Chapter 4 - Victoria’s Suitcase Hides Another Secret
Victoria denied everything.
For ten minutes, she denied so much that Dominic stopped listening.
The suitcase was brought into the penthouse library by two police officers.
Grace identified it immediately.
Cream leather.
Gold hardware.
Victoria’s initials embossed beside the handle.
V.A.
Dominic stood across the room while Aaron scanned it.
The detector chirped near the interior lining.
Victoria covered her mouth.
“I swear I didn’t put anything there.”
Aaron removed the lining carefully.
Inside was a device no larger than a coin.
Dominic looked at Grace.
“When did you see it?”
“Yesterday.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
Grace lowered her eyes.
“I wasn’t sure what it was.”
Victoria laughed bitterly.
“But tonight you suddenly became an electronics expert?”
Grace flinched.
Dominic stepped between them.
“She noticed a blinking light.”
Victoria folded her arms.
“She has been going through my belongings.”
Grace’s face reddened.
“I was unpacking for you.”
“I never asked you to.”
“You told Mrs. Alvarez to send me.”
Victoria stopped.
Dominic caught it.
“Who is Mrs. Alvarez?”
“The housekeeper,” Victoria said.
Dominic frowned.
His head housekeeper was Elena Alvarez.
She had worked for him for nine years.
Grace looked confused.
“She told me Mrs. Victoria requested me personally.”
Victoria stared at her.
“I did not.”
Dominic’s mind began assembling the pieces.
Grace had been assigned to Victoria’s rooms by someone else.
Grace had found a device.
Grace had later seen Marcus with the necklace.
Then Grace had discovered another device under Dominic’s chair.
Someone had placed her repeatedly near evidence.
That did not feel accidental.
“Grace,” Dominic said, “how long have you worked here?”
“Six weeks.”
“Who hired you?”
“Mrs. Alvarez interviewed me.”
“Before that?”
Grace hesitated.
“I worked at the Ashford Hotel.”
Victoria’s expression changed.
Dominic saw it.
“You knew her.”
Victoria shook her head.
“No.”
Grace looked at her.
“You came to the hotel.”
“When?”
“Last winter.”
Victoria’s face tightened.
Dominic turned.
“You told me you hadn’t seen Julian in almost a year.”
“I hadn’t.”
Grace whispered, “You met him there.”
Silence.
Dominic felt anger rise.
“Grace.”
“I was serving a private suite.”
Victoria stepped forward.
“You saw nothing.”
Grace looked at Dominic.
“I saw Mrs. Ashford enter room 314.”
Dominic looked down at the brass key taken from Marcus.
314.
Victoria backed toward the desk.
“That proves nothing.”
Dominic held up the key.
“It proves Marcus carried a key marked with the same number.”
Victoria’s eyes widened.
Dominic understood something else.
“Which Ashford Hotel?”
Grace answered.
“The old one on Madison.”
Dominic knew the property.
Julian’s investment firm had owned it before bankruptcy.
It had been closed for renovation for months.
Room 314 should have been empty.
Police secured Victoria’s passport and asked her not to leave the city.
Dominic did not argue.
Victoria looked at him as officers escorted her toward a guest suite.
“You really think I tried to hurt you?”
Dominic met her eyes.
“I think I don’t know what you tried to do.”
That hurt her.
He saw it.
But he had no room left for comfort.
After midnight, Dominic sat with Grace in the kitchen.
She had changed into a borrowed sweater.
Her hands still trembled around a cup of tea.
“You should go somewhere safe.”
Grace looked at him.
“Where?”
The question was simple.
The answer was not.
Dominic realized he knew almost nothing about her.
“Family?”
“My mother died.”
“Father?”
Grace’s eyes shifted away.
“I don’t know.”
Dominic noticed.
“What does that mean?”
She stood.
“It means I should leave.”
He stopped her gently with his voice.
“Grace.”
She turned.
“Why did you apply here?”
Her face went pale.
For several seconds, she said nothing.
Then she reached beneath the collar of her sweater and pulled out an old silver chain.
A small key hung from it.
Dominic stared.
May you like
The number engraved on that key was also 314.
Grace whispered, “Because my mother told me this building would eventually lead me to the truth about my father.”
