Chapter 1 - THE BOY BY THE GOLD ELEVATORS
Walter Hayes had been sitting beside the east elevators for thirty-seven minutes when Vanessa Cole decided he was embarrassing the hotel.
She had noticed him ten minutes earlier.
An old man in clean but worn clothes.
A faded canvas bag between his shoes.
An eight-year-old boy sitting close beside him.
Neither of them looked like they belonged beneath the chandeliers of Manhattan's Grand Meridian Hotel.
Vanessa looked like she had been built for the lobby.
Cream cashmere.
Gold earrings.
Shopping bags from stores Walter had only ever seen from sidewalks.
She stopped in front of them.
Walter looked up.
“Can I help you?”
Vanessa reached into her handbag.
For one stupid second, Walter thought she might be looking for a phone.
Instead, she pulled out a handful of coins.
Then threw them.
They struck the marble around Walter's shoes.
Quarters spun beneath the nearest chair.
A dime bounced against Ethan's sneaker.
Vanessa looked down at Walter.
“Take it. Then disappear.”
Ethan flinched.
Walter pulled him closer.
He did not touch the money.
“Grandpa?”
“Stay here.”
Vanessa looked irritated by his refusal.
“You're blocking the private elevators.”
“We're sitting beside them.”
“Same difference.”
Walter said nothing.
That seemed to bother her more.
She kicked the nearest coins.
Metal scattered across the lobby.
One rolled almost twenty feet before disappearing beneath an upholstered bench.
Walter slowly stood.
At sixty-eight, he was not as tall as he used to be.
He still put himself between Vanessa and Ethan.
“We're not begging.”
Vanessa looked him over.
“Then leave.”
“No.”
That finally made her pay attention.
Walter looked past her.
At the gold elevator doors.
“We were told to wait here.”
Vanessa's expression changed slightly.
“Told by who?”
Walter did not answer.
Ethan turned toward the elevators too.
He had been watching them since they arrived.
Vanessa noticed.
She looked from the boy to Walter.
Then at the old bag.
“What exactly are you waiting for?”
Walter said:
“Someone who knows why we're here.”
Vanessa stepped closer.
“Not in this lobby.”
Walter stayed where he was.
She grabbed the front of his jacket.
Ethan stood.
“Hey!”
Walter jerked free immediately.
Then stepped in front of the boy.
“Don't touch me.”
Vanessa reached again.
The elevator behind her chimed.
One clean, expensive sound.
Everyone stopped.
Gold doors slid apart.
Marcus Reed stepped out.
Dark tailored suit.
No luggage.
No phone in his hand.
He saw Walter.
Slowed.
Then his eyes shifted.
Ethan.
Marcus stopped completely.
It was not recognition in the normal sense.
It looked more like a man watching something he had spent years making sure never happened.
Walter instinctively put one arm across Ethan's shoulders.
Vanessa turned toward Marcus.
He did not look at her.
He took one slow step out of the elevator.
His eyes remained fixed on the boy.
“Did anyone else see the boy?”
Walter froze.
Vanessa slowly turned back toward Ethan.
Ethan looked from Marcus to his grandfather.
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“What does he mean?”
Nobody answered.
