The Woman in the Security Footage
Chapter 10 - The Woman in the Security Footage
The hotel’s security system had been disabled for eleven minutes during the wedding ceremony.
Long enough for someone to enter Room 614.
Margaret had remained in the ballroom, surrounded by witnesses.
She had not taken the documents herself.
The security director who confronted Thomas denied entering the hotel. His key-card history supported his claim.
Someone else had helped her.
Rosa checked the service elevators. One camera operated on a separate system and had continued recording.
The footage showed a woman in a bridesmaid dress entering the sixth-floor hallway.
Sarah went pale beside me.
The woman had the same height, hair and blue gown as my best friend.
I turned toward her.
“Tell me that isn’t you.”
Sarah leaned closer to the monitor.
“It looks like me, but I never left the bridal floor.”
The footage time stamp showed the woman entering Room 614 eight minutes before Henry walked into the ballroom.
Sarah had been with me then.
At least I remembered her being there.
My wedding morning had been a blur of makeup artists, photographers and relatives.
“Who else had your dress?” Henry asked.
Sarah’s expression changed.
“My sister.”
Rachel Collins had arrived late and spent most of the morning complaining that she had been excluded from the wedding party.
She and Sarah had not spoken in months.
Margaret had personally invited Rachel to the ceremony.
We found her car gone from the parking lot.
Sarah called repeatedly until Rachel finally answered.
“I didn’t steal anything,” Rachel said before Sarah could ask a question.
That told us enough.
Margaret had promised Rachel fifty thousand dollars to wear a duplicate bridesmaid dress, enter Room 614 and remove a metal evidence case from the safe.
“Where is it now?” Sarah demanded.
“I left it in Margaret’s car.”
Margaret’s car had departed the hotel thirty minutes earlier, driven by a valet.
The police issued an alert.
Then Henry received a call from the county courthouse.
Margaret had filed a petition claiming my mother’s trust was invalid due to fraud.
She had attached a signed affidavit from someone stating that Nora had admitted forging Franklin Whitmore’s signature.
“Who signed it?” I asked.
Henry turned the screen toward me.
The affidavit bore Thomas Whitmore’s name.
Thomas stared at it.
“I never signed that.”
Daniel examined the signature.
“It looks exactly like yours.”
“It should,” Thomas said.
He looked toward his son with open shame.
“Margaret has been signing my name for thirty years.”
Before we could respond, Rosa hurried into the office.
“The police found Margaret’s car.”
“Was the evidence case inside?”
May you like
Rosa shook her head.
“The car was empty, and the driver was unconscious.”
