Behind Closed Doors

Chapter 19

Brian took a deep breath and sighed heavily. He turned to face Sasha. "Do you remember when Hannah was about 18 months old and I took the kids to Toronto to surprise Leighanne while she was working on a movie?"

"Yes. It was for Mother's Day or something like that. She was working on that diamond theft movie wasn't she?"

"How do you remember these things?" Brian asked chuckling. Sasha shrugged. "Well, if you remember correctly, I intended to stay a week but I wound up only staying for the weekend."

"The shoot was being moved and you didn't want to take the kids on location."

Brian nodded. "Yes, that's what I told you."

"I take it that is not what happened."

Brian closed his eyes and shook his head. He gave up trying to control his tears and just let them fall at will. He bit his lip. "I got to hotel she was staying at around 11:00 a.m. We had spoken the night before and she had said she had nothing planned for the weekend so I expected her to be at the hotel. I didn't really think anything was wrong when she wasn't. I thought maybe she had gone shopping or something. I tried her cell phone but she didn't answer." He looked at Sasha who was listening intently. "I didn't have a key to her room so I waited around for a few minutes until the kids started getting fussy. I decided to take them down to the restaurant at the hotel to get something to eat. I dropped our luggage off at the concierge desk. I picked a table where I could see the elevators in case she came back while we were eating." Brian paused. He took several deep breaths and let them out slowly.

Sasha moved a little closer to Brian. She reached out and put her hand on his leg. "Brian, you look beat. This is very emotionally draining. I know I pushed you to tell me what happened but are you sure you want to do this tonight? Would you rather continue tomorrow?"

"No, Sawsh. I've started. I might as well continue." He took another deep breath. "I was just about to order when I saw Leighanne get into the elevator. I picked up Hannah and grabbed Tyler's hand. I recognized a guy in the lobby as one of the guys in the movie. He was making his way to the elevator as I left the restaurant." He shook his head. "I still didn't suspect anything. If Leighanne had a room at the hotel then it made sense he would have one too. I retrieved our luggage and headed for the elevator. I couldn't have been more than 5 minutes behind them. I knocked on Leighanne's door and was surprised to hear a male voice call out that he would answer the door since it was probably room service. I thought maybe I had the wrong room."


Chapter 20

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