The Woman Behind the Curtain
Chapter 03 - The Woman Behind the Curtain
Detective Reyes ordered Claire not to go near the Vale Hotel. A tactical team would handle the rescue. Daniel, still in custody, begged to help because he knew the building’s hidden passageways, but Reyes refused.
Then Claire disappeared.
Her sister reported that Claire had slipped out through the back door after putting Lily to bed. She had left a note saying she could not risk waiting while Nora’s life was in danger.
Reyes entered Daniel’s interview room and placed Claire’s note on the table. “Tell me everything about that hotel.”
The Vale Hotel had closed after a fire twenty years earlier. Daniel drew a map of its ballroom, service corridors, and an old freight elevator opening behind the stage.
At 12:17 a.m., Claire entered the hotel through the front doors. Dust covered the marble floor. The broken elevator chimed three times, paused, then chimed twice—the same sound hidden beneath the recording.
A spotlight snapped on.
Nora sat on the stage, bound to a chair. Marcus stepped from behind the red curtain wearing a dark coat and a calm smile.
“You should have stayed home,” he told Claire.
She held up her phone. “Let her go.”
Marcus confessed that Nora had traced the stolen money to his accounts. He forged Daniel’s signatures, planted the recorder, and planned to buy Daniel’s shares after his conviction.
“You ruined families to save yourself,” Claire said.
“No,” Marcus replied. “I used a charity to build an empire.”
He reached for her phone, unaware that Claire had activated an emergency audio stream to Detective Reyes before entering the building.
Police vehicles surrounded the hotel. Officers moved through the freight corridor Daniel had described. But Marcus heard a radio click behind the stage and realized he had been trapped.
He dragged Nora from the chair and forced both women toward the roof access stairs.
At headquarters, Daniel listened helplessly to the live feed. Then he heard a sound no one else noticed: water hammering through old pipes.
“The roof door is sealed,” he said. “Marcus isn’t taking them upstairs. He’s taking them to the basement tunnel.”
Reyes grabbed her radio and redirected the team.
In the hotel’s flooded basement, Marcus pushed Claire and Nora toward a steel door leading to the river. A boat waited outside.
He entered the final access code.
May you like
The lock flashed green.
Then the lights went out.
