Room 417

The hotel had once occupied the building next door. A renovation had joined the properties and removed its upper floor. Room 417 had been a narrow apartment where a violin teacher lived between engagements.

The umbrella belonged to her daughter. On the night the old hotel closed, mother and daughter had argued. The daughter left; the owner promised to forward anything she forgot. He never did.

Leah found the teacher's address in a paper account book. The woman in green was not her daughter. She was a student who had recognized the umbrella in a photograph on the hotel's history page.

She had left the note as a challenge, believing nobody would bother. Leah set the account book on the desk and began dialing.