Chapter 3 - The Canceled Reservation
I asked Marcus to bring in Nora Price, the lodge's director of guest services.
She arrived carrying a tablet and the exhausted expression of someone who had been trying to solve a problem she had not caused.
"Your reservation was created six weeks ago," Nora told me. "A premium suite, prepaid at the family rate."
"Who canceled it?"
"The account attached to Mrs. Madison Caldwell's phone number."
Madison folded her arms. "I already admitted that."
"The cancellation happened at 2:14 this morning," Nora continued. "It was followed by a request to assign the released room to another guest."
"What guest?" I asked.
Nora hesitated. "A Mr. Adrian Vale."
Daniel frowned. "Who's Adrian Vale?"
His wife's expression went flat.
"A business contact," Madison answered.
"Why would a business contact need my mother's room?"
"Because he was coming here for a meeting."
Daniel looked at me, embarrassed that he had spoken in my defense only after the subject shifted from his mother to another man.
"You told me the suite was canceled because Mom was making everyone uncomfortable," he said.
"She was," Madison snapped.
Nora displayed the message requesting the reassignment.
It contained a phrase that made my skin go cold: 'The owner will not be in residence.'
Only a handful of people knew the residence existed, and no one outside our senior management team was authorized to speak for me.
"Who wrote that?" I asked.
Nora indicated the reservation notes.
The same account had attached a scanned letter granting a temporary representative access to financial information during the holiday week.
The signature at the bottom was mine.
Or a convincing imitation of it.
Marcus quietly dismissed Nora after asking her to preserve the records.
"We should call the police," Daniel said.
"Not until we know what we're reporting," I replied.
Madison laughed, but the sound was brittle.
"You've made your point, Elaine. You're rich and we're embarrassed. Can we stop?"
"This stopped being about embarrassment when someone used my name to grant access to my business."
Daniel stared at the scanned signature and then at his wife.
"Madison," he asked, "what exactly have you done?"
She took out her phone and read a message.
Her face tightened.
"Nothing you can prove," she said.
May you like
And then she left the room.
