I had copied financial records. He told me if I exposed him, he'd make sure I never saw my child.””
Marcus frowned.
“So you disappeared.””
“Laura helped me.””
I looked around Mom's old suite.
“She hid you here?””
“For eleven days.””
My skin prickled.
“Then where did you go?””
“Canada first. Then Vermont. Later, Oregon.””
“And your daughter?””
Rebecca looked toward the covered windows.
“She was born seven months after I disappeared.””
“Where is she now?””
Rebecca didn't answer.
I stepped closer.
“Where is she?””
“Safe.””
“Does Harrison know she exists?””
“He knows I was pregnant. He never knew whether the baby survived.””
My phone buzzed.
A message from Dad's attorney.
*Charles is being held for further questioning. Investigators have received additional records.*
Rebecca saw my expression.
“Harrison is feeding them documents.””
“Then give me yours.””
“I will.””
“Now.””
She shook her head.
“First, you need to understand why he came back.””
“To buy the hotel.””
“No.””
“To get Room 17M?””
“Partly.””
“Then what?””
Rebecca looked directly at me.
“To own the land beneath it.””
I frowned.
“What?””
“The Bennett Grand isn't just a hotel. Laura structured the original property company to hold several adjoining parcels.””
“I know.””
“You don't know about the sublease.””
Marcus stepped closer.
“What sublease?””
Rebecca removed a folded document.
“A ninety-nine-year ground lease signed twenty-six years ago.””
I read the tenant name.
*Caldwell Metropolitan Development.*
“The Caldwell company leases land from us?””
“Not anymore.””
“What do you mean?””
“Laura inserted a termination clause.””
Rebecca pointed to a paragraph.
“If Harrison Caldwell, any Caldwell-controlled entity, or its agents were found to have committed fraud against the property company, the lease could be terminated.””
I stared at her.
“What is on the land?””
Rebecca almost smiled.
“Half of Caldwell's most valuable downtown development.””
My breath stopped.
“How valuable?””
“Today?””
She looked toward the window.
“About two billion dollars.””
Now I understood.
Harrison wasn't trying to gain something.
He was trying to stop himself from losing it.
“If Mom's evidence proves fraud…”
“You can terminate the lease.””
“And his buildings?””
“Become legally complicated overnight.””
Marcus whistled softly.
I looked at Rebecca.
“So that's why he needs control of the hotel.””
“If Harrison controls the property company, the termination clause disappears before anyone can use it.””
“And Dad was about to sell him that control.””
“Yes.””
Without knowing what it meant.
I thought of Harrison's confidence.
His twenty-million-dollar offer for silence.
His desperation when we found the amendment.
“He wasn't paying $480 million for the hotel.””
Rebecca shook her head.
“He was paying $480 million to protect billions.””
My phone rang.
Dad's attorney.
I answered.
“Tell me he's coming home.””
Silence.
“Emily, something changed.””
My stomach dropped.
“What?””
“Investigators received a sworn statement connecting Charles directly to the original fraudulent transfers.””
“From who?””
Another pause.
“Richard Cole.””
I looked at Rebecca.
Her face went white.
“What did he say?”” she whispered.
I lowered the phone.
“Richard gave a statement against Dad.””
Rebecca closed her eyes.
“No.””
“You said Richard wasn't involved.””
“He wasn't.””
“Apparently he is.””
Rebecca grabbed my arm.
“You don't understand. Richard would never help Harrison voluntarily.””
“Why?””
May you like
Her eyes filled with fear.
“Because Richard Cole is my brother.””
