Chương 5
Michael’s face hardened.
“You fired someone for photographing private material and didn’t tell security?”
“I told Celia.”
The room went still.
Claire did not know Celia well. Nobody in the house seemed to.
Celia Ward had been Margaret’s executive secretary for nineteen years. She arrived before most staff, carried two phones, remembered everyone’s birthdays without appearing to like birthdays, and wore the same kind of sensible dark skirt to every meeting. Claire had once watched her tell a billionaire donor that Margaret would not take his call while Margaret stood five feet away.
Michael said, “Where is Celia?”
Margaret looked at Daniel.
Daniel touched his earpiece.
“Checking.”
Claire felt Ethan tighten his grip on her hand.
Michael said, “When did you last see her?”
“Last night.”
“What time?”
“After ten.”
“Here?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“She brought revised seating cards.”
“You have a staff of how many people?”
“That is not relevant.”
“It becomes relevant when your secretary has access to every private room and you gave her the responsibility for telling security about a woman you fired.”
Margaret’s chin rose.
“Do not confuse suspicion with evidence.”
Michael looked at the open safe.
“I’m not.”
Daniel said, “Celia’s car is in the employee lot.”
Margaret turned toward him.
“Where is she?”
“Not accounted for.”
Luis appeared in the doorway.
“I checked her office, morning room, library, east wing.”
Michael said, “Service corridor?”
“Being swept now.”
Margaret looked at Ethan.
The boy’s face had lost its color.
Claire followed his gaze.
He was staring beyond Margaret, toward the small door in the west-study wall.
Claire had assumed it was a closet.
Ethan whispered, “That one.”
Margaret turned slowly.
“What?”
“That’s where she went.”
Michael crossed the room.
The door was painted the same dark color as the paneling and fitted almost flush with the wall.
He reached for the knob.
Daniel stopped him.
“I go first.”
Michael stepped aside.
Daniel opened it.
Nothing happened.
A narrow utility passage lay beyond, only three feet wide, lit by a single wall fixture. Copper pipes ran overhead. At the end was a second door.
Margaret looked genuinely surprised.
“That passage was sealed.”
Luis touched the trim.
“Not anymore.”
Ethan pressed against Claire.
She put both arms around him.
Daniel and Luis entered the passage.
Michael followed despite Daniel’s instruction to wait.
Margaret did not stop him.
The second door opened.
Claire heard voices, then the scrape of something moving.
A minute later Daniel returned.
“No one there.”
“Where does it go?” Michael asked.
“Old linen room. Then to the west service corridor.”
Claire remembered the floor plan only vaguely.
A person could enter the study from the main hall, leave through the utility passage, change clothes in the linen room and emerge through the service corridor without returning to the foyer.
Ethan had not seen the person change.
He had seen only enough.
Margaret’s phone vibrated.
She took it from the pocket hidden in her dress.
Looked at the screen.
Her face went still.
Michael noticed.
“Who?”
“No one.”
“Mother.”
She put the phone away.
He held out his hand.
Margaret stared at it.
“You cannot possibly think I am giving you my phone.”
“Who messaged you?”
“Celia.”
Every person in the room stopped moving.
“What did she say?” Michael asked.
Margaret did not answer.
Michael took one step closer.
“What did she say?”
Margaret removed the phone again.
“She says she is upstairs.”
Daniel was already speaking into his radio.
“Location?”
Margaret read.
“My dressing room.”
Ethan made a frightened sound.
Claire crouched.
“What?”
He whispered so softly that she had to lean in.
“That’s where Grandma hair lives.”
Claire looked at Margaret.
Margaret heard him.
For the first time that morning, the matriarch looked afraid.
Not startled.
Not angry.
Afraid.
“Daniel,” she said, “do not let anyone go in alone.”
The upstairs dressing room was empty.
They discovered that ten minutes later.
By then Daniel had called the police despite Margaret’s earlier hesitation, and two additional security officers had arrived from the gatehouse. Staff members were gathered in designated rooms while names were checked against the morning access list. The catering crew complained. One florist demanded to know whether she was legally required to remain in the house. Someone from the foundation board called Margaret three times.
Margaret answered nobody.
Celia’s phone was found beneath a chair in the dressing room.
Its screen was shattered.
Beside it lay a silver-gray wig.
Claire stood in the doorway with Ethan while Daniel photographed the room.
Michael lifted the wig without touching it.
“Same color.”
Ethan nodded.
“Too big.”
Margaret turned toward her closet.
The door was open.
Her clothes hung in precise color order.
Black. Navy. Cream. Gray.
A gap showed among the burgundy pieces.
Margaret walked forward and stopped.
“What?”
Michael asked.
She reached between two dresses.
“A garment bag is missing.”
“What was in it?”
“A second burgundy dress.”
Michael stared.
“You own two?”
“They’re not identical.”
Ethan said, “They look identical.”
Margaret looked at him.
He shrugged.
Claire had to agree with the boy.
At a distance, especially from behind, they would have been nearly impossible to distinguish.
“Why two?” Michael asked.
“One is wool crepe. One is silk-backed crepe.”
“That clears everything up.”
“Do not be childish.”
“I’m not the one pretending normal people can tell wool crepe from silk-backed crepe at twenty feet.”
Despite everything, Claire saw the corner of Luis’s mouth twitch.
Margaret saw it too.
He became professionally expressionless.
Daniel’s voice came from inside the closet.
“We have another shoe.”
Everyone looked.
He emerged holding an evidence bag.
Inside was a black women’s pump.
The heel was snapped.
Margaret frowned.
“Not mine.”
Claire said, “Jenna?”
Margaret turned.
“Possibly.”
Michael said, “You think the assistant you fired came back, stole your dress, wore a wig and went into the safe?”
“No.”
“What do you think?”
“I think someone wants us to think that.”
That stopped him.
Margaret looked at Daniel.
“Find Jenna.”
Daniel nodded.
Michael said, “And Celia.”
May you like
“Obviously.”
Ethan tugged Michael’s sleeve.
