Chapter 6: The Man Who Should Be in Zurich
The private elevator chimed behind the front desk.
I turned because Greer turned first. His face changed in a way I had not seen all evening.
Jonah came from the dining room corridor with Jack beside him, chocolate at the corner of his mouth. Jack saw the man in the lobby before I did.
"Grandpa!"
He ran across the marble, and the tall silver haired man in the dark overcoat caught him with both arms.
My father.
Thomas Whitfield, founder of this company, was standing in the Whitfield Grand when he was supposed to be in Zurich.
"Dad," I said. "What are you doing here?"
He held Jack close and looked at me over my son's head, and I stopped. I had seen my father angry. I had seen him grieving at my mother's funeral, hollow and silent. I had never seen fear on his face. It was there now, plain and unguarded, and it made the lobby feel colder.
"Well," he said to Jack, and his voice almost held. "Look at you."
"You were in Zurich," Jack said.
"I was," Thomas said. "I came home early."
"Why?"
"Because I missed you, apparently." He managed a smile that did not reach his eyes. "Did you get your cake?"
"The biggest slice," Jack said. "And fries. Mom fired someone."
"I heard," Thomas said.
He set Jack down and kept one hand on his shoulder a second longer than he needed to. He was buying himself a moment with the cake, with ordinary questions, and we both knew it.
Jack tugged at my father's sleeve. "Are you staying, Grandpa? They have cake here. Really good cake."
"Later," Thomas told him. "I promise."
Jack studied his face. "You look scared."
No answer.
"Clara," he said. "Take Jack upstairs."
"No."
"Please. Take him up to your room, and I will explain everything there."
"What room would that be?" I said. "The smallest clean one your staff could find for someone in a plain coat? Or the Presidential Suite that has to stay empty all night, by my order?"
Kayla made a small sound behind the desk. Derek went very still.
My father looked at Kayla. He looked at Greer. He looked at the security guards, at their radios, at the cameras, at the front doors, as if he were counting exits in his own hotel.
"We have to leave this hotel," he said. "All of us. Now."
"No," I said.
"Clara."
"You flew from Zurich, Dad. You came straight here without calling me once. You do not get to walk into my lobby and order me out of it."
"It is not an order."
"It sounded like one."
"It is a request," he said. "The most serious I have ever made of you. Take your son and walk out that door with me."
Jack looked up at me. "Mom? Are we leaving?"
"No, sweetheart," I said. "We are not leaving."
"But Grandpa said..."
"Grandpa is going to explain himself here," I said. "Right here, where everyone can hear him decide how much of the truth he is willing to say out loud."
Thomas flinched. Greer stepped forward, smooth as ever.
"Sir, perhaps a private room would be more appropriate."
"No," Thomas said, without looking at him. "Not with you arranging the room, Martin."
Greer stopped, and his hands dropped to his sides.
"Jonah," I said. "Take Jack to the fireplace. Stay where I can see you."
"Yes, ma'am," Jonah said. "Come on, Jack."
"Can I finish my cake later?" Jack asked.
"Yes," I said, and Jonah led him away.
I stepped closer to my father and lowered my voice.
"Talk," I said.
"Frank Brennan is not stealing from this company."
The words landed like a stone dropped into still water. Behind the desk, Kayla went white.
"What did you say?" I asked.
"You heard me."
"Greer just told me millions may be missing," I said. "Vendor payments. Staffing accounts. Guest compensation funds. And Frank Brennan's name was all over this night before Greer said a word about money. His daughter at my desk. His standing order. Derek texting him the moment I arrived."
"I know," Thomas said.
"You know."
"Frank has been trying to prove someone else is."
"Who else?" I said. "He has not returned a single call, and now you tell me he is innocent and somebody else..."
"Clara, keep your voice down."
"No. Who, Dad?"
He looked at Kayla watching us with her hand pressed to her mouth, at Greer, who had gone the color of old paper. He looked at Jack by the fireplace, safe and completely unaware.
Then my father, who had never once hesitated in a room he owned, hesitated.
That silence frightened me more than anything Kayla had said to me all night.