Chương 5
Adele removed her glasses. “Start again.”
Celeste’s allegations had to be repeated. Marcus described the camera outage and missing bag. Damian stated that Peter Sloane’s location was unknown. He did not mention the secure phone or the order to seal the estate.
Adele listened without interruption.
When they finished, she rubbed the bridge of her nose. “You cannot use company counsel to investigate potential criminal conduct by senior management where the company itself may be implicated.”
“That’s why we need Naomi,” Marcus said.
“Naomi is a cybersecurity consultant, not a law firm.”
“She asked for independent counsel.”
“She is correct.”
Damian leaned forward. “Hire one.”
“You don’t hire truly independent counsel at one in the morning by choosing the person most likely to please you.”
“Choose someone who dislikes me.”
“That broadens the field.”
Marcus almost smiled. No one else did.
Adele put her glasses back on. “There’s another problem. If records were altered after fatalities, we may have preservation obligations already. If anyone now deletes or moves material, we compound the exposure.”
“Then preserve everything,” Damian said.
“You may not control everything.”
“I control the company.”
“No,” Adele said. “You control enough shares to appoint the board under ordinary circumstances. That is not the same as controlling servers, overseas subsidiaries, third-party vendors, personal devices, or frightened employees. It is certainly not the same as controlling federal investigators once they become interested.”
“Good.”
Adele studied him. “You say that because your daughter is in a hospital bed. Tomorrow morning, when lenders call and insurers reserve rights and the board asks whether you have destroyed the company out of anger, you may discover a more complicated vocabulary.”
Damian looked at the sailboat print.
“I want the truth,” he said.
“You want the person who hurt Celeste.”
“Yes.”
“Those interests may overlap. They may also conflict.”
“Explain.”
“If the records show the attack was connected to corporate misconduct, the fastest route to the attacker may expose the company before we understand the evidence. If we treat the estate as a private security matter, we risk contaminating evidence and appearing to conceal a crime. If we call police now, they will ask why your security team locked down a private estate and searched employees before notifying them.”
Damian’s eyes shifted to Marcus.
Adele noticed. “You already did that.”
“Yes.”
She muttered something unkind under her breath.
“What do you recommend?” Damian asked.
“Notify law enforcement about the assault immediately. Preserve the scene. Stop Grant’s internal search except for immediate safety measures. Retain independent criminal counsel for Celeste and separate counsel for the company. Give Naomi narrow authorization to preserve logs under counsel’s direction. Do not call Peter. Do not threaten anyone. Do not move money, records, personnel, or ships. And for the next six hours, do not say anything memorable.”
Damian stood.
“Where are you going?”
“To call the police.”
“That is necessary,” Adele said.
“I know.”
“Damian.”
He stopped at the door.
“If you discover that Peter hid the inspection report from you, your first instinct will be to make him the entire problem.”
“He may be.”
“He may be one problem. Companies do not develop a habit of lying upward because one executive wakes up evil. They learn what the person at the top rewards.”
Damian left without replying.
Detective Lena Ortiz of the county major crimes unit arrived at the estate at two nineteen in the morning. She was forty-two, compact, tired, and unimpressed by the architecture. Her partner, Daniel Cho, spent several seconds examining the black marble floor because the reflections made the dried blood difficult to photograph.
The household staff had been gathered in the breakfast room by Grant Mercer. Several were still in uniforms. Two kitchen workers wore coats over white aprons. An electrician named Milo Baird kept asking when he could call his wife. Grant had confiscated everyone’s phones “to preserve security.”
Ortiz ordered them returned.
“That compromises the search,” Grant said.
“You don’t have a search,” she replied. “You have a room full of people being detained by a private employee.”
“The gates were closed for family safety.”
“Open them.”
“Mr. Royce instructed—”
“Mr. Royce called us. The gates open.”
Grant’s eyes moved toward Damian.
“Open them,” Damian said.
The order cost him more than he expected. Closing the estate had felt like action. Opening it felt like surrendering control to procedures designed for ordinary people. Yet as the gates rolled apart on the security monitors, several staff members began to breathe differently. Damian saw it and disliked what it told him.
Ortiz separated witnesses. She asked Damian why he had waited nearly three hours to report the assault. He answered truthfully: he had prioritized Celeste’s medical care and believed the attacker remained on the property.
“You also conducted your own containment operation.”
“Yes.”
“Did anyone search rooms?”
“Security did.”
“Vehicles?”
“At the gates.”
“People?”
“I don’t know.”
Ortiz wrote that down. “You’re comfortable not knowing?”
“No.”
“Then why did you issue an order before you knew what your security people would do with it?”
Damian looked at Grant across the corridor. “Because I was frightened.”
Ortiz’s pen paused.
It was not the answer she expected.
She resumed writing. “Where is the phone you used?”
“In the security case.”
“I’ll need it.”
“No.”
Ortiz closed her notebook.
Adele, standing nearby, said, “Damian.”
“The device contains contacts unrelated to this matter.”
Ortiz’s voice remained neutral. “Then your attorney can discuss the scope with the prosecutor. But you placed a call connected to the lockdown. We will preserve the device.”
Damian’s hand tightened.
Adele stepped closer. “Give her the phone.”
He opened the matte-black case on the walnut table. The three blue lights were no longer illuminated. He lifted the device and placed it in an evidence bag.
May you like
Ortiz signed the seal.
The small act disturbed him. He had used that phone during labor disputes, piracy threats, political evacuations, and one kidnapping overseas that had never reached the press. Men answered it because they believed Damian Royce’s reach was private and permanent.
