Chương 4
Rachel pressed her lips together.
A sound escaped Thomas that might have been a cough.
Vincent looked at the empty place where his whiskey glass had been.
“No.”
Emily waited.
“Not about the table.”
That satisfied her.
He left.
The room exhaled after him.
Marcus watched the doors close.
Then he looked at Emily again.
This time Rachel stepped between them.
“Don’t.”
Marcus raised both hands slightly.
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were going to.”
He looked almost wounded.
“Rachel, I’ve known you for years.”
“No. You’ve known my name.”
His face changed.
Not much.
Enough.
Brooks saw it from across the room.
So did Rachel.
The next three hours stripped Bellamy House of everything that normally made it feel expensive.
The candles were extinguished but not removed. Dirty plates sat where guests had abandoned them. Evidence markers appeared beside glasses and on the polished floor. Detectives photographed the bar, service corridor, liquor storage room, and Adrian’s private table.
Guests became witnesses.
Witnesses became irritated.
One man demanded his coat.
Another asked whether the restaurant would cover his parking fee.
A woman cried quietly because she had performed CPR compressions before paramedics arrived and could not stop looking at her hands.
Thomas brought her water.
Nobody drank much.
Rachel gave her statement, then sat with Emily in a small office near the kitchen while another detective spoke to the child with Brooks present.
Emily repeated herself.
Sometimes her wording changed.
The details did not.
She had seen Marcus carry one decanter toward Adrian’s table.
She had seen him leave with another partly covered by a napkin.
She had photographed him accidentally.
After Adrian collapsed and was taken away, she had watched Marcus speak privately to Javier.
Then Javier poured Vincent a drink from the decanter Marcus had delivered.
The part Rachel had not known was why Emily became afraid.
“What made you think Mr. Reed switched the bottles?” Brooks asked.
Emily rubbed the ruffle on her sleeve between her fingers.
“He said something.”
“What?”
“To the bartender.”
“You heard him?”
“Not everything.”
“What did you hear?”
Emily frowned, reconstructing it.
“He said, ‘Use this one for Vincent.’”
Brooks wrote.
“And that frightened you?”
“No.”
“What did?”
“He looked at Mr. Adrian’s table.”
Emily glanced at Rachel.
“Like when Mom checks the stove after we already left the apartment.”
Rachel looked at Brooks.
Brooks stopped writing for a second.
Emily went on.
“Then he saw me.”
“You said earlier he didn’t notice you taking the photograph.”
“He didn’t then.”
“When did he see you?”
“When the bartender was pouring.”
“What happened?”
“He smiled.”
That sounded harmless.
Rachel knew it was not.
Emily’s eyes had gone shiny.
“He asked why I was still awake.”
Brooks said, “What did you say?”
“I said Mom was working.”
“Then?”
“He asked if I wanted a soda.”
Rachel felt something cold move through her.
“Did he give you one?”
“No. Mom says I can’t take drinks from people while she’s working.”
Rachel almost corrected her. The rule had been about distracting staff and bothering guests.
She decided not to.
“What happened after that?” Brooks asked.
“He walked away.”
“Why did you think the drink was dangerous?”
Emily took a long time.
“I didn’t. Not at first.”
Brooks waited.
“I thought maybe he stole Mr. Adrian’s bottle because it was expensive. Then I thought maybe he put a different one there because he wanted Mr. Adrian sick.”
“Why?”
“Because Mr. Adrian stopped breathing.”
Brooks nodded.
“And why did you think Vincent’s drink was dangerous?”
Emily looked toward the closed office door.
“Same bottle.”
Rachel’s eyes filled.
She hated that.
She hated crying in front of her daughter, especially when Emily was trying so hard not to.
Emily noticed anyway.
“Mom.”
“I’m okay.”
“You’re doing the face.”
“What face?”
“The face where you say you’re okay and your nose gets red.”
Brooks looked down at her notes.
Rachel wiped beneath one eye.
“Traitor.”
Emily almost smiled.
The moment lasted three seconds.
Then Brooks asked, “Did you touch the decanter?”
“No.”
“The glass?”
“No.”
“The photograph after you put it on the table?”
“Yes.”
“Who else touched it?”
“Mr. Vincent.”
“Anybody else?”
“No.”
“Good.”
The word made Emily sit a little straighter.
Brooks closed her notebook.
“That’s enough for tonight.”
Rachel looked at the clock.
It was after eleven.
“What happens now?”
“We test what we can. We compare statements. We request hospital records when legally appropriate. Toxicology isn’t instant.”
“Marcus?”
“He’s speaking with another detective.”
“Can he leave?”
“Yes.”
Rachel stared at her.
Brooks anticipated the question.
“A photograph of someone carrying a decanter is not proof of poisoning. Your daughter’s statement matters. The bartender’s statement matters. The physical evidence matters. But I cannot arrest a man because the room feels convinced.”
Rachel glanced toward Emily.
“I know.”
“You’re scared he’ll come near you.”
“Yes.”
Brooks leaned back.
“Do you have somewhere else to stay tonight?”
Rachel thought of their apartment twelve minutes away.
Third floor.
Front door that stuck during humid weather.
Fire escape outside Emily’s bedroom.
“Yes,” she said automatically.
Brooks did not move.
Rachel sighed.
“My sister.”
“Stay there.”
“Are you telling me as a detective?”
“I’m telling you as a woman who has spent twenty-one years watching people underestimate what frightened people might do.”
Rachel nodded.
“Will you call if something changes?”
“Yes.”
Emily raised her hand.
Brooks looked at her.
“You don’t have to raise your hand.”
“I know.”
“You can ask.”
“Can I have my camera back tomorrow?”
Brooks smiled faintly.
“Probably not tomorrow.”
Emily slumped.
Rachel stood.
“Come on.”
As they left the office, Marcus was sitting alone at a table near the bar.
No guard beside him.
No handcuffs.
His jacket lay over the back of the chair.
He looked tired now.
Human.
That bothered Rachel more than his earlier composure.
She had wanted evil to look different once she suspected it.
Marcus glanced up.
“Rachel.”
She kept walking.
“Please.”
Emily’s hand tightened in hers.
May you like
Rachel stopped.
She should not have.
