Chương 8
She folded the paper.
A reporter called, “Do you believe Celeste Marlowe should be arrested?”
Laverne looked at him. “I believe you should ask a better question.”
Another reporter shouted, “Ms. Calder, were you stealing confidential files?”
Ivy stood several feet behind the podium. She did not answer.
“Did your father falsify records in the 2014 death?”
Still she said nothing.
“Is this revenge against the Marlowe family?”
Laverne turned before Tessa could stop her.
“If it were revenge,” she said, “we would not be asking them to fix the elevators.”
The clip spread nearly as quickly as the first video.
By afternoon, Saint Marlowe’s attorneys had sent preservation notices of their own, accusing Ivy of retaining proprietary documents. Hanover Crest formally terminated her contract. Two other clients postponed projects, explaining that they needed to avoid distraction.
Ivy’s small engineering firm had enough cash for six weeks of payroll.
She employed three people.
At four, her office manager called.
“Are we closing?” Ben asked.
“No.”
“Should I tell the others?”
“Tell them projects are delayed.”
“That sounds like closing with extra words.”
“We have the hospital ventilation audit.”
“They called. They want to pause until the media situation settles.”
Ivy looked through Tessa’s window at the traffic below. “All right.”
“Are you all right?”
“Yes.”
“You are on every television in the building.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I didn’t say it was bad. The dentist across the hall brought us muffins.”
“Why?”
“He said solidarity.”
“With what?”
“I didn’t ask. They’re blueberry.”
Ivy almost smiled.
Ben lowered his voice. “My wife wants to know whether payroll is safe.”
“For this month.”
“And after?”
“I’ll know soon.”
It was not true, but it was the kind of lie that gave people enough time to finish a workday.
That evening, Inspector Rina Cho called from the sealed maintenance room.
“The bypass was not a simple restart,” she said. “Someone installed a jumper across the door-monitor circuit.”
Ivy sat up. “Temporary wire or permanent?”
“Temporary. Copper with insulated clips. Removed after the drop, except one clip broke inside the cabinet.”
“Then whoever did it knew the controller.”
“Yes.”
“Theo Marks?”
“He denies it.”
“He would.”
“Grant Pike says a contractor told him the elevator could run in manual service mode.”
“Grant says sentences that place responsibility three feet away.”
Rina was quiet for a moment. “The brake test was altered.”
“How?”
“The digital report uploaded to the city shows a passing result. The paper worksheet in your photographs shows failure.”
“Metadata?”
“The city upload came from Marks Vertical’s account at six forty-two last night.”
“After we sealed it.”
“Yes.”
“Can you prove who logged in?”
“Not yet.”
“Could Theo have changed it remotely?”
“Yes.”
“Could Grant have used Theo’s credentials?”
“Yes.”
“Could someone at the hotel upload a PDF provided by Theo?”
“Yes.”
Ivy closed her eyes. “Useful.”
“Reality has too many users.”
“Did you find the missing logs?”
“No. The hotel says they never existed.”
“They existed Tuesday.”
“How do you know?”
“Nia sent me a photograph of an entry after the car jolted between floors. The binder was visible.”
“Send it.”
“I already did.”
Rina sighed. “I have forty-one emails from you.”
“Forty-two now.”
“Do you ever sleep?”
“Professionally, no.”
A brief pause followed.
“Your father called me,” Rina said.
Ivy stood.
“What did he say?”
“He wanted to know whether the broken clip was blue.”
“Was it?”
“Yes.”
“What does that mean?”
“He hung up.”
Ivy called Owen three times. He did not answer.
Wright arrived at his house before she did.
The front door stood open. Wright’s cruiser blocked half the street, lights off. Ivy left Tessa’s car badly parked and hurried up the walk.
Wright met her on the porch.
“He’s fine.”
“Where is he?”
“Inside.”
“Why is the door open?”
“He thought someone had been in the house.”
Ivy pushed past him.
Owen stood in the dining room beside the overturned box of radio parts. Drawers had been pulled from a cabinet. Papers covered the floor. Nothing expensive appeared missing, though there was little expensive to take.
“What happened?” Ivy asked.
“I went to buy milk.”
“You don’t drink milk.”
“I use it for cereal.”
“You hate cereal.”
Owen looked at Wright. “This is what she does.”
“What were they looking for?”
“I don’t know.”
“Your old Saint Marlowe records?”
“I don’t have any.”
“Then why did you ask Rina about a blue clip?”
Wright closed the front door.
Owen lowered himself into a chair. He looked older than he had that morning. One of his hands shook, and he placed it beneath the table.
“Marks Vertical used blue insulated jumpers,” he said. “Hotel maintenance used red. That was the rule.”
“Anyone could buy blue clips,” Wright said.
“Yes.”
“Would Grant know the difference?”
“He should.”
“Would Celeste?”
Owen gave a tired laugh. “Celeste thinks elevators move because the building respects her.”
Ivy crouched beside him. “Did you keep records?”
“No.”
“Did someone think you did?”
“People think many things.”
“You called Rina after we left.”
“I wanted to know whether the same method was used.”
“As what?”
He looked at her.
“As what, Dad?”
Wright remained near the door, giving them the illusion of privacy.
Owen rubbed his thumb across a burn mark on the table. “The night Marisol died, there was a blue jumper in the controller.”
Ivy’s mouth went dry.
“That was never in the report.”
“No.”
“Why?”
“Because I removed it.”
Wright took out his notebook but did not interrupt.
Ivy stood slowly. “You removed evidence.”
“I thought I was correcting my own work.”
“Your work?”
“I had installed it two days earlier.”
The room seemed to tilt, though nothing moved.
Owen stared at the tabletop. “The freight car was failing its door checks. The hotel had a convention coming. Vincent Marlowe said we needed forty-eight hours. Theo Marks said the old controller could run safely with the monitor bypassed if staff followed manual procedures.”
May you like
“Theo told you that?”
“He was a young mechanic then. His father owned the company.”
