Chasing Ghosts by Lee Driver Page A

of
management who would notice her lack of adherence to dress
code.
    Next she put on tinted glasses, more to hide
her eyes than anything else. Her eyes were an unusual color and
would be the first thing people would remember. She looked at her
reflection in the mirror. This would do. The uniform was large
enough to hide her curves and she wasn’t wearing anything that was
too eye-catching to be memorable.
    She pulled on latex gloves and walked out of
the second floor restroom and down the hall to a red house phone.
She dialed the cardinal’s suite and listened while it rang several
times. After it went unanswered for a full minute, Sara hung up.
With luck, his entire entourage was with him at the Tyler
residence.
    A map on the wall near the employee entrance
pointed out the location of all the supply rooms. One was on the
floor just below the Presidential Suites. She didn’t know how
Skizzy did it but he made her a master key card for the Ritz so she
didn’t have to try to steal one from a cleaning cart.
    She rode the elevator to the eleventh floor.
Alternatives played in her head. What if housekeeping was in the
cardinal’s suite now? What if security was posted outside the room?
What if the security guard insisted on joining Sara in the room?
What if a member of management, knowing that housekeeping shouldn’t
be working after six o’clock, pulled her aside?
    As she wandered the hall, she heard music
coming from one of the rooms. Voices from a television set, the
news possibly. More voices arguing. Sometimes Sara wished she
didn’t have enhanced hearing. She concentrated on blocking out the
background sounds.
    As she approached the supply room, she pulled
the master key card from her pocket and opened the door. Cleaning
carts lined one wall. Towels and bed linens were stacked on shelves
above the carts. Cleaning supplies were on the shelves on the
opposite wall. Sara grabbed the closest cart, pushed it out of the
room and over to the elevator. Once on the elevator she pushed the
button for the twelfth floor. The doors closed but the elevator
didn’t move. Sara held her breath. Now what? She pushed the button
again. Still nothing. Sara inserted the key card into a slot
labeled Suites. The elevator moved.
    The lavish décor on the twelfth floor far
exceeded anything Sara had ever seen before. A rain forest of
plants surrounded a fountain in the middle of the atrium. She
checked the sign on the wall. Cardinal Esrey’s was the Cordova
Suite. Soft music was coming from one of the suites. Humming,
probably from refrigerators. Ice clinking. Someone was making a
drink in another suite.
    Moving quickly down the hall, Sara located
the Cordova Suite. There wasn’t anyone standing guard. So far so
good. She parked the cleaning cart just outside the door, grabbed a
few towels, then shoved the master key card in the slot. A green
light flashed. Slowly she pushed the door open, waited and
listened. She heard her pulse pounding in her ears. She gently
closed the door, then bolted it so no one could enter.
    She stepped into a living room with a vaulted
ceiling and dark wood furnishings, brocade sofas, and Oriental
carpeting. A fireplace was on the far wall with a large basket of
flowers set inside. Sara hadn’t seen anything this lavish since the
Tyler house. Floor to ceiling windows gave a magnificent view of
the Cedar Point Yacht Club in the distance. Lights from boats could
be seen offshore. A staircase to her right led to a second floor
loft, probably the bedrooms. Off to her left was a kitchen and bar
area. Further on was a dining room table large enough to seat
twelve, and beyond that a separate conference room. Hallways were
large enough to drive a car through.
    Sara could spend hours admiring the suite but
reminded herself she had work to do. She had three surveillance
bugs and had to pick the best places to plant them. Dagger was
curious to find out more about Esrey that might be hidden from the
public. The conference