Page 75 of Aydin

“Tell me what I can help you with?” Stephanie pushed the box of tissues in front of me. I grabbed it and folded one in my hand.

“I was here a few weeks ago, maybe months, for Senator Edgar’s daughter.”

“Oh, we love Senator Edgar here.”

She smiled, and I returned in kind, piling on how much I loved my job as his assistant.

“I’ll be sure to tell him you’ve been a big help.”

“What can we do for you?”

“Well, I need to see the video footage of that night and the guest list.”

She shifted her eyes from behind me to her computer.

“Unfortunately, that’s something I can’t allow.”

“I completely understand, but you’d be doing me a huge favor.”

Stephanie typed on her computer.

“He wanted to get thank you notes sent out to everyone on behalf of his daughter.”

“Mmmmm…”

“Is something wrong?”

“Between you and me, Addison’s not liked very much at this hotel. She’s always rude to the staff.” Stephanie leaned back from the counter.

“That’s not the first time I’ve heard that about her and probably won’t be the last.”

Stephanie pulled up a file of the guest list. I didn’t want to go in the office and grab a copy when it was blocked for security reasons. He’d know I was doing more digging.

“Please don’t tell anyone you got this from me.” Stephanie hit print, and the documents came up on the printer. She grabbed the two-page copy and placed it on top of the counter.

“Follow me, and I’ll show you the footage.”

“Thank you so much, Stephanie.”

Another clerk came up to the counter, and Stephanie motioned for me to follow. We headed to the employee office and sat at her desk. Stephanie set up the footage on her computer.

“Do you have a specific time?”

“I do, and you don’t have to wait with me. I’d rather you not get in trouble.”

Stephanie raised her wrist and checked the time on her watch.

“I’ll give you five minutes, and I’ll be back.”

“Thank you again. You won’t regret this.”

“Sure. Anytime it involves Addison, I feel bad for the other person.”

How would I tell her that Addison was more involved and controlling behind the Chatsworth family business? Stephanie left, and I sat in the chair to pull up four different camera angles, fast-forwarding to the times I saw Edgar or Addison in talks with a person or two. Most of the night, Addison put on a fake smile and greeted guests at the door. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tristan and the guy I bumped into make eye contact. Mostly, Addison steered clear of him. Edgar seemed oblivious throughout the entire night while he mixed and mingled with the guests. The moment I saw Aydin and I walk to the back, Addison scanned, then snatched out of another man’s hold, and went to follow us.

“Stephanie, we need to go over the quarterly reports.” I heard from the other side of the door. I didn’t have time to copy the footage but emailed myself a screenshot of the gentleman right after I walked away from him. There I noticed he went into the room Addison and Tristan were in and didn’t leave for a while. The door opened in the office, I cleared the screen, and jumped up to leave.

“Who are you?” an older woman with glasses and short, brown hair asked. Her badge was labeled manager, and I knew it was time to go.

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