Chapter 2 - The Six Missing Minutes

The guests were moved from the ballroom in groups of ten.

Nobody went home.

Dominic converted the east drawing room into an interview area, the library into a waiting room, and the glass conservatory into a temporary command center for security. Phones were sealed in numbered evidence pouches. Vehicles remained where they had been parked.

Sophia sat with Lily on a sofa outside the conservatory.

Lily had fallen asleep with her head against Sophia's chest.

Luca sat across from them, still dressed for his birthday, his untouched bow tie hanging loose around his collar.

He whispered, "Is she okay?"

Sophia looked down at Lily.

"She's tired."

"No. I mean... is she scared?"

"Probably."

"She doesn't look scared."

"Three-year-olds are very good at becoming sleepy when adults are falling apart."

Luca considered that.

"My dad doesn't fall apart."

Sophia glanced through the glass wall. Dominic stood over a long table with Marcus, Julian and two investigators from his private legal team.

"Everyone does," she said. "Some people just do it quietly."

Luca looked at his shoes.

"My mom died in a car."

Sophia knew.

Every employee in the estate knew about Isabelle Moretti's crash three years earlier, but nobody spoke about it in front of Dominic.

"I remember."

"Dad didn't cry at the funeral."

Sophia brushed a curl from Lily's forehead.

"That doesn't mean he wasn't sad."

Luca looked toward his father.

"Do you think somebody wants me dead because I'm a Moretti?"

Sophia's mouth went dry.

Before she could answer, Dominic opened the conservatory door.

"Luca."

The boy straightened.

"Yeah?"

"Claire is waiting upstairs. Go with Mr. Hale's deputy."

"I want to stay here."

"Not tonight."

"I can help."

Dominic crossed the room and crouched in front of him.

"You already helped by not eating the cake."

"That was Lily."

"And now your job is to sleep."

Luca frowned.

"That's a stupid job."

"It pays well."

Luca almost smiled.

"Can Lily come upstairs too?"

Dominic looked at Sophia.

"If her mother agrees."

Sophia hesitated.

"I'd rather keep her with me."

"Then she stays."

Luca allowed the deputy to lead him away.

Dominic remained near the sofa.

Sophia looked up.

"Am I being interviewed?"

"Yes."

"Am I a suspect?"

"Everyone is."

"Even your son?"

"No."

"So not everyone."

Dominic sat across from her.

"Fair correction."

Sophia adjusted Lily carefully.

"What do you want to know?"

"Tell me about Owen Pike."

"I don't know him. I know the name because I wrote it down after the call."

"Why write the name if he claimed to be from insurance?"

"Because he asked strange questions."

"What questions?"

"How many night staff worked the west wing. Whether the nursery had its own entrance. Whether household employees used the service elevators after midnight."

Dominic's expression changed.

"Nursery?"

"Yes."

"Did you tell Julian that?"

"In the email."

Dominic looked through the glass at Julian.

"Anything else?"

"He asked if the birthday party would use outside catering."

"Three weeks ago?"

"Yes."

Dominic leaned back.

"The catering contract was not finalized until nine days ago."

Sophia felt cold.

"Then whoever called already knew there would be a party."

"Or was helping plan it."

Lily stirred.

Sophia lowered her voice.

"I should have pushed harder."

"You reported it."

"I should have called security myself."

"Would you have known Marcus's private number?"

"No."

"Then stop inventing guilt."

She looked at him.

"That's an interesting sentence from you."

Dominic gave her a long look.

"Meaning?"

"You've spent three years acting like you personally caused Mrs. Moretti's death by not being in the car."

He went still.

Sophia immediately regretted saying it.

"I'm sorry."

"No. Finish."

"I shouldn't have—"

"You started. Finish."

Sophia looked down at Lily.

"I worked the night shift then. Everyone saw what happened after. You stopped eating with Luca. You stopped using the west terrace because she liked it. You turned the whole house into a security plan."

Dominic's voice was quiet.

"My wife died because her driver lost control in the rain."

"That's what they said."

His eyes lifted to hers.

"What does that mean?"

Sophia's pulse quickened.

"Nothing."

"That didn't sound like nothing."

Before she could answer, Marcus opened the conservatory door.

"We found something."

Dominic stood.

"What?"

Marcus placed a clear evidence sleeve on the table. Inside was a heavy silver cufflink shaped like a rearing stag.

Sophia frowned.

"That was in the corridor?"

"Behind a storage cabinet."

Dominic picked up the sleeve.

The Moretti Foundation crest was engraved on the back.

Julian joined them.

"Those were issued to board members at the tenth-anniversary dinner."

"How many?" Dominic asked.

"Twelve sets."

"Current board members?"

"Nine still living. One resigned. Two sets belonged to Isabelle and you."

Sophia looked at Dominic.

"So the man Lily saw was wearing one?"

"We don't know that," Marcus said.

Lily opened her eyes.

Dominic crouched again and held the evidence sleeve at a distance.

"Lily."

She blinked sleepily.

"Mr. Moretti."

"Did the man have something like this?"

She stared.

"No."

Marcus frowned.

"No?"

"His shiny lion was on his finger."

Dominic turned to Marcus.

"Ring, not cufflink."

"So this was planted," Marcus said.

Julian crossed his arms.

"Or dropped by someone else."

Dominic looked at him.

"Either way, it points at the board."

A technician entered.

"Mr. Hale, we recovered part of the service-camera feed."

Marcus waved him forward.

"Show us."

The technician opened a laptop.

"At 7:41 p.m., normal feed. At 7:42, signal interruption. At 7:48, feed returns."

"Six minutes," Sophia said.

The technician nodded.

"But it wasn't shut off at the camera."

Marcus leaned over the screen.

"Where?"

"Network control room."

Dominic looked at him.

"Inside the house."

"Yes."

"Who has access?"

"Security supervisors. IT. Administration."

Julian said, "And you."

Marcus turned slowly.

"Careful."

"I'm stating facts."

Dominic raised one hand.

"Enough."

The technician clicked to another file.

"There's more. The ballroom mirror caught a partial reflection from the opposite angle. It's distorted, but we can see the service doorway."

A grainy image appeared.

A figure in a white shirt and dark apron entered the corridor.

Sophia leaned closer.

"Can you see his face?"

"No."

The technician advanced frame by frame.

The figure paused.

Raised one hand.

Touched his ear.

Then turned slightly toward the mirror.

Lily had described it exactly.

Dominic said, "Zoom the hand."

The image pixelated.

Marcus squinted.

"There's a ring."

Julian said, "Could be anything."

Sophia looked again.

"No."

Dominic glanced at her.

"What?"

"Not the ring. The wrist."

The man had a thin strip of red fabric around one wrist.

Sophia's face changed.

"I've seen that."

"Where?"

"Today. On one of the temporary catering workers."

Marcus leaned closer.

"Which one?"

"I don't know his name. He cut his hand unloading glassware. One of the kitchen staff tied a red napkin strip around his wrist until they found a bandage."

Dominic looked at the technician.

"Employee footage."

The technician opened another folder.

Dozens of still images appeared from the loading entrance.

Sophia scanned them.

"Back. Back again."

A man in a dark polo pushed a trolley through the service gate.

"There."

Marcus pointed to the screen.

"That badge says Owen Pike."

Sophia nodded.

"That's him."

Dominic stared at the man's face.

Owen Pike was in his late thirties, narrow-faced, with short dark hair and a pale scar near his chin.

"Run him through every database we have."

Marcus typed rapidly.

A result appeared.

His expression hardened.

"What?"

"Owen Pike worked for Moretti Protective Services."

Dominic's eyes sharpened.

"When?"

"Four years ago."

Julian stepped toward the screen.

"Under which division?"

Marcus looked at him.

"Executive transport."

The room went silent.

Dominic said, "Whose?"

Marcus did not answer immediately.

Sophia already knew from his face.

Dominic's voice became colder.

"Whose transport detail?"

Marcus turned the screen.

"Isabelle's."

Sophia felt Lily's small fingers tighten around hers.

Dominic looked at the frozen image of Owen Pike.

The room seemed to shrink around him.

"My wife's former security contractor walked into my son's birthday party using a temporary badge and put poison on his cake."

Julian spoke carefully.

"That may be coincidence."

Dominic looked at him.

"Do you actually believe that?"

"No."

"Then don't insult me."

Marcus scrolled.

"Owen was terminated two months before Isabelle's accident."

"Reason?"

"Unauthorized access to route schedules."

Sophia's breath caught.

Dominic looked at her.

"What?"

She stared at Owen's photograph.

"I saw him before."

"When?"

"Not today."

Her voice became unsteady.

"Three years ago."

Dominic stepped closer.

"Where?"

Sophia struggled with the memory.

"The night before Mrs. Moretti died."

Nobody spoke.

"Where, Sophia?"

She met his eyes.

"In the west corridor. Outside your wife's study."

Dominic's face lost all color.

"What was he doing?"

Sophia answered in a whisper.

"He was arguing with someone."

"Who?"

"I couldn't see. The study door was almost closed."

"What did you hear?"

Sophia looked down at her sleeping daughter, then back at Dominic.

"I heard Mrs. Moretti say, 'If Dominic finds out what you changed, he'll destroy you.'"

Dominic stared at her.

"And then?"

"Then a man's voice said, 'He'll never find out.'"

Marcus slowly closed the laptop.

Julian looked toward the dark windows.

Dominic remained perfectly still.

For three years, he had believed his wife's death began on a wet road.

Now a poisoned birthday cake had dragged the past into the room and placed it directly in front of him.

He looked at Marcus.

"Find Owen Pike."

Marcus nodded.

"Alive?"

Dominic's eyes did not leave the photograph.

"Alive."

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Then he looked at Sophia.

"And after we find him, you're going to tell me everything you remember about that night."