Chapter 5 - THE VAULT BENEATH THE BALLROOM
The recording ended before Eleanor explained what the vault contained.
Charlotte replayed it twice.
The same final warning filled the room.
Nora closed the curtains.
“Your uncle has searched this suite at least six times.”
“He never found the compartment.”
“Your mother changed the lock three days before she died.”
Charlotte examined the hidden screen.
A row of numbers appeared beneath the recording.
18-01-27-9.
Nora assumed it was a date.
Charlotte knew it was not.
Her mother had taught her a childhood code using floors, rooms, and letters.
The numbers translated into four words.
Under the winter garden.
The winter garden was the ballroom’s original name.
Charlotte looked toward the floor.
“The vault is directly beneath us.”
Nora shook her head.
“The ballroom is fourteen floors below.”
“The old freight elevator connects the original foundation to the executive suites.”
They entered a storage room behind Eleanor’s bedroom.
Charlotte found the freight controls hidden beneath a panel.
The elevator had no numbered buttons.
It had one brass lever.
They descended in darkness.
When the doors opened, the air smelled damp and cold.
A narrow tunnel stretched beneath the hotel.
Stone arches supported pipes installed almost a century earlier.
Nora switched on her phone flashlight.
They followed faded Vale emblems painted along the walls.
At the end of the tunnel stood a circular steel door.
There was no handle.
Only a silver plate shaped like Eleanor’s ring.
Charlotte pressed the ring against it.
A red light flashed.
ACCESS DENIED.
A mechanical voice spoke.
“Two-family authorization required.”
Charlotte stepped back.
“My uncle needs me to open it.”
Nora frowned.
“Then why did he have you declared dead?”
“Because he believed he could replace my authorization with a death certificate.”
A sound came from the tunnel.
Someone was breathing.
Nora raised the flashlight.
A man lay behind a row of pipes.
His shirt was torn.
Blood had dried along his temple.
Charlotte knelt beside him.
She recognized Daniel Roe, the forensic accountant who had contacted her in Lisbon.
Daniel’s eyes opened.
“You came.”
“What happened to you?”
“Adrian found me copying the transfer logs.”
Charlotte helped him sit up.
“Where are the originals?”
Daniel pointed toward the vault.
“Inside.”
“What else is in there?”
“Your mother’s controlling shares.”
He coughed and gripped Charlotte’s wrist.
“Conrad never truly owned Solmere.”
A metal door slammed somewhere behind them.
Daniel’s face filled with fear.
“He knows you are here.”
The tunnel lights suddenly turned red.
May you like
Then Conrad Vale’s voice came through the emergency speakers.
“Welcome home, Charlotte.”
