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Kelli nodded, grateful he’d decided to take the lead. Without him, she would have drowned.
ChapterFifteen
Kelli and Xander burst from the kitchen and found themselves at the outer reaches of Amanda’s pre-wedding cocktail party. Kelli immediately fixed her face, smiling at her sister, Claire, who drank a cocktail and chatted with her daughters, Gail and Abby, and her niece, Rachel, who had a headset on and was presumably helping Charlotte with the wedding festivities.
“How are you doing?” Kelli asked as they breezed past.
“It’s a gorgeous wedding,” Claire said. “Has Charlotte tracked down that champagne yet?”
“I think she’s nearly there,” Kelli lied.
“Wonderful!” Claire said.
Kelli and Xander sped up, driving through the crowd. Once they reached the other side, they took the staircase to the third floor, where Kelli used her master key to open the security room. There, several TVs presented black-and-white images of various areas of the hotel: the foyer, the kitchen, several hallways, the ballroom, and the exterior. Kelli hadn’t gotten around to hiring someone to watch the televisions every day. She just hadn’t assumed the Aquinnah Cliffside would become one of those hotels that needed it. How wrong she’d been!
In the current image of the foyer, the wall held no painting.
“Can we rewind that particular video?” Kelli asked. “From what I remember, the painting was still there last night. I swear I talked about it with someone. Maybe a guest?”
“Of course.” Xander sat in front of the controls and began to press buttons that meant absolutely nothing to Kelli. But even when he rewound to yesterday, then three days before, then over a week ago— prior to the opening of the hotel itself, the spot on the wall remained empty, as though the painting had never existed.
“Weird,” Xander muttered.
“I know for a fact the painting was there over a week ago,” Kelli insisted. “It was only hung a few days before the opening party!”
“I watched you and the designer handling it,” Xander told her. “But that means someone has tampered with the security footage.”
“No…” Kelli breathed. “I mean, who would do that?”
“Someone wanted to hide that they’d taken the painting. They’ve somehow tapped into the system to play the same footage on a loop rather than showing any video footage where the painting was there. I guess it’s a form of gaslighting. It’s sort of genius.”
“What about the other footage?” Kelli demanded. “What about the kitchen?” She noted in the current video that the chef’s knife was not located in its normal spot.
“Let’s check.” Xander tried to erase the footage all the way back to yesterday, but the footage remained similar, on a loop.
“There’s no way the knife wasn’t there yesterday,” Kelli said. “Chef Billiard always puts it exactly in the same place. And he must have used it this morning!”
To check, Kelli texted Charlotte.
KELLI: Hey! Can you ask Chef Billiard if he had his knife this morning?
CHARLOTTE: No can do. I’m in panic-mode, trying to find these champagne crates. I don’t have time to track down some psychopath’s knife.
Kelli closed her eyes, feeling suddenly as though she and Charlotte were teenagers, squabbling about something at home rather than two grown adults trying to keep their businesses afloat. She wanted to write back:thanks for nothing, but she stopped herself. Charlotte was stressed.
“I mean, there’s no way that a painting of that size got out of the hotel without someone seeing it,” Kelli said suddenly.
Xander nodded. “Someone must have seen it being moved, at least.”
“We should ask the staff. Even the guests, as long as we find a way to word it that doesn’t frighten them.”
“Let’s do it,” Xander said.
Downstairs, Kelli found Sandra behind the front desk, helping a twenty-something who was on her honeymoon with recommendations for places to eat in Oak Bluffs. Kelli waited, impressed with how cheery Sandra was, despite the stress.
“Sandra,” Kelli said, as soon as the twenty-something left. “We have a big problem.”
Sandra tilted her head. “What’s going on, Kelli?”
