Chapter 2 - The Seventeen Missing Minutes
The estate lockdown began with the sound of steel bolts sliding into place behind doors that had never needed to be locked from the inside.
Dominic remained in the great room while Vincent divided the security team into pairs and ordered every entrance, service corridor, stairwell, and underground garage sealed.
Nobody was permitted to leave.
Nobody was permitted to make an outside call without Vincent's approval.
Arthur Voss stood behind the conference room glass with both hands resting on the back of a leather chair, watching the house turn into a cage.
Clare held Ellie against her hip and tried to keep her breathing steady.
The little girl did not understand that one pointing finger had just changed the balance of power inside one of Chicago's most feared families.
She only knew the man with silver hair had clicked the shiny piece on Dominic's leg.
Dominic turned to Dr. Mercer.
"Remove the brace."
Mercer hesitated.
"You should not put weight on the knee without support."
"Then support the knee with something I can trust."
Mercer's eyes lowered.
That answer was enough for Dominic to notice fear where professional concern should have been.
Vincent returned with a black evidence case and a portable drive.
"Camera room is secure."
Dominic nodded toward the conference room.
"Keep them there."
Arthur opened the glass door before Vincent could respond.
"Are we prisoners now?"
Dominic looked at him.
"You are guests who have not been dismissed."
"That sounds like a prettier word for prisoner."
"Then choose whichever word makes you behave."
Two council members looked down to hide their reactions.
Arthur smiled again, but there was no patience in it now.
"You are letting a frightened housekeeper's child dictate tonight's business."
Clare stiffened.
Dominic did not raise his voice.
"You are talking about a four-year-old in front of her mother."
Arthur spread his hands.
"I am talking about reliability."
"So am I."
Dominic pointed toward the chair Arthur had abandoned.
"Sit down."
For a second, the room seemed to lean toward Arthur's answer.
Then Arthur stepped backward and closed the glass door.
Dominic waited until the latch clicked.
"Vincent."
"Yes."
"Find the footage from yesterday between two and four."
They moved into the security room beside the library, where twelve monitors showed nearly every public corridor in the estate.
Clare remained with Ellie near the doorway because Dominic had specifically ordered that mother and daughter stay where he could see them.
Vincent entered the date and selected the rehabilitation hallway camera.
The screen showed Clare pushing the linen cart toward the guest wing at 2:41 p.m.
Ellie followed two steps behind her, carrying the wooden latch board beneath one arm.
At 2:43, Clare disappeared through the laundry door.
Ellie sat on the floor beside the cart.
At 2:44, the image jumped.
Vincent frowned.
He rewound it.
The same thing happened.
2:43:58.
Then 3:01:12.
Seventeen minutes and fourteen seconds were gone.
Nobody said anything.
Vincent tried the camera at the opposite end of the hall.
The same gap appeared.
He checked the staircase camera.
The same gap.
Then the kitchen service corridor.
Again, exactly seventeen minutes and fourteen seconds.
Dominic's face became still in the way Clare had begun to recognize as more dangerous than anger.
"System failure?"
Vincent shook his head.
"A system failure would leave an error record."
"And this?"
"This was cut."
Mercer rubbed one hand over his mouth.
Dominic heard the movement and turned.
"Something you want to tell me?"
"No."
Dominic stepped closer.
His leg hurt, but the pain no longer controlled his posture.
"That answer came too quickly."
Mercer swallowed.
"I am a doctor, Dominic, not a technician."
"Tonight everybody is whatever I need them to be."
Vincent opened the access log.
A list of administrator entries appeared.
Three names had accessed the system that afternoon.
Vincent Hale.
Nolan Price, night security supervisor.
And Dominic Vale.
Clare stared at the screen.
Vincent did not move.
"Boss."
Dominic looked at his own name.
"I was at Lakeshore Medical yesterday afternoon."
"I know."
"Then somebody used my credentials."
Vincent pulled the authentication detail.
The access had come from a terminal inside Dominic's private study.
That room required a palm scan.
Arthur did not have access.
Mercer did not have access.
Even the council did not have access.
Only Dominic and Vincent did.
The implication settled over the room like smoke.
Vincent slowly turned toward Dominic.
"You think I did this?"
"I think somebody wants me to ask that question."
Vincent's jaw tightened.
"Good answer."
"Not good enough."
Dominic pointed at the access log.
"Pull the study camera."
Vincent did.
At 2:42 p.m., the hallway outside Dominic's study was empty.
At 2:43, the screen froze for exactly four seconds.
When the image resumed, the door was closing.
Nobody was visible.
Vincent zoomed in.
A shadow moved across the brass handle.
Then a pale hand appeared for less than half a second.
On the wrist was a dark shirt cuff.
At the edge of the cuff was a small flash of blue.
Ellie suddenly leaned forward.
"Blue circle."
Clare looked at her.
"What, sweetheart?"
Ellie pointed at the monitor.
"The man had a blue circle."
Vincent paused the frame.
The flash was too small to identify clearly.
It might have been a cufflink.
It might have been a reflection.
Arthur Voss was wearing silver cufflinks tonight.
Dominic remembered seeing them when Arthur entered the room.
No blue.
Clare kissed Ellie's hair.
"Are you sure?"
Ellie nodded.
"Blue like the lake toy."
She pointed to a blue wooden gear fixed to her latch board.
Dominic looked at Vincent.
"Search yesterday's arrival records."
Vincent opened the estate gate log.
Arthur's car had entered at 2:31 p.m.
That was not unusual.
He often came early on council days.
But yesterday was not a council day.
Arthur had told Dominic he spent the entire afternoon downtown meeting an attorney.
Dominic read the line twice.
"He was here."
Vincent nodded.
"For twenty-nine minutes."
"And nobody told me."
"His name is authorized at the gate."
"Was."
Dominic turned toward the security room door.
Vincent stopped him.
"Not yet."
Dominic looked back.
"You giving me orders now?"
"I am keeping you from showing him what we know."
Dominic considered that.
Then he nodded once.
Vincent continued digging through access records.
Arthur's vehicle had entered through the north gate at 2:31 and exited at 3:06.
The missing camera segment sat almost perfectly inside that window.
But there was another problem.
The vehicle's rear-seat weight sensor showed two passengers on arrival.
Only one passenger left.
Clare felt cold travel along her arms.
"Someone stayed here?"
Vincent stared at the data.
"Looks that way."
Dominic's eyes moved toward the rehabilitation wing.
"Search every room."
Vincent reached for the radio.
Before he could speak, a sharp electronic tone sounded from the main monitor.
One of the basement door sensors had just opened.
The door was supposed to be locked.
Vincent swore under his breath.
Dominic grabbed his cane.
"Which door?"
Vincent read the alert.
"Medical storage."
Mercer's face changed again.
This time Dominic did not miss it.
"What is in medical storage, Samuel?"
Mercer looked toward the hallway.
"Medication."
"What medication?"
Mercer said nothing.
The alarm sounded a second time.
Then every light in the security room went black.
Ellie screamed.
Clare pulled her close.
Vincent drew his sidearm and moved in front of Dominic.
Emergency lights flooded the corridor in red.
From somewhere below them came the hard slam of a metal door.
Then running footsteps.
Dominic looked at Mercer.
"If somebody dies in my house tonight, doctor, I am going to start asking why you already look guilty."
Mercer whispered the answer before he seemed able to stop himself.
May you like
"Because the brace was not the only thing they changed."
