Chương 7
“What if they can’t prove it?”
“Then we keep looking.”
“What if Grant is gone?”
“People who run make mistakes.”
“What if Celeste doesn’t?”
Alvarez glanced toward the muted television.
“Everyone makes mistakes. The rich hire people to rename them.”
The next morning, Daniel held a press conference.
Mara watched from the hotel bed while Ellen drank coffee beside her.
Daniel stood at a podium in the Mercer House headquarters. He wore a navy suit instead of a tuxedo. The missing watch left his wrist bare.
He announced that Celeste had been placed on administrative leave, that an independent audit would examine company finances, and that he had asked the board to appoint an interim executive committee while the criminal investigation continued.
Then he looked into the cameras.
“Mara Quinn prevented me from drinking champagne that preliminary testing has shown contained a dangerous toxic substance,” he said. “She acted while injured and under extreme pressure. I believe she saved my life.”
Reporters shouted questions.
Daniel did not leave.
He answered for twenty-three minutes.
He refused to speculate about Celeste’s motive. He admitted he had discovered financial discrepancies before the gala. He said he had failed to inform the board quickly enough. He said Mercer House would pay the wages lost by any temporary employee penalized for cooperating with the investigation, though Mara’s name was not attached to that promise.
Ellen lowered her coffee.
“He listened.”
“He has staff who monitor public anger.”
“He still listened.”
Mara did not answer.
The press conference changed public opinion without settling it. The word hero appeared more often than stalker. Her old birthday photograph was replaced by images of her entering the hotel with her face bandaged. A morning show offered her twelve thousand dollars for an interview. A podcast offered fifteen.
She refused both.
By afternoon, the staffing agency reinstated her.
Denise left a voicemail describing the suspension as a standard safety measure. Mara deleted it halfway through.
Daniel sent no further message.
For three days, the investigation seemed to move only in circles.
Police searched Grant’s apartment and found two packed bags missing, a drawer full of burner phones, and thirty-seven thousand dollars hidden behind a kitchen cabinet. None of it linked directly to Celeste. His bank records showed payments from a consulting firm used by Mercer House, but the payments had legitimate descriptions and signed contracts.
The ballroom footage from other cameras placed Celeste near Daniel, near the pantry, and near the stage. None captured the interior counter where the glasses were switched.
The poison was identified as a concentrated plant-derived cardiac toxin. The amount recovered from the shards could have caused rapid collapse if swallowed. The medical examiner advising police would not say publicly whether it would certainly have killed Daniel. Sayer seized on the uncertainty and issued a statement accusing the press of transforming incomplete science into a murder narrative.
Celeste appeared once outside her attorney’s office.
She wore a cream coat, no rubies, and almost no makeup. She said she loved Daniel and prayed the truth would emerge.
Mara threw a hotel slipper at the television.
It struck the wall and fell behind a chair.
Ellen looked up from the room-service menu.
“You’re paying for that if it broke.”
“It’s a slipper.”
“Hotels charge for atmosphere.”
On the fourth day, Isaac Ward visited.
He arrived with no bodyguard, carrying a paper bag from a deli and looking as though he had slept in his suit. He placed sandwiches on the small dining table.
“Daniel said you might not have eaten.”
“Daniel doesn’t know when I eat.”
“He assumed badly.”
“He does that.”
Isaac removed his glasses and cleaned them with the end of his tie.
“I authorized the staffing agency to suspend you.”
Mara stopped opening the sandwich wrapper.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“The first video online showed you physically grabbing him. We did not yet know what was in the glass. Our insurer asked us to preserve distance from everyone involved.”
“Your insurer fired me?”
“I made the decision.”
“You could have called.”
“I was managing police access, the board, the press, and four hundred guests who all believed their phones made them investigators.”
“That sounds difficult.”
“It was easier than calling you.”
Mara looked at him.
Isaac put his glasses back on.
“I was afraid you had staged it.”
The statement was more offensive because he did not soften it.
“Why?”
“Because people have tried to extort Daniel before. Because the clip arrived from an unknown number. Because Celeste has been my colleague for eight years. Because the human mind protects the version of the world that lets it sleep.”
“And now?”
“Now I don’t sleep.”
Mara folded the sandwich wrapper into a narrow strip.
“Did you warn Celeste about the audit?”
“No.”
“Did the board chair?”
“I don’t know.”
“Daniel’s attorney?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who knew he planned to remove her?”
“Three of us directly. Possibly our outside auditors. Possibly Celeste’s deputy. Daniel does not operate quietly, even when he thinks he does.”
“Did Grant know?”
“He managed executive security. He had access to schedules, private rooms, vehicle movements, and emergency contact files.”
“My staffing file.”
Isaac nodded.
“We found he accessed background checks for twelve event workers. Yours was the last.”
“Why mine?”
“We don’t know.”
Mara pushed the sandwich away.
Isaac watched her fold the paper smaller.
“There’s something Daniel has not told the police,” he said.
“Then he should tell them.”
“He will. I think.”
“That sounds reassuring.”
“Two years ago, Celeste approved Grant’s promotion after Daniel rejected it.”
Mara waited.
“Grant had been accused of using unnecessary force against a kitchen employee,” Isaac continued. “The complaint disappeared.”
“Who was the employee?”
“A dishwasher named Luis Benitez. He was undocumented at the time and stopped cooperating.”
“Celeste protected Grant.”
“Or the company protected itself.”
“Same result.”
“Yes.”
Isaac touched the sandwich he had not opened.
“Daniel signed the final settlement.”
Mara stared at him.
May you like
“He knew?”
“He knew there had been an altercation. He accepted the internal report that said both men were responsible.”
