Chapter 4 - THE WATCH IN THE SHADOWS
The sound of the heavy door slamming echoed like a gunshot in the empty room.
I spun around.
The deadbolt clicked into place from the outside. We were locked in.
“Hey!” I slammed my fists against the wood. “Open this door!”
“Laura, step back.”
Alexander moved me aside and tested the handle. It was jammed tight. He pulled his phone from his pocket, but the screen displayed no signal.
“Signal jammers,” Alexander muttered. “Richard’s men are thorough.”
On the floor, Evelyn was clutching the child’s drawing to her chest, sobbing uncontrollably. The polished, arrogant society woman was completely gone, replaced by a broken mother holding the ghost of a childhood she missed.
“I need to find him,” Evelyn wept. “Laura, they’re going to hurt him.”
“They won’t,” I said, forcing a calm I didn't feel into my voice. I knelt beside her. “Leo is smart. I trained him. If he’s hiding in this hotel, they won’t find him easily.”
I stood up and looked around the dusty room.
This was where my father took his last breath. The air felt heavy with it.
I walked over to the window. The heavy drapes were pulled shut. I yanked them open, hoping to signal someone on the street, but the glass was painted over from the outside.
As I turned back, my foot brushed against something metallic under the edge of the bed.
I knelt down and pulled it out.
It was a pocket watch.
Gold-plated. Scratched. The glass face was cracked straight down the middle, stopping the hands permanently at 11:42 PM.
I recognized it instantly.
“My dad’s watch,” I whispered.
My father wore this watch every day of his life. We were told it was lost at the hospital when he died.
I pressed the latch. The cover popped open.
Inside the cover, etched into the gold, wasn’t a manufacturer’s mark. It was a sequence of numbers scratched hastily with a needle or a pin.
04-12-89-WH
Alexander walked over. He looked at the numbers.
“A locker combination,” Alexander said.
I looked up at him. “The employee locker room in the basement. Dad’s old locker was 89.”
“He knew Richard’s father was going to kill him,” Alexander said softly. “He hid the evidence before the meeting. He left the watch here under the bed, knowing someone would eventually find it.”
Suddenly, a loud crash echoed from the floor above us.
The ninth floor. The executive suites.
“Leo,” Evelyn gasped, scrambling to her feet.
“How do we get out of here?” Alexander asked me. “You know this building. Is there a service panel?”
I looked up at the ceiling.
“The HVAC vents,” I said. “The Whitmore was built in 1920. The return vents in these corner rooms are wide enough for a person. Maintenance used them to access the central shafts before the renovation.”
Alexander didn’t hesitate. He pulled the heavy wooden desk under the air vent, climbed up, and used his keys to unscrew the rusted grille.
He hoisted himself into the dark shaft, then reached down for me.
“Come on.”
I grabbed his hand. His grip was incredibly strong. He pulled me up into the dusty, cramped space. I reached down and pulled Evelyn up behind me.
We crawled through the darkness. The metal groaned beneath our weight. Dust choked my throat.
“Laura,” Evelyn whispered behind me in the dark. “I’m sorry.”
“Save it, Evie,” I said, keeping my focus forward. “Save it until we have your son.”
We reached the grating that opened into the ninth-floor linen closet. I kicked it out. It clattered to the floor.
We dropped down into the closet, surrounded by stacks of fresh towels and luxury sheets.
I pushed the closet door open slightly.
The ninth-floor hallway was brightly lit.
Standing at the far end of the corridor were two men in dark suits. Richard’s security.
And kneeling on the floor between them, his hands zip-tied behind his back, was Leo.
His face was bruised. His housekeeping uniform was torn.
Standing in front of him was Richard.
My brother-in-law held a heavy iron wrench.
“Where is the locker combination, boy?” Richard spat, raising the wrench.
May you like
Before I could move, Alexander stepped out of the closet.
TITLE: THE TICKET TO NOWHERE
