Noah Was Pulled Away From a Hotel Luggage Cart — Then His Toy Truck Revealed What Someone Had Hidden Beside the Wheel
Chapter 9 — Marcus Apologizes
Marcus was not treated like a hero.
He had broken hotel rules.
He had taken access cards without authorization.
He had conducted his own investigation instead of reporting what he knew.
And most importantly to Emily…
he had grabbed Noah.
Marcus asked to speak with them before they checked out.
Noah stayed close to Emily.
Marcus crouched several feet away.
“I’m sorry I scared you.”
Noah looked at him.
“You pulled me.”
Marcus nodded.
“I did.”
“Why?”
Marcus answered honestly.
“Because I saw you reaching toward the place where I had hidden something, and I panicked.”
“The cards?”
“Yes.”
“Were they bad?”
Marcus thought about it.
“They weren’t bad by themselves. But people were using cards like them to do bad things.”
Noah looked toward his yellow truck.
“My truck found them.”
Marcus smiled.
“It definitely did.”
Emily looked at Marcus.
“You still had no right to grab him.”
“I know.”
“You could have told me immediately what was happening.”
Marcus nodded.
“I should have.”
David asked:
“Why didn’t you trust the hotel enough to report it?”
Marcus looked toward the lobby.
“Because every time I found something suspicious, the system seemed to point toward somebody different.”
Grant’s employee number.
Rebecca’s credentials.
Bell-service access.
Guest-relations information.
Marcus could not tell who was involved.
His secrecy almost made him look like the thief himself.
Emily understood the irony.
He had been hiding evidence because he was trying to discover the truth.
But once people saw him hiding something…
they naturally suspected him too.
