“There’s more. It seems Eliana’s father was responsible for Aurora’s accident. I went over to the O’Hare’s, and Willard told me what happened.”
“Why didn’t he come out with that information when he found out?” he cocks his head to the side.
“I have no idea,” I shrug. “He says it’s because Hernandez made evidence disappear, but I don’t know.”
Gregory manages to get us into the security room, which is a tiny space that smells of old socks and Cheetos. A bulky man named Louis sits at a monitor, and when his supervisor, Thomas, introduces us, he just offers a grunt and turns back to the screen.
“Louis wasn’t here last night, but he can play back the tapes and see if we come up with anything. It’s not likely anyone would be able to sneak past the cameras in this place. Third floor, Lou, around seven last night,” Thomas tells him, then he steps across the room to another monitor, punches in a few details, and that screen comes to life. We watch the monitors for half an hour, and nothing particularly suspicious happens. At half past seven, I’m seen entering the room. Gregory’s brow quirks up when he sees me sitting against the hotel room door, and I shrug. He shakes his head.
About fifteen minutes later, a hotel maid rolls a cart to the room.
“She ordered waters,” I explain.
“Pretty big cart for something she could’ve just carried,” Gregory points out. The woman leaves the cart in the hall, hands over the waters, then leaves.
“She left the cart,” I observe.
Two men wearing housekeeping uniforms appear about twenty minutes, pulling the cart with them as they disappear into the hotel room. It takes a couple of minutes before they exit, pushing the cart down the hall and into the elevator.
“Can we cut to the service entrance?” Gregory asks. Louis presses a few buttons again then we’re looking at the service entrance. The two men push the cart out of the elevator, roll it to another set of elevators, and push the down button.
“Where do those go?” I ask.
“Those are the main hotel elevators. They went down which means they went to the underground parking lot,” Thomas explains.
“What about the cameras down there?” Gregory asks.
Thomas and Louis look at each other. “The underground garage cameras are down. We’ve put in a call for repairs, but I guess that doesn’t help much now, does it?”
I slam my fist into the wall, grateful that it’s dry wall instead of brick. “You plan on paying for that?” Thomas asks.
“You plan on explaining to your guests why the cameras are down in your parking lot?”
I leave the room, Gregory following close behind. “Follow me to the station, we can take a closer look at the CCTV footage.
“Thanks, Gregory.” I huff out a deep breath. I hate the fact that I was disorientated enough to let people drug me and take Eliana on my watch. It’s because my head’s been stuck so far up my ass most of my life.
I climb into my car and follow Gregory to the station. Maybe Willard is right; I destroy everything I touch. Marcus, Ro, and now Eliana. The thought has me clenching the steering wheel with my fists. Maybe the best thing is to leave this to the professionals, to people who know what they’re doing and don’t hurt the people they care most about.
