Book Title: STRANGERS BEHIND CLOSED DOORS
Character Names: Redding Stark and Giovanni Mason
Interviewer: How did you meet?
Giovanni Mason: A misunderstanding. I had a… disagreement with an old friend when I checked her into her room.
Redding Stark (fidgets with her microphone): That’s how you’re gonna phrase it? A "disagreement"?
Giovanni: It was -
Redding: You slapped Natalie in front of a restaurant full of people. She went missing a few hours later along with her boyfriend. The hotel room was a mess. Me and my partner, French, were called in to investigate. You were the last to see Natalie. That’s how we met.
Giovanni: The last few hours are… a little hazy, but I know who I am. I know what I did. Or didn’t do, in this case.
Interviewer: I… uh, that’s quite the introduction. Let’s try something simpler. How would you describe your family or your childhood?
Redding: Southside, Wild 100s. Dad raised me. It was nice.
Giovanni (leans back into her chair, crossing her arms): Really, Red? That’s how you’re gonna phrase it?
Redding (clenches her jaw): That’s all I need to share for now. She’s still got a million questions left, Gio.
Giovanni (cuts her eyes at Redding, then takes a deep breath): Call me Giovanni. Please. Anyway, I grew up in Englewood, a community on the South Side of Chicago. And most of people at The Ivory had a hand in raising me: Mecca, Teddy, valets, housekeeping. Momma took me to work with her… a lot. I miss those days.
Interviewer: Why don’t we try and lighten the mood a bit more with another question. What’s your greatest talent?
Redding: My instincts. Doesn’t matter what I see, there’s always something deeper. People and situations are never what you think they are. I keep digging until I’m satisfied. And I’m right, most of the time.
Interviewer: And when you’re wrong?
Redding (looks away): Then I pay the price.
Giovanni: I can read people. I know what you need before you do. What you say and don’t. How you hold your body. It’s a code I’ve learned to break. It’s kinda my superpower. I also gotta pretty mean left hook.
Redding: Yeah, I was gonna say something about you fighting.
Giovanni (begrudgingly chuckles): Yeah, I guess a left hook could be considered a hidden talent.
Redding: Not so hidden in my opinion.
Giovanni: Well, you don’t sit like a lump on a log, Detective Stark.
Interviewer: Alright, looks like the mood is getting a bit lighter. Any special someone in your lives?
Giovanni: The Ivory. No time for anything else.
Redding (smiles for the first time): Is this gonna help with the story?
Interviewer: Most people want a small glimpse into my subjects’ personal lives. It could certainly get more eyes on your story.
Redding (sighs): Fine. Emmett, my husband.
Interviewer: I wanna piggyback off my last question. What’s the biggest challenge in relationships? Any relationship?
Redding and Giovanni: Trust.
Giovanni: You never really know a person. Pinpointing needs and wants are easy. The motivations behind why someone wants what they want, that’s the tricky part.
Redding: As a Chicago police detective, you see what others are capable of, then I… then you start thinking about what you’re capable of, what are the ones closest to you are capable of.
Giovanni: That’s scary as hell.
Redding nods.
Interviewer: Mind if I ask where do you both live?
Redding: I live where I’m at.
Giovanni (rolls her eyes): I reside in Hyde Park, still on the South Side of Chicago, lots of shops, restaurants, a new art gallery called L’Atelier Rouge opened a year or so ago. I send a ton of guests there. Fair to say that Hyde Park is more cared for, developed, than other communities on the South Side. One of the few places where white people live. A big part of that is because the University of Chicago invested in the neighborhood. When big organizations with big money invest in a community, it flourishes, but then Black people are pushed out. Though I’m not telling you about something you don’t know about, or am I?
Interviewer clears her throat: I’m afraid not. But now that we’re touching on some deeper things, motivations, family, gentrification, relationships, do either of you believe you have any enemies?
Redding laughs wryly: I’m police. And I’m a Black woman. I’m literally fighting against the world. What kind of question is that?
Giovanni: I’m sure what Redding means to say is that it’s a great privilege to be a Black woman, but it comes at a peril to us, our peace, our physical safety. Hence my left hook and her gun. Anyway, from my perspective it’s just… I just… well, I don’t think I have enemies, at least not at The Ivory. Guests would have to see you as a person first. I considered Natalie a friend and some could argue she turned into an enemy. Well, maybe not an enemy, but it’s complicated with her, with Natalie.
Redding: My dad used to play this song by this group called The Persuaders. A Thin Line Between Love and Hate.
Interviewer: I love that song! My uncle played it all the time!
Giovanni (shrugs): Can’t say I know the song. Sounds like something Momma or Mecca would listen to though.
Interviewer: Okay, back to it. How do you feel about The Ivory? Is there something you’re particularly attached to, or particularly repelled by?
Redding (adjusts her microphone again): That place makes my skin itch.
Giovanni: You don’t know The Ivory like I do. The secret entrances and exits, the light that hits you in the front entrance, the windows that frame Chicago as a piece of art from a thousand different angles. This place was founded by someone horrible, no doubt. It houses some horrible people, too, but that doesn’t take away from what I do, nor the hundreds of other people who work there.
Redding: You talk about The Ivory the way people talk about their toxic spouses. You don’t know them like I do.
Giovanni: Whatever, Redding.
Interviewer: Why don’t we return to something lighter? Do you have children, pets, both, or neither?
Giovanni (crosses her legs): No children. No pets. I don’t have that… capacity. Least I don’t think I do.
Redding: You need to know if I have a child? Why?
Giovanni (glances at Redding’s duty weapon): Red, just answer the question. No one’s gonna come at you.
Redding: Hudson. My son’s name is Hudson. No pets. No time for that.
Interviewer: Let’s go over what do you do for a living.
Giovanni: Oh, I didn’t give you my full title. I’m the Head Concierge at The Chicago Ivory Hotel and Resort. My mom, Diedre, worked in housekeeping at The Ivory. She had to… retire. But I’m hoping once she’s feeling better, we can take a little vacation. She hasn’t been out of the city in years.
Redding: I already told you what I do.
Interviewer: You care to share your greatest disappointment?
Redding: Unsolved cases. Five victims in particular: Nivea, Stacey, Annette, Olivia, and Mia. Media didn’t pick up their stories, but it’s missing Black women. No one cares when we go missing. There’s an apathy when we disappear. But I’m not giving up. No matter what anyone says, not my partner, not my boss, not my husband. I’ve come too far and it’s cost too much. That’s the only reason I’m doing this interview. No offense.
Interviewer: None taken. Giovanni?
Giovanni: I have tendency to sometimes let my temper take over. My mom says it’s 'cause I’m an Aries. She’s not wrong. Like with Natalie when we fought at that party.
Interviewer: I thought the fight was at a restaurant?
Giovanni: I was referring to a disagreement in college.
Redding: Really with the "disagreement" again, Giovanni?
Interviewer: Wait! So there was another fight with Natalie?
Giovanni: Yes, that’s why we hadn’t seen each other in, like, five years.
Redding: And it was technically assault in the restaurant.
Giovanni (his eyes darken as she looks at Redding): Natalie shouldn’t have said what she said, Red. I’m not proud of what I did, but Natalie isn’t innocent either.
Interviewer: Let’s try and lighten the mood again. Why don’t you both give me your greatest source of joy?
Redding: Besides my son and my husband, I have to say it’s clearing cases. Let me find those women, I’ll have a reason to keep doing what I’m doing.
Giovanni: Saying "No" brings me joy. Or a quiet day with no guest demands. No wealth. No expectations.
Interviewer: Why don’t we try another fun question. What do you do to entertain yourself or have fun?
Giovanni: I think I wanna start going to karaoke. I have a nice voice. Won a talent contest back in college. Natalie made me participate though.
Interviewer: Got a song in mind?
Giovanni: Whatever I Am, You Made Me. KoKo Taylor. You wanna come to karaoke with me, Redding?
Redding: You don’t want me singing. I’d be guilty of a musical crime. You should ask Frenchie.
Giovanni: Pass. You know I don’t like him.
Interviewer: Care to share your greatest personal failing, in your view?
Redding: Back to the fun questions. I told you about the women: Nivea, Stacey, Annette, Olivia, and Mia. I can’t… I haven’t brought them home. Yet. But maybe Natalie’ll be different. I’m praying I can find her.
Giovanni: You can find Natalie faster with my help. ‘Cause I’m going to figure out where she is, either way.
Redding: Unless you already know, Gio.
Giovanni: I told you to call me Giovanni. And I don’t know where she is.
Interviewer: Umm… Giovanni. Greatest personal failing?
Giovanni: I can struggle to keep my temper in check, but I manage to hold on most of the time.
Interviewer: What do you hope to gain from this interview?
Giovanni and Redding: Peace.
Giovanni: I think we both need answers
Redding: I just want to remember what it feels like to do good, be good.
Giovanni: And I just want to remember what happened. Find Natalie.
Redding: We both do.
Interviewer: Thank you, ladies for your mostly candid answers.
Redding takes her microphone off and quickly leaves the room.
Giovanni (hands me her business card): Let me know if you want to stay at The Ivory. I guarantee you’ll have an unforgettable time.
A twisty thriller about a woman who vanishes from a luxury hotel, and the detective who believes the case is tied to the unsolved disappearances of other Black women in the city.
Giovanni Mason worked hard to become the first Black head concierge at Chicago’s exclusive and glamorous Ivory Hotel. It’s a job that requires patience, perfection, and, above all, self-control. But when Giovanni reunites with her former best friend, makeup influencer Natalie Moore, things get heated as a mending of fences morphs into a public argument in the hotel restaurant, and Giovanni loses her cool. Hours later, Natalie is missing. Evidence piles against Giovanni—a ransacked, blood-spattered hotel room, fresh bruises on her body, and a troubling gap in her memory from the last twelve hours.
Detective Redding Stark is the only one unconvinced of Giovanni’s guilt. She sees disturbing parallels to a series of disappearances targeting Black women and believes Natalie’s case is part of something bigger. Together, she and Giovanni are pulled into a dangerous web of privilege, power, and betrayal inside—and far beyond—the walls of the Ivory Hotel.
Will Giovanni and Detective Stark find Natalie or join the missing?
Thriller Psychological [ Park Row, On Sale: June 9, 2026, Hardcover / e-Book, ISBN: 9780778306399 / eISBN: 9780369767547 ]
Catherine Adel West graduated with both her BA and MA in journalism from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. Her work has been published in Gay Magazine, Black Fox Literary Magazine, Five2One, Better Than Starbucks, and others. Catherine was born and raised in Chicago.
No comments posted.
© 2003-2026