Ethan looked at him and felt a memory move.
“Zoom in.”
Aaron lo hizo.
La cara del hombre se afiló.
Ethan lo conocía.
—Caleb Reed —dijo Ethan—.
Los ojos de Naomi se estrecharon. “¿Como en Reed Meridian?”
– Sí.
Lupita looked between them. “Is that another hotel company?”
“Equidad privada”, dijo Ethan. “Compran activos de hospitalidad en dificultades, recortan personal, venden los bienes raíces y lo llaman eficiencia”.
Naomi swiped to another document.
“Reed Meridian made an unsolicited offer for the Grand Regent Chicago nine months ago.”
“Lo he rechazado”.
“Y tres semanas después”, dijo Naomi, “Robert firmó el primer contrato de North Harbor”.
The room went quiet.
There it was.
The shape behind the insult.
El motivo detrás de la podredumbre.
Robert had not merely been lazy.
He had been useful.
A hotel with discrimination complaints, staff turnover, guest mistreatment, deleted HR files, and viral lobby footage could become a wounded asset.
A wounded asset could become a bargain.
And a bargain could make Caleb Reed very rich.
Lupita’s voice was low. “So they wanted the hotel to fail.”
Ethan looked at the photo.
“No. They wanted it to bleed just enough that I would sell it.”
El teléfono de Aaron zumbaba.
Lo comprobó.
“Las cámaras exteriores atraparon a alguien cerca del muelle de carga a las 2:14 a.m. El mismo hombre”.
Giró el teléfono hacia Ethan.
La imagen mostraba a Caleb Reed caminando junto a Robert Sterling cerca de la entrada del empleado. Robert llevaba una delgada carpeta negra.
Lupita se acercó más.
Sus ojos se abrieron.
“I’ve seen that folder.”
Ethan turned to her.
“Where?”
“In Robert’s office. He told me to never touch it.”
“What was inside?”
“No lo sé”, dijo ella. “Pero Patricia lo llevó a la recepción ayer por la tarde. Parecía asustada”.
