Chapter 2 - THE KEYCARD OF A DEAD MAN.
Vincent crouched to Ava’s eye level while the guests watched from their white tablecloths.
“Who is your mother?”
“Rosa Reyes. She works in the hotel laundry.”
A man near the senator’s table laughed.
“Then this is an employee problem, not a family matter.”
Ava heard him and lowered her eyes, ashamed of a job that had fed her every day of her life.
Vincent did not look away from her.
“What happened tonight?”
Ava said Rosa had found a phone hidden inside a tuxedo jacket.
The phone contained recordings of powerful men discussing bribes, missing payroll, and a witness who had to disappear before midnight.
When Rosa tried to report it, two men dragged her through the service corridor.
Ava escaped after a woman spilled red wine while grabbing her dress.
The hotel’s security chief insisted no one could enter the restricted basement.
Ava reached into her shoe and produced a black keycard stamped with the Callahan crest.
May you like
Vincent checked the number.
It had been issued to Michael Callahan—his dead son.
