Chương 8
“You still know it.”
“I also know your birthday.”
“You’re not getting access to my bank account.”
“Your confidence in my criminal ambition is touching.”
Dominic entered the code.
The safe clicked.
He opened it.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Julian said, “Was the box always open?”
Dominic stared at the dark green velvet case on the middle shelf.
Its lid stood upright.
“No.”
He reached in carefully.
The case was empty.
Sophia felt a chill move across her shoulders.
“Who knew it was there?”
“Me.”
“Only you?”
Dominic did not answer.
Julian looked at him.
“Ethan.”
Dominic turned.
Julian shrugged.
“You showed him last Christmas.”
Sophia asked, “Did Ethan know the safe code?”
“No.”
Julian glanced at Dominic.
“You opened it in front of him.”
“I covered the keypad.”
“You think.”
Dominic looked back at the safe.
Sophia approached.
“Was anything else taken?”
He examined the shelves.
Cash remained.
A passport wallet remained.
Two sealed envelopes remained.
A pistol remained untouched.
Only the ring was gone.
Julian let out a slow breath.
“That’s not theft.”
“No.”
Sophia looked at the empty case.
“It was taken for a reason.”
Dominic closed the safe.
Julian leaned both hands on the desk.
“Someone gets into the house, takes the ring, poisons Ethan’s cake, and leaves through the service corridor.”
“Not necessarily in that order,” Dominic said.
Sophia looked at him.
“What if the cake wasn’t meant to kill Ethan?”
Both men turned toward her.
She immediately regretted saying it because the idea sounded insane aloud.
Julian asked, “What do you mean?”
“I don’t know.”
“You said it.”
“I’m thinking.”
Dominic waited.
Sophia looked toward the doorway.
“The frosting.”
“Yes.”
“The white powder was put on Ethan’s slice?”
“According to Lily.”
“No.”
Sophia shook her head.
“She said he rubbed it in the frosting.”
Julian frowned.
“What difference does that make?”
“A lot if he touched the cake before it was sliced.”
Dominic’s eyes sharpened.
Sophia continued slowly.
“Lily said he touched Ethan’s cake.”
“Not Ethan’s slice,” Dominic said.
“Exactly.”
Julian straightened.
“So anyone could have eaten it.”
“Unless he knew which section would go to Ethan.”
Dominic went quiet.
Birthday cakes in the Moretti house were not cut randomly.
Ethan always got the piece with his name because he liked scraping the chocolate letters off last.
Everyone on the household staff knew it.
Dominic looked at Sophia.
“Where was his name?”
“Front center.”
“How was the cake positioned in the cold room?”
“I don’t know.”
“I do,” Julian said.
They turned toward him.
“I saw it when Maria brought it out.”
He used his hands to indicate the cake.
“Name facing the door.”
Dominic’s expression hardened.
“So Gabriel could target the correct section.”
Sophia nodded reluctantly.
“Then yes.”
Julian looked toward the empty ring case.
“But why steal the ring?”
Dominic reached for his phone.
Before he touched it, the study lights went out.
Sophia inhaled sharply.
Julian said, “That’s not good.”
Emergency lights along the baseboards flickered on two seconds later, bathing the room in low amber.
Dominic was already moving toward the door.
“Stay here.”
Sophia laughed once in disbelief.
“No.”
“Sophia.”
“My daughter is upstairs.”
Dominic stopped.
She was past him before he could argue.
Julian followed.
The hall beyond the study glowed dimly under emergency lighting.
Somewhere deeper in the house, an alarm began beeping.
Not the security alarm.
Fire.
Vincent’s voice erupted over the radio clipped to Dominic’s belt.
“Electrical fault in the west service wing.”
Dominic grabbed the radio.
“Fire?”
“Smoke detected near laundry.”
Sophia ran.
Dominic caught up within seconds.
“Lily is not in the laundry wing.”
“It’s below her room.”
The first smell of smoke reached them near the back staircase.
Sophia’s pace increased.
Dominic grabbed her arm.
“Use the main stairs.”
She jerked free.
“This is faster.”
“And if the fault is in the wall?”
She looked at him.
He pointed toward the central hall.
“Main stairs.”
For once, she obeyed.
They reached the upper floor as two guards emerged from the staff corridor.
Sophia pushed past them.
Lily’s door was open.
The bed was empty.
Sophia stopped so abruptly Dominic nearly hit her.
“No.”
A stuffed rabbit lay on the pillow.
The blanket had been pulled back.
“Lily?”
Sophia’s voice cracked.
She ran into the room.
The bathroom was empty.
The closet was empty.
Dominic turned on the nearest guard.
“Who was posted here?”
“Mason, sir.”
“Where is he?”
The guard’s face changed.
“He responded to the smoke alarm.”
Dominic went very still.
Sophia turned toward him.
“You left her alone.”
“Mason had orders not to move.”
“Well, he moved.”
Julian appeared in the doorway, breathing hard.
“Ethan’s room is empty too.”
Dominic’s face lost all expression.
Sophia stared at him.
“What?”
“I checked.”
Julian swallowed.
“He’s gone.”
Dominic pulled his phone out.
No service.
He looked at the screen.
“Network jammer.”
Vincent’s radio crackled.
“We have a security breach.”
Dominic pressed the button.
“Both children missing.”
A burst of static answered.
Then Vincent’s voice returned, harsher.
“Lockdown.”
“Already should be.”
“It’s not responding.”
Dominic looked toward the ceiling.
The emergency lights flickered.
Sophia stood in the middle of Lily’s room with both hands pressed against her mouth.
Then she saw something on the floor.
A single white sneaker lay beneath the dresser.
The left one.
The one whose light no longer worked.
She picked it up.
Dominic watched her.
Sophia turned the shoe over.
Something metallic had been wedged beneath the loose plastic sole.
“What is that?”
Julian asked.
Sophia pulled it free.
A tiny brass key dropped into her palm.
She stared at it.
“I’ve seen this before.”
Dominic stepped closer.
“Where?”
“Michael’s storage key.”
The words came barely above a whisper.
“The one I found in his pocket.”
Julian looked at the shoe.
“How did it get there?”
Sophia’s face changed.
“She did it.”
“Lily?”
“She hides things in her shoes.”
Dominic stared.
“When she thinks somebody might take them.”
May you like
Sophia closed her fist around the key.
“She must have taken this from the man.”
