Chapter 54
Sean stared at the broken liquor bottles and the aged liquid puddled around the broken shards of glass. The zip ties Sean had used to restrain Marco were cut and discarded. This was an oversight Sean would regret.
Sean moved quickly through the tunnel, following Marco’s trail all the way to the shed. One of the sharper trowels was missing, but there were several different tools Marco could have taken with him to use as a weapon.
Sean exited the shed carefully. Marco had taken the other pair of snowshoes, and Sean wasn’t wearing the ones he had used earlier.
Sean found the trail headed back toward the road, away from the hotel, but Sean saw no signs of Marco nearby.
Worried that Marco might have doubled back, Sean returned to the tunnel, moving as fast as he could through the cramped space, then sprinted through the speakeasy, darted up the spiral staircase, and raced through the kitchen before spilling out into the hallway.
Sean half expected to find Marco having gathered everyone from their room and put on their knees, prepared to be shot in the head, execution-style, but instead, he found everyone exactly where he’d left them.
The families turned toward Sean, concerned, but he was relieved to find everyone okay. Before he answered anyone’s questions, Sean hurried back up to the rooftop entrance and made sure the door was locked.
Marco would be dealt with later, but right now, Sean needed to regroup and think through his next moves.
The first thing Sean wanted to do was gather everyone in one room and make sure no one else could sneak off, so he brought everyone back into the dining room and had them stay put while he checked every nook and cranny of the hotel.
Sean didn’t want any more surprises or anyone else hiding, so he cleared the rooms, both from the guests and the staff, then the common areas of the pool, the rose garden and atrium, the library, the lobby, and the kitchen.
Marco was nowhere to be found and, aside from Karla Grayson, everyone was accounted for.
Sean then turned to the people he had arrested and restrained so far. Roger and the chef were restrained, and while they denied any part in the bride’s death or Karla Grayson’s abduction, they were guilty of running drugs.
Then, there was Ben and Julie, both of whom confessed to having a fight with the bride last night, but denied committing any physical harm to her.
Both Jonathan Travis and Ray Cranton, the two single males staying at the hotel, had either spoken to Karla Grayson or watched her from a distance. Sean thought back to the stalker letters sent to Roman Grayson and the threats they contained. Either of them could have been the culprit.
Frank Maynard already had a history of charges brought against him, and while he was found innocent, his own wife doubted his innocence.
Everyone had done something wrong, and yet no one had confessed to the two major crimes Sean was investigating.
It took a lot for Sean to lose patience. He had worked his fair share of hard cases, but this was like running around in circles. And with every passing second, they inched closer to the kidnapper’s deadline.
Sean’s phone buzzed. He saw it was Rivers, and he breathed a sigh of relief, hoping his deputy had some good news for him. “Hey,” Sean said.
“I’ve got the financial audit back for the Grayson family,” Rivers said. “But before I tell you, the ransom note was for ten million, right?”
“Yes,” Sean answered.
“Not, like, eight million, or eleven million or?—”
“It was ten million,” Sean said.
“Well, I’ll give you three guesses as to how much the Graysons’ kidnapping insurance policy was for their daughter,” Rivers said.
Sean looked over at Mr. and Mrs. Grayson, still in the dining room, huddled together while Jennie spoke to them. “I probably won’t need the three guesses. When did they take out the policy?”
“That’s where it gets interesting,” Rivers said. “The policy was taken out once their daughter started attending school, but it was updated last week from five million to ten million.”
“That is interesting,” Sean said.
“And it gets better,” Rivers said, and then added quickly, “Sorry, poor choice of words. But the girl’s father’s business is going bankrupt. Too many bad deals. They are literally days away from going under.”
“That bad?” Sean asked.
“Yes, and apparently this is a secret,” Rivers replied. “The Feds were able to get me this information, but it came with some caveats from the company’s lawyers. The press is about to break the story on Monday, but for now it’s under wraps.”
“Jonathan Travis will be disappointed that someone else is working on a story about the Grayson family,” Sean answered. “Any chance the company can be saved?”
“It doesn’t appear so,” Rivers answered. “Even if they were to come up with the money, it appears the sale has already happened.”
It appeared Roman Grayson’s wealth was about to take a turn, but Sean wasn’t sure if the father was willing to fake an abduction for ten million dollars. Then again, Sean had seen people do far worse for far less money.