Chương 2
He did not yet know what to do when that name made him a target.
“We don’t know.”
“You think they were.”
“I said we don’t know.”
Ethan looked at Lily.
She offered him her water.
“You want?”
He almost smiled.
“No, thanks.”
Dr. Harris checked the strip.
Then he checked it again.
Dominic watched him.
“Well?”
“Positive.”
Nobody spoke.
Dr. Harris’s mouth tightened.
“This isn’t trace contamination.”
“How much?”
“I can’t quantify it accurately with this kit.”
“Would the bite have been dangerous?”
“Yes.”
Dominic waited.
Dr. Harris glanced at Ethan.
“Potentially catastrophic.”
Ethan went completely still.
Dominic’s hand remained on his shoulder.
Only his thumb moved, once, pressing against the fabric of his son’s jacket.
“Everyone out,” Dominic said.
One of the security men stepped forward.
“You just said nobody leaves.”
“Nobody leaves the property.”
Dominic looked around the ballroom.
“Move them to the east salon, collect their names, and keep the gates closed.”
The first objections began immediately.
A banker complained about a flight.
An older woman demanded to know whether Dominic intended to imprison his own guests.
Someone else insisted his attorney should be called.
The noise grew until Dominic turned.
“I almost watched my son eat poison.”
Silence returned unevenly.
“If any of you find your evening inconvenient, imagine mine.”
Nobody argued after that.
Guests began filing toward the east corridor while security separated household staff from caterers and outside vendors.
I lifted Lily.
Dominic stopped me.
“Where are you taking her?”
“Staff wing.”
“No.”
My stomach dropped.
“She stays with me.”
“She’s frightened.”
“So is my son.”
“That doesn’t make her evidence.”
His eyes narrowed.
Six years of employment should have taught me when to stop talking.
Motherhood had apparently erased the lesson.
“She is three years old, Mr. Moretti.”
“And she saw the only person in this house who apparently got close enough to kill Ethan.”
“Then you can ask her what she remembers, but you will not have your security people interrogating her.”
Several nearby employees suddenly became fascinated by their shoes.
Dominic stared at me for a long moment.
Then he nodded.
“You stay with her.”
“That wasn’t a request.”
“I know.”
Something almost like approval crossed his face and disappeared.
He turned to his security chief.
“Gabriel, lock down the kitchen and cold storage, and nobody touches anything until Harris says what he needs preserved.”
Gabriel Russo had been with Dominic longer than I had.
He was broad-shouldered, prematurely gray, and usually capable of making a room feel calmer simply by entering it.
Now he looked furious with himself.
“We have cameras on both service corridors.”
“Pull everything from noon onward.”
“Already doing it.”
“And find out who entered the cold room.”
Gabriel hesitated.
“What?”
“The camera outside cold storage went offline at four twelve.”
Dominic’s expression emptied.
“For how long?”
“Eleven minutes.”
I felt Lily shift against me.
Dominic looked toward the service corridor she had pointed at.
“Accident?”
“System logged a network interruption.”
“Only that camera?”
Gabriel did not answer quickly enough.
Dominic’s jaw tightened.
“Only that camera?”
“Yes.”
The birthday cake had been transferred to cold storage at four fifteen.
I knew because I had signed the kitchen checklist myself.
The coincidence sat between us, ugly and obvious.
Dominic turned to me.
“When did you go upstairs?”
I searched backward through the afternoon.
The florist had needed an extension cord.
One of the guest bathrooms had run out of hand towels.
Lily had spilled apple juice on my sleeve.
“About four ten.”
“Who knew you were going?”
“Half the staff, probably.”
“Who knew Lily was downstairs?”
“I don’t know.”
Lily tugged my collar.
“The man knew.”
Every adult near us looked at her.
Dominic crouched again.
“How did he know, sweetheart?”
“He saw me.”
“What did he say?”
Lily pressed her cheek against my shoulder.
“Nothing.”
“Did he see you watching him touch the cake?”
She nodded.
A pulse began beating painfully behind my eyes.
“What happened then?”
“He came to me.”
My knees nearly failed.
Dominic’s voice became softer.
“What did he do?”
Lily buried her fingers in my hair.
“He gave me candy.”
I stared at her.
“You took candy from him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
She whispered into my neck.
“He said Mommy said I could.”
For the first time since the plate shattered, Dominic Moretti looked genuinely shaken.
I held Lily tighter.
“What did the man look like?”
She would not answer.
Dominic tried again.
“Was he tall?”
Lily hid her face.
“That’s enough.”
“Claire.”
“I said enough.”
Dominic rose.
His anger had nowhere obvious to go, which somehow made it worse.
Before he could speak, Gabriel’s phone vibrated.
He looked at the screen.
Then he looked at me.
“What?”
I asked.
Gabriel turned the phone so Dominic could see.
“We found the cold-room footage.”
“I thought the camera was down.”
“The corridor camera was.”
He swiped the screen.
“The kitchen prep camera caught the reflection in the stainless-steel freezer door.”
Dominic took the phone.
His face changed.
Not dramatically.
That was not his way.
His shoulders simply settled, and every trace of confusion left him.
“Who is it?”
I asked.
Neither man answered.
“Dominic.”
It was the first time in six years I had used his first name.
He looked up.
“Take Lily upstairs.”
“Who is on that video?”
“Claire.”
“Who?”
His eyes moved to my daughter.
Lily had finally begun to cry, quietly and without understanding why all the adults were afraid.
Dominic handed the phone back to Gabriel.
Then he said the one thing that frightened me more than finding a stranger inside the Moretti kitchen could have.
“It wasn’t a stranger.”
Dominic looked at Gabriel again, and something silent passed between them before Gabriel lowered the phone.
“Who is it?” I asked.
Neither man answered.
Lily’s crying sharpened against my shoulder.
Dominic rubbed one hand over his mouth.
“It’s someone who belongs here.”
“That is not an answer.”
“No.”
May you like
“Then give me one.”
His eyes shifted toward the ballroom doors, where two security men were still guiding the last guests into the east salon.
