Chapter 13 - The Witness Who Vanished
The former night auditor was named Luis Ortega. He had worked at the Bellwether for eleven years, knew every billing code, and could spot a false charge by the way it was described. Nora had kept his number after he was fired. When she called, the line went straight to voicemail.
Elena asked Claire to contact the police, then went with Owen to the modest motel listed on Luis's old employee file. His room was empty, but a coffee cup was still warm on the bedside table. The curtains had been pulled shut. On the bathroom mirror, someone had written in soap: ROOM 214. CHECK THE VENT.
I DIDN'T STEAL THE MONEY. I COPIED THE LEDGER. IF THEY SAY I SIGNED THE TRANSFER, IT'S A LIE.
The key card opened a storage locker at the bus terminal. Inside was a laptop, a stack of printed invoices, and a tiny notebook filled with dates. The entries tracked payments to Northstar and Sloane Urban. One line made Elena stop breathing for a moment: an electronic signature authorization had been created using an old corporate credential from the general manager's office.
“Davis's account,” Owen said.
He had followed them to the terminal. His face was gray, but his voice was steady. “My key card went missing last month. I reported it. Victoria told me it had been deactivated.”
“Did you tell the police?”
“No. I was afraid the board would blame me for the security failures. That's not an excuse. It's the truth.”
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The laptop's final file was encrypted. Luis had left a password hint: the date of the Bellwether's opening. Elena typed it in. The file opened to a scanned purchase agreement transferring the hotel to Sloane Urban.
The seller's signature was hers. The date was three weeks before the deed had been recorded. Elena had never seen the agreement in her life.
