Room 217
Chapter 04 - Room 217
The motel was forty minutes from downtown and a world away from the marble lobby where Ellie had appeared.
Daniel drove himself.
He could not remember the last time he had done that.
Ellie sat in the passenger seat clutching the brown envelope against her chest. She had refused breakfast, then eaten half a bagel when Daniel stopped asking.
Room 217 smelled faintly of bleach and old carpet.
Two twin beds.
One broken lamp.
A plastic grocery bag filled with children’s clothes.
Daniel stood in the center of the room and tried to imagine his sister living there.
He failed.
Rachel had grown up in a house with six bedrooms.
She had learned piano on a Steinway.
She had once refused to wear the same dress twice during her senior year of high school.
Now her daughter slept beside a humming ice machine in a motel off the interstate.
Daniel turned away so Ellie would not see his face.
The motel manager remembered Rachel.
“She worked nights at the Sunrise Diner,” he said. “Paid weekly. Quiet woman.”
“When did you last see her?”
“Three nights ago.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“Did anyone come here?”
The manager hesitated.
“A man in a Mercer company car.”
Ellie grabbed Daniel’s sleeve.
Daniel looked at the manager.
“You’re sure?”
“Black sedan. Your logo on the door.”
Daniel pulled out his phone.
“Did you see the driver?”
“No. But your sister argued with somebody in the parking lot. Next morning, her room had been paid through the week.”
“By whom?”
The manager looked embarrassed.
“Mercer Urban Relocation Services.”
Daniel knew the division.
It handled temporary housing for residents displaced by demolition projects.
He looked around the motel room again.
Then he saw the folder on the nightstand.
CITY OF CHICAGO — RELOCATION NOTICE.
He opened it.
The address listed was 418 West Alder Street.
Daniel knew that address too.
Mercer Urban Holdings had purchased the entire block six months earlier.
Luxury condos were scheduled to break ground in September.
He looked at Ellie.
“Did you live there?”
She nodded.
“Mom said we weren’t supposed to leave. She said the building belonged to people like us before people like you wanted it.”
The words hurt because they sounded like Rachel.
Daniel searched the folder.
At the bottom was a caseworker’s number.
He called.
The woman on the other end went quiet when he said Rachel’s name.
Then she asked, “Are you family?”
“Yes.”
There was a pause.
“Mr. Mercer, your sister was admitted to County General two nights ago.”
Daniel closed his eyes.
“Is she alive?”
“Yes.”
May you like
He nearly collapsed with relief.
Then the caseworker said, “But she has refused to let anyone from your family know where she is.”
