Chương 6
“They already are.”
“Who?”
Ethan picked at a loose thread on his blanket. “Mason sent me the video.”
“He sent it to you?”
“He said I was famous.”
“What did you say?”
“Nothing.”
Daniel held out his hand. “Can I see your phone?”
Ethan’s shoulders rose. “Why?”
“To make sure nobody is bothering you.”
“You always say I have privacy.”
“You do.”
“Except when you want to check.”
The answer irritated Daniel because it was accurate.
“All right,” he said. “You can show me only what you want me to see.”
Ethan considered him, then opened the messages.
Most were clumsy attempts at kindness. One classmate wrote, Your new mom is evil, with three skull emojis. Another asked whether Daniel had punched the guard. Mason had sent six links and a screenshot of Claire’s face with the words WHEN YOU GET CAUGHT.
Daniel deleted nothing.
“Do you want help responding?”
“No.”
“Do you want me to contact their parents?”
“No.”
“Do you want—”
“I want everybody to stop asking what I want.”
Daniel sat back.
Ethan’s eyes filled, but he blinked hard. “Yesterday nobody asked.”
There was no answer Daniel could offer without defending himself.
He nodded. “Okay.”
At three, Daniel met Waverly Hall’s manager in a conference room near the closed ballroom. The staff had removed most of the flowers. White petals lay crushed along the aisle, and the arch stood empty beneath half-dimmed chandeliers.
Maribel Santos, the wedding planner, was already there with Ron Baines and a representative from the venue’s insurance company. Maribel looked as if she had not slept either. Her hair was pulled into a knot, and she wore yesterday’s black suit with a different shirt.
Daniel placed the crumpled note inside a clear document sleeve. Nora had insisted.
“Before anyone explains,” he said, “I need copies of every instruction involving my children, every message sent yesterday, and any footage from the service corridor.”
The insurance representative began talking about privacy procedures.
Daniel let him finish.
“Preserve it,” he said. “You can decide later what you’re legally allowed to release.”
Maribel nodded. “I already requested that.”
Daniel looked at Ron.
The guard’s beard had been trimmed into clean lines for the wedding. Today the skin around it looked tired.
“I owe your children an apology,” Ron said. “I believed they were unauthorized in the ceremony area.”
“They were wearing wedding clothes.”
“I thought they belonged to another event.”
“There was one event.”
“I know.”
“What exactly were you told?”
Ron took out his phone. “At two forty-eight, Brooke gave me the note and said Ms. Hart wanted the kids moved through the service route. I asked if a guardian was waiting. She said the bride’s sister would handle it.”
“Claire doesn’t have a sister.”
Ron looked at Maribel.
Maribel rubbed her forehead. “Brooke said Nora. She must have meant the groom’s sister.”
“I was never called,” Nora said.
“I called twice,” Maribel replied.
Nora checked her phone. “At two fifty-one and two fifty-three. I was helping Daniel’s mother with her corsage. My phone was in the bridal suite.”
“Why didn’t anyone find me?”
Maribel’s mouth tightened. “Because Claire said it had been handled.”
Daniel leaned forward. “She said that to you?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“Two fifty-five. I asked where the children were because the flower girl basket was still in my office. Claire said, ‘They’re out of the way. Keep moving.’”
The words seemed to make Maribel ashamed merely for repeating them.
“What happened after Brooke took them downstairs?” Daniel asked.
Ron answered. “I saw them by the kitchen. The boy said they were supposed to be at the altar. I radioed upstairs. Brooke said not to let them enter through the ceremony doors because the processional had started.”
“So you opened the outside service door.”
“I opened it to check for the driver. I did not tell them to go outside.”
“You reached for them when they ran.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To stop them entering.”
Daniel looked at the man’s hands.
Ron noticed.
“I would never have hurt them.”
“You scared them.”
“I did.”
It was not enough, but it was more honest than Claire’s explanation had been.
The venue manager turned a laptop toward Daniel. The service corridor footage had no audio. It showed Ethan holding Lily’s hand while Brooke walked ahead of them. Claire appeared at the top of the stairs, spoke for fourteen seconds, wrote on a page torn from Maribel’s clipboard, and handed it to Brooke.
Ethan stepped between Claire and Lily.
Claire bent toward him. Her posture looked controlled, almost gentle.
Then she pointed downstairs.
The next camera showed Brooke leaving the children beside a catering cart. She answered her phone and walked away. Ron arrived four minutes later. He spoke to Ethan, opened the service door, and looked outside. Lily began crying. Ethan lifted her. When Ron turned toward his radio, the boy ran.
Daniel watched twice.
Claire had not shoved them. No one had dragged them. There was no single instant when the danger announced itself. Adults had handed responsibility from one person to another until two children were alone beside a loading dock.
“What happened to Brooke?” Nora asked.
Maribel looked down. “The Hart family terminated her this morning.”
“Of course they did,” Nora said.
“She made serious errors.”
“So did several people who still have lawyers.”
The insurance representative shifted in his chair.
Daniel asked for Brooke’s contact information. Maribel said she could not provide personal details without permission but would pass along his number.
Before leaving, Daniel walked into the empty ballroom.
Workers were stacking chairs. Someone had placed the untouched wedding cake on a rolling platform near the kitchen. Its five white tiers leaned slightly because the room had warmed overnight.
The photographer, Samuel Reed, was packing lights.
“I need to know what Claire told you about the children,” Daniel said.
Samuel set down a cable. “She said they were anxious around cameras.”
“They’re not.”
“I figured that out during the rehearsal.”
May you like
“What else?”
Samuel hesitated. “She wanted separate albums.”
