Chapter 9 - The Man in Room 1704.
Charlotte moved toward the monitor.
"Where is Archive B?"
Daniel studied the camera label.
"It isn't on any current floor plan."
Miriam stepped closer.
"It used to be part of the old accounting wing."
"Seventeenth floor."
Vanessa looked at Charlotte.
"Room 1704."
Charlotte turned immediately toward the door.
Daniel caught her arm.
"You cannot walk into that room alone."
"Eli carried my mother's key for months."
"He got hurt because of me."
"And you'll help him more by staying alive."
Charlotte hated that he was right.
Daniel called the police officers downstairs and told them there was a possible hostage situation.
The lead officer demanded that everyone remain in the penthouse.
Charlotte ended the call before he finished.
"They're moving too slowly."
Miriam looked at the live feed.
Victor was pacing in front of Eli.
No audio played.
Then Victor leaned close to the employee and held up a folder.
Eli shook his head violently.
Vanessa whispered.
"He's looking for the ledger."
Charlotte studied the hidden room around Victor.
Shelves lined the walls.
Old binders.
Metal boxes.
A red fire cabinet.
Then she noticed a small framed photograph on the rear shelf.
Her parents stood outside the original Solmere Hotel thirty years earlier.
Charlotte pointed at it.
"That isn't Archive B."
Daniel looked at her.
"What?"
"That photograph was in my father's private office."
"My mother never moved it."
Daniel stared at the image.
"Your father's office was converted into Room 1704 after the renovation."
Charlotte understood.
"Victor is in my father's old office."
Miriam nodded slowly.
"Which means the original safe may still be behind the west wall."
Charlotte looked at the brass key in her hand.
The shape suddenly made sense.
Her father hated electronic locks.
He had always used old mechanical safes.
"This isn't a penthouse key."
She held it up.
"It's his safe key."
Vanessa's face tightened.
"Then Victor has Eli because Eli knew where the safe was."
Charlotte headed for the elevator again.
Daniel did not stop her this time.
"We go together."
Miriam tucked the revolver into her coat.
Vanessa followed.
Charlotte looked at her.
"Why are you coming?"
Vanessa met her gaze.
"Because if Victor controls the board tonight, my family loses everything too."
"That isn't an answer."
Vanessa's voice dropped.
"It's the only honest one I have."
They took the service elevator to seventeen.
The corridor was empty.
Room 1704 stood at the far end.
The door was open.
Charlotte entered first.
The room was empty.
No Victor.
No Eli.
Only the chair from the camera feed remained.
A phone rested on the seat.
It began to ring.
Charlotte answered.
Victor's voice was calm.
That calm frightened Charlotte more than anger would have.
Victor spoke like a man who still believed every possible outcome belonged to him.
He knew their location, their discoveries, and their next move almost as soon as they made it.
Someone was still feeding him information from inside the hotel.
"You're getting closer."
Charlotte clenched the phone.
"Where is Eli?"
"Safe for now."
"What do you want?"
Victor laughed softly.
"The same thing I've wanted for twenty years."
"Solmere without a Vale in it."
Then another voice came through the phone.
Weak.
Familiar.
Charlotte stopped breathing.
"Charlotte?"
May you like
It was a man's voice she had not heard since she was sixteen.
Her father.
