Chapter 2 - WHO SENT YOU?Hotel security arrived in less than ninety seconds.
Warren Hale never raised his voice.
That made everyone listen.
“His phone stays where I can see it.”
The security supervisor nodded.
Derek stood near the sinks, breathing hard.
Nora emerged from the stall.
Her face was white.
She looked first at Derek.
Then at the phone.
Then at her father.
Three years.
She had not seen Warren Hale in three years.
Not in person.
Not at Christmas.
Not when she and Ethan bought their Georgetown home.
Not when the foundation named her to its finance committee.
And now her father stood inside a women’s restroom holding the phone of a man who had tried to photograph her over a stall.
“What are you doing here?”
Warren looked at her.
“Later.”
“No.”
His face softened slightly.
“Nora.”
She recognized the tone.
The investigator first.
Father second.
It was one of the reasons they stopped speaking.
Security supervisor Liam Price turned toward Derek.
“Name?”
“Derek Voss.”
“Why are you in here?”
“Wrong restroom.”
Warren almost smiled.
“Try again.”
Derek glared.
“I saw the sign wrong.”
“You walked twenty feet past a sign that says WOMEN.”
“I was distracted.”
“And raised your phone over an occupied stall because?”
Derek said nothing.
Nora wrapped her arms around herself.
Warren looked toward her.
“Did he touch you?”
“No.”
“Did you see him before tonight?”
Nora hesitated.
Something in Warren’s expression changed.
“Nora?”
“Maybe.”
Derek looked at her sharply.
Warren noticed.
“Where?”
“A coffee shop.”
“When?”
“Last week.”
“Anywhere else?”
She thought.
“Outside my office.”
Derek spoke too quickly.
“That wasn’t me.”
Everyone looked at him.
Warren said:
“She didn’t describe where.”
Derek’s face changed.
Mistake.
Liam reached for the phone.
“We’ll secure this.”
Derek stepped forward.
“I want my property.”
Warren blocked him.
“No.”
“You can’t steal my phone.”
“No one is stealing it.”
Nora stared at the screen.
The message remained visible.
GET THE SHOT BEFORE SHE GOES BACK TO ETHAN.
“Who sent that?”
Derek shook his head.
“Spam.”
Warren laughed once.
“Conveniently specific spam.”
Derek reached toward the device.
Liam stopped him.
“Sir.”
Derek’s eyes moved to the screen again.
Then he lunged.
Not at Warren.
At the phone.
His thumb hit the display.
A chat window opened.
Delete conversation.
Warren caught his arm.
Liam restrained the other.
“Stop!”
Derek struggled.
“Let go!”
The phone fell onto the marble counter.
The conversation vanished.
Deleted.
Nora stared.
“You erased it.”
Derek stopped fighting.
“Erased what?”
Warren looked at Liam.
“Preserve the device.”
“We will.”
“Cloud data too.”
Derek laughed nervously.
“You people are insane.”
Warren turned.
“Who hired you?”
“No one.”
“You followed my daughter for at least a week.”
“I didn’t.”
“You tried to photograph her in a restroom.”
“I made a mistake.”
Warren stepped closer.
Derek tried not to move backward.
“I spent twenty-six years listening to men explain mistakes they planned.”
His voice lowered.
“They all sound exactly like you.”
The door opened.
A hotel employee appeared.
“Mr. Arden is coming.”
Nora’s shoulders loosened.
Ethan.
Her husband.
Finally.
She looked at Warren.
“Please don’t turn this into something bigger.”
Warren stared at her.
“Nora.”
“What?”
“It already is.”
Footsteps approached.
Ethan Arden entered.
Tall.
Black tuxedo.
Fear on his face.
“Nora?”
She rushed toward him.
“Someone followed me in here.”
Ethan held her shoulders.
“Are you hurt?”
“No.”
“He was trying to take a picture.”
Ethan looked at Derek.
Then Warren.
His expression changed.
“What is he doing here?”
Nora froze.
Not Who is that man?
Not Why was someone photographing you?
What is he doing here?
Warren heard it too.
“So we’re starting there?” he asked.
Ethan’s jaw tightened.
“You haven’t spoken to Nora in three years.”
“No.”
Warren glanced at Derek.
“But apparently somebody else has been watching her all week.”
Derek looked down.
And Ethan’s expression shifted.
Not surprise.
Something subtler.
Recognition.
Warren saw it.
May you like
He said nothing.
Not yet.
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