Chapter 1 - The Company That Didn’t Exist
“That company hasn’t serviced this hotel in almost three years.”
Daniel pointed at the vendor name on Victoria’s screen.
For a moment, neither of them moved.
Outside the executive office, Chicago glittered beneath a soft December snowfall. Forty-three floors below, guests crossed the Whitmore Grand’s marble lobby carrying shopping bags and beautifully wrapped presents.
Upstairs, Victoria Hayes slowly pulled the keyboard toward her.
“Are you certain?”
“I canceled their maintenance contract myself. Their owner retired to Arizona. We use Bell Street Commercial now.”
Victoria clicked an invoice.
“North Lake billed us eighty-six thousand dollars last month.”
“For what?”
“Emergency boiler replacement.”
Daniel looked toward the ceiling, as though the mechanical equipment might somehow hear the accusation.
“Both boilers are original. I serviced them Tuesday.”
She opened another document.
His name appeared at the bottom.
Daniel Carter. Maintenance Supervisor.
Below it sat a signature that resembled his just enough to make his stomach turn.
“That isn’t mine.”
Victoria’s expression changed. The exhausted woman beneath his coat disappeared behind something sharper.
“Mr. Carter, before you say anything else, understand that this could become a criminal matter.”
“Then understand that whoever signed that didn’t replace a boiler.”
She studied him.
Daniel held her gaze, although his heart had begun pounding. He had a mortgage, a daughter, and less savings than he liked admitting. Being innocent did not mean he could afford a lawyer.
Finally, Victoria turned the screen back.
“Sit down.”
“I have to collect Lily.”
“Your daughter?”
He nodded.
She glanced at the clock. It was past ten.
Something in her face softened.
“Of course.”
Daniel watched her open another invoice, then another. On the third, the same false signature appeared beneath a charge for cooling equipment that did not exist.
“Don’t call accounting tonight,” he said.
Victoria looked up.
“Why?”
“Because whoever did this knows our equipment codes. And knows what my signature looks like.”
Her fingers stopped above the keyboard.
The hotel’s chief financial officer, Martin Bellamy, had supervised vendor payments for twelve years. He was also Victoria’s oldest friend within the company.
Daniel didn’t know that yet.
He only knew she suddenly looked much lonelier.
Victoria saved the documents to an encrypted company folder and closed the accounting application.
“I’ll arrange an independent review.”
“Good.”
“And I need you to preserve your maintenance records.”
“I keep paper copies.”
“Of everything?”
“My father taught me that computers fail and people forget.”
For the first time that evening, Victoria smiled properly.
“Your father sounds sensible.”
“He also believed duct tape could repair a marriage, so his record was mixed.”
A surprised laugh escaped her.
It vanished quickly, but Daniel heard it.
He stood.
Victoria began removing his coat.
This time, he took it. Her hands trembled slightly when she passed it over.
On the desk lay Emma’s photograph.
Daniel looked away before she could feel him noticing.
“My wife used to hate Christmas dishes,” he said.
Victoria blinked at the unexpected change of subject.
“She loved Christmas. Hated washing the dishes afterward. Claimed nobody mentioned that part in the songs.”
“Used to?”
“She died three years ago.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Me too.”
The words settled between them without requiring anything else.
Daniel pulled an unused hotel notepad from the edge of her desk.
He wrote his address, then added:
Christmas dinner. Six o’clock.
Lily says everyone has to bring an appetite.
No spreadsheets.
He placed it beside her keyboard.
Victoria stared at it.
“Mr. Carter—”
“Daniel. If you’re deciding whether to come to my house, you can call me Daniel.”
“I wouldn’t want to intrude.”
“Then don’t inspect the baseboards. Everything else is allowed.”
She looked down again.
“I’m not particularly festive.”
“Neither is our turkey. We’re working through it.”
Her mouth moved, but no answer came.
Daniel headed toward the door.
“You don’t have to decide tonight.”
“Why would you invite me?”
He paused.
There were polite answers available. Seasonal answers. Answers involving goodwill and the generosity people pretended came easily in December.
He chose the truth.
“Because you looked like you needed somewhere to go.”
Victoria’s eyes shone.
He left before she had to respond.
Twenty minutes later, Daniel collected Lily from his sister’s apartment. His daughter climbed into the truck wearing reindeer pajamas beneath her coat.
“Did you fix everything?” she asked sleepily.
“Working on it.”
At the next stoplight, his phone vibrated.
An unfamiliar number had sent a photograph.
It showed the North Lake invoice.
Beneath it were seven words.
Ask your boss what happened to Rachel.
May you like
Daniel stared until the light turned green.
Behind him, someone leaned on a horn.
