The Missing Minutes

I stopped arguing with Caroline.

That bothered her more than anything.

She sent messages.

I saved them.

She called.

I let them go to voicemail.

She complained to relatives.

I didn’t chase them down to correct her.

Instead, I built a timeline.

The baby shower began at two.

Caroline arrived at 1:37.

Gregory entered the ballroom at approximately 1:40.

My mother remembered seeing them together around 1:45.

The speeches began at 3:18.

Caroline shoved me sometime around 3:31.

The ambulance wasn’t called because the hotel had a nurse among the guests who checked me first, and Ethan drove me to the hospital immediately afterward.

At 4:07, while I was on my way to the hospital, Caroline had apparently remained at the hotel.

That detail came from Rachel.

“You didn’t know?” she asked when I called.

“Know what?”

“She stayed.”

My skin prickled.

“For how long?”

“I don’t know. Twenty minutes? Maybe longer.”

“Why?”

“I assumed she was embarrassed.”

“Was Gregory there?”

Silence.

Then Rachel said, “Actually… yes.”

“What were they doing?”

“I saw them talking near the service corridor.”

I closed my eyes.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

There it was.

Not proof.

But a path.

I contacted the Bellmont’s corporate office again and asked them to preserve access logs relating to the ballroom surveillance system.

This time, they answered quickly.

They couldn’t provide internal security records to me, they said.

But my request had been forwarded to their legal department.

Legal department.

That told me something.

The hotel was taking the disappearance seriously.

Caroline apparently was too.

Two days later, Ethan received a call from his father.

Richard had remained mostly silent since the baby shower.

He was a quiet man who had spent thirty-five years surviving Caroline by stepping out of the path of every storm.

“Your mother says Madison is trying to get Gregory fired,” he told Ethan.

I was sitting beside him and could hear the conversation.

“Why would Gregory get fired?” Ethan asked.

A long silence.

“I don’t know.”

“Then why is Mom worried about it?”

Another silence.

Richard lowered his voice.

“She said the hotel is investigating him.”

My eyes met Ethan’s.

“Why?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Dad.”

“I don’t want to be in the middle of this.”

“You’re already in it.”

Richard sighed.

Then he said something that changed everything.

“Your mother called Gregory from the car after the shower.”

I stopped breathing.

“How do you know?”

“She used my phone.”

Ethan stood.

“Why?”

“She said hers was almost dead.”

“Did you hear what she said?”

“No. She got out of the car.”

“But you saw who she called?”

“Gregory’s name was in the recent calls.”

I grabbed a notebook.

“What time?”

Ethan asked him.

Richard thought for a moment.

“Maybe four thirty.”

I wrote it down.

Caroline had stayed behind after shoving me.

She had spoken to Gregory.

Then she had called him again.

And days later, the recording disappeared.

Still not proof.

But the circle was tightening.

Then something unexpected happened.

My mother called.

“Madison, do you remember the waiter Caroline yelled at?”

I frowned.

“What waiter?”

“The young man near the dessert table.”

A memory surfaced.

Caroline snapping her fingers.

A tray tilting.

A young server apologizing.

Caroline saying loudly, “Do they hire anyone competent here?”

I had been across the room when it happened.

I remembered feeling embarrassed for him.

“Barely.”

“Well, he called me.”

I sat upright.

“What?”

“He got my number from the event contact sheet. He said he has something you need to see.”

My heart started pounding.

“What?”

“He wouldn’t tell me.”

“What’s his name?”

“Luis.”

“Did he say what he wants?”

“No.”

That frightened me.

After everything with the hotel, I trusted no one connected to it.

But Mom added, “He sounded nervous.”

I looked at Ethan.

“When can we meet him?”

That evening, we met Luis at a coffee shop six blocks from the Bellmont.

He was younger than I remembered, maybe twenty-three.

He kept looking toward the windows.

When I thanked him for meeting us, he rubbed his palms against his jeans.

“I probably shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Then why are you?”

His expression hardened slightly.

“Because your mother-in-law lies.”

I said nothing.

He looked down at the table.

“She treated me like garbage that day.”

“I remember.”

“She said I was incompetent because I brought sparkling water instead of still water. Then she complained to my supervisor because I didn’t call her ‘Mrs. Bennett’ every time I spoke to her.”

Despite everything, I almost smiled.

That sounded exactly like Caroline.

Luis continued.

“After that, I started recording.”

My pulse jumped.

“Recording what?”

“Her.”

“Why?”

“Because she said she was going to get me fired. I wanted proof if she lied about me.”

He reached into his pocket.

Pulled out his phone.

Then placed it on the table between us.

“I didn’t know I was recording you too.”

My mouth went dry.

Luis unlocked the screen.

There was a video.

The thumbnail showed the ballroom.

The stage.

Me.

And Caroline.

I reached for Ethan’s hand.

Luis looked at me.

“The hotel’s video isn’t the only video.”

Then he pressed play.