Chapter 6: The Man in the Gray Suit
Rose was not outside.
Claire pushed through the hotel's side door into the service lane and found two of the catering staff sharing a cigarette, a delivery driver checking his phone, and no one else.
She went back through the lobby.
Past the front desk, past the concierge, toward the main entrance.
A woman from the catering company stopped her at the corridor junction.
"She left," the woman said.
She was older, mid-fifties, with the kind of face that had seen a great deal and stopped being surprised by most of it.
"The young girl.
Rose.
Security walked her to the car park and she got into a car."
"Whose car?"
"I don't know.
A dark one.
Already waiting."
Claire stood in the middle of the corridor in her wedding dress.
"There was a man," she said.
"Inside.
During the ceremony.
Gray suit, older, near the main doors.
Did you see him leave?"
The woman thought about it.
"He went outside maybe twenty minutes ago.
Made a phone call.
Then he came back in and sat down again."
"He came back?"
"He's still in there, I think."
Claire turned and walked back toward the ballroom.
She pushed the door open slowly.
The room had not recovered.
Guests were clustered in small groups, speaking in low voices.
The string quartet had stopped playing.
Several people looked up when she entered.
She ignored them.
She scanned the room.
He was at a table near the back.
Alone.
A glass of water in front of him, untouched.
When he saw her walking toward him, he didn't stand up.
He didn't look away either.
She stopped at his table.
"You know who I am," she said.
"Yes." His voice was careful.
Not unkind.
"Who are you?"
He looked at her for a moment.
Then he reached into his jacket and placed a business card on the table between them.
She picked it up.
*Graham Alcott.
Family Law.
Specialist in wrongful separation and adoption irregularities.*
She looked up.
"Clara contacted me eight months ago," he said.
"She found my name through the charity that helped her trace you.
I've been building a case since February."
Claire sat down.
She didn't ask permission.
Her legs had decided.
"A case against Eleanor Voss."
"Against Eleanor Voss and two others who co-authorized the separation.
What your sister found — what she sent to this hotel this morning — is the last piece I needed." He folded his hands on the table.
"I wasn't sure she was going to get it to you.
I came today because I needed to know if she had."
"She did." Claire set the papers on the table.
"It's all here."
Graham Alcott looked at the documents.
He didn't touch them.
He just looked, the way a man looks at something he has been waiting a long time to see.
"Where is Clara?" Claire said.
Something moved across his face.
"She was admitted to hospital three days ago," he said.
"She has been unwell for some time.
She didn't tell Rose how serious it was because she didn't want Rose to stop trying to reach you."
Claire's hand went flat on the table.
"How serious."
Graham looked at her steadily.
"Serious enough that she wasn't certain she would be well enough to come today herself.
That's why she sent Rose.
That's why the envelope was already in that room."
The ballroom noise continued around them.
Somewhere to Claire's left, a woman laughed at something.
The sound was completely wrong for the moment.
"Which hospital?" Claire said.
He told her.
She stood up, gathered the documents, and looked at Graham Alcott.
"Will you come with me?"
"I have a car outside," he said, already rising.
They were at the door when Eleanor's voice came from behind them, sharp and carrying.
"Claire.
Those documents belong to a sealed court record.
If you remove them from this building, I will have you charged."
Claire stopped.
Turned around.
Every head in the room turned with her.
She held the documents up so the room could see them.
"These are the papers that separated me from my sister when I was six years old," she said.
Clearly.
Calmly.
Loud enough.
"The woman threatening me right now signed them."
May you like
She turned back to the door.
And walked out.
