Silas lifted the private security phone without taking his eyes off the monitor.
The man on the camera feed was standing just beyond the employee entrance, one shoulder against the wall, pretending to study his phone.
Every few seconds he looked toward the elevators.
Wren had stopped buttoning her blouse.
Her hands hung motionless at her sides.
Silas watched the camera for another five seconds before asking, “Is that him?”
She didn’t answer.
He turned toward her.
“Wren.”
Her eyes remained fixed on the screen.
“Yes.”
Silas pressed one button on the phone.
A voice answered immediately.
“Mr.
Wentworth?”
“Lock the staff elevators at forty-six.
Nobody comes to forty-seven.
Preserve every camera recording covering the lobby, east stairwell, service entrance and employee corridors from midnight forward.”
Wren stared at him.
Silas continued.
“The man currently outside the service elevators is not authorized to be there.
Do not send one employee to confront him alone.
Have security intercept him in a public camera-covered area.”
He ended the call.
Wren looked horrified.
“You didn’t have to do that.”
“He entered a restricted employee area.”
“This is my problem.”
“He made it the hotel’s problem when he walked through that door.”
She looked toward the monitor again.
The man had begun pacing.
Silas saw the fear return to her face before she could hide it.
“He’ll know I said something.”
“He already followed you to work.”
“You don’t understand.”
Silas’s gaze settled on the bruise.
“I understand enough.”
Wren folded her arms across herself.
“If he loses his temper because security throws him out, he’ll just wait somewhere else.”
Silas said nothing for a moment.
That was the first useful thing she had told him about the situation without trying to minimize it.
Not because she wanted help.
Because she was trying to warn him away from helping.
“How did he get inside the employee corridor?” Silas asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Does he work here?”
“No.”
“Has he ever worked here?”
“No.”
“Then somebody failed.”
Wren gave him an exhausted look.
“People fail all the time.”
Silas turned back to the cameras.
“Not in my hotel without me finding out why.”
On the screen, two uniformed security officers appeared at opposite ends of the corridor.
Neither rushed.
