Chapter 6 - THE GUEST WHO LIED
The black ledger had not been opened in eight years.
Enzo knew that because he had sealed it himself after his father's death.
It contained names no accountant was supposed to see.
Political favors.
Cash settlements.
Private loans.
Payments to informants.
Money used to solve problems that respectable companies preferred to pretend never existed.
Some of the entries were legal.
Some were not.
All of them were dangerous in the wrong hands.
Enzo looked at Matteo.
“How did someone open the records room?”
“The lock shows no damage.”
“Key?”
“Electronic access.”
“Whose code?”
Matteo hesitated.
“Yours.”
Adeline turned toward Enzo.
Antonio swore under his breath.
Enzo did not react.
“My code was used while I was in this room?”
“Yes.”
“Can it be copied?”
“The code alone is not enough.”
Matteo's eyes were grim.
“The reader also requires a security token.”
Enzo touched his trouser pocket.
His token was there.
Then he remembered his jacket.
Everyone looked at the coat folded over the chair.
Adeline's face changed.
“I never touched the inside pockets.”
Enzo crossed to the coat and searched it.
The inner pocket was empty.
His security token was gone.
Camilla had been close enough to take it before the coat ever reached Adeline.
So had half a dozen people during the reception.
Enzo looked at Matteo.
“Lock every exterior gate.”
Victor and Camilla had already left the mansion.
Matteo understood.
“They cleared the gate six minutes ago.”
“Track their car.”
“They came in a vehicle registered to Ashford Holdings.”
“Track it.”
Matteo left.
Adeline stared at the coat.
“You thought I took it.”
Enzo looked at her.
“I considered the possibility.”
“That is a polite way to say yes.”
“You admitted searching my house.”
“And you handed me the coat.”
“I did.”
“So if I wanted your token, I would have had to know you would put your coat over my shoulders after your fiancee attacked me.”
Enzo's eyes narrowed slightly.
“Unless the attack was planned.”
The accusation shocked even Antonio.
Adeline stared at Enzo.
For a second she could not speak.
Then she stepped forward.
“You think I let her beat me so I could steal from you?”
“I said unless.”
“You watched her raise that crop.”
“Yes.”
“You saw my blood on your wall.”
“Yes.”
“And some part of you still thinks I arranged it?”
Enzo's expression hardened.
“Some part of me thinks everyone in this house may be lying.”
Adeline's eyes burned.
“That includes you.”
Antonio stepped between them before the argument could grow.
“Enough.”
Neither listened.
Adeline pointed at the Thomas Croft file.
“My father was called a thief because powerful men found that explanation convenient.”
She pointed at herself.
“I will not stand here and let you do the same thing to me.”
Enzo's jaw tightened.
“I have accused you of nothing.”
“You did not have to.”
The line echoed Camilla's earlier words about attempted murder.
Enzo heard the irony.
So did Adeline.
She turned away.
“I am leaving.”
“No.”
She spun back.
“You said everyone was free to leave.”
“The guests are.”
“I am not a prisoner.”
“No.”
“Then move.”
Enzo stood between her and the door.
His voice lowered.
“Someone photographed you before you came here.”
“Someone removed evidence from a pantry.”
“Someone disabled my cameras.”
“Someone used my security credentials to steal a ledger ten minutes after we opened your father's file.”
He held her gaze.
“If you walk outside alone tonight, you may not make it to the gate.”
Adeline's anger did not disappear.
But she stopped moving.
Antonio looked toward the ballroom.
“We need to find out which guest lied.”
Enzo nodded.
“About what?” Adeline asked.
Antonio pointed toward the champagne glass.
“The drink.”
He looked at Enzo.
“Camilla carried it through a room full of people.”
“Someone saw where she got it.”
They returned to the ballroom ten minutes later.
The party had died completely.
Music no longer played.
Half-finished dinners sat cold on linen-covered tables.
Guests had formed small groups and spoke in whispers.
Security officers stood near every door.
When Enzo entered, conversation stopped.
Adeline walked several feet behind him with Lucia beside her.
She had refused to put the coat back on.
Enzo noticed but did not comment.
Antonio remained in the study with Dr. Serrano.
Enzo stepped onto the small stage where a string quartet had played earlier.
He did not use the microphone.
He did not need to.
“The glass contained a medication that should not have been there.”
A ripple of shock moved across the room.
Dr. Malcolm Voss stepped forward immediately.
“What medication?”
Enzo looked at him.
“Why?”
Voss blinked.
“As a physician, I may be able to help.”
“You are a hospital administrator.”
“I am still licensed.”
“Then you know better than to diagnose a substance before a full test.”
Voss's mouth tightened.
Senator Hale spoke from near the front table.
“Enzo, perhaps everyone should go home and let law enforcement handle this.”
Enzo looked at him.
“Which law enforcement?”
Hale frowned.
“What does that mean?”
“It means Judge Price received a call from the man who disabled my cameras.”
The room erupted into whispers.
Judge Price was gone.
Her empty chair suddenly looked important.
Senator Hale raised both hands.
“I know nothing about that.”
“I did not say you did.”
Hale lowered them.
Enzo looked around the ballroom.
“I am going to ask one question.”
“No one is required to answer.”
“But anyone who lies should understand that the cameras covering the ballroom itself never stopped recording.”
Several faces changed.
That was true.
The sabotage had affected only the corridor and pantry network.
Enzo continued.
“Who saw Camilla Ashford receive the champagne glass she was carrying toward Antonio Marchetti?”
No one spoke.
Adeline watched the guests.
A senator looked down.
A banker rubbed his thumb along the rim of his glass.
A hospital trustee whispered to her husband.
Then one young server near the back raised her hand.
Every head turned.
She looked terrified.
Enzo nodded to her.
“Come forward.”
The server's name tag read EMILY.
She was twenty-two at most.
She walked to the front with shaking hands.
“I gave Miss Ashford a glass.”
“When?”
“About nine.”
“Was anything unusual about it?”
Emily looked toward Dr. Voss.
Voss's face went rigid.
Enzo noticed.
“So did Adeline.”
Emily swallowed.
“Dr. Voss told me to take a specific glass from the tray beside him.”
A murmur swept through the ballroom.
Voss stepped forward.
“That is not what happened.”
Emily flinched.
Enzo looked at her.
“Finish.”
“He said Mr. Antonio needed the lower-sugar champagne because of his heart.”
Enzo's eyes moved to Voss.
Antonio did not drink low-sugar champagne.
He drank whatever Enzo drank and complained if anyone tried to change it.
Voss knew that.
He had attended family dinners.
Enzo's voice went flat.
“What did you give Camilla?”
Emily pointed to a service station.
“A glass from that tray.”
“Did you see Dr. Voss touch it?”
“No.”
Voss exhaled.
Then Emily continued.
“But I saw him place something beside it.”
Voss's face changed.
“What?” Enzo asked.
“A little white packet.”
Dr. Voss laughed loudly.
“Sweetener.”
Emily looked at him.
“That is what you told me.”
Voss turned to Enzo.
“There.”
“This is ridiculous.”
Enzo did not answer.
Adeline stepped closer to Emily.
“Did Camilla use the packet?”
Emily nodded.
“I think so.”
“You think?”
“I saw her tear something open after I walked away.”
Voss shook his head.
“This girl is confused.”
Emily looked hurt.
“No, sir.”
“You serve hundreds of glasses a night.”
“You cannot possibly remember one packet.”
Emily's fear transformed into anger.
“I remember because you grabbed my wrist when I picked up the wrong glass.”
The room went silent again.
Voss stared at her.
Emily lifted her sleeve.
Four faint red marks were visible near her wrist.
Enzo's expression changed.
Adeline looked from Emily's wrist to her own bandage.
Two young women.
Two marks left by powerful people who assumed no one would care.
Enzo stepped off the stage.
“Matteo.”
The security chief appeared from the side of the room.
“Keep Dr. Voss here.”
Voss's face turned red.
“You cannot detain me.”
“I am not detaining you.”
Enzo's voice was almost bored.
“You may leave.”
Voss relaxed.
Then Enzo continued.
“But before you do, I will send the preliminary toxicology result, Emily's statement, and tonight's ballroom footage to every member of the St. Augustine board.”
Voss stopped.
Enzo looked at the trustees in the room.
“Several of them are standing behind you.”
No one met Voss's eyes.
He stayed.
Matteo approached Enzo and whispered something.
Enzo's expression hardened.
“What?” Adeline asked.
Enzo looked at her.
“The car carrying Victor and Camilla was found abandoned.”
“Where?”
“Three miles north.”
“Are they gone?”
“Yes.”
Adeline felt dread settle into her stomach.
Enzo continued.
“And the driver is unconscious in the front seat.”
The unconscious driver was taken to a private emergency department under state supervision rather than St. Augustine.
That decision angered Dr. Voss enough that he forgot to hide it.
“You are implying my hospital cannot be trusted.”
Enzo looked at him.
“I am implying you are part of the question.”
Voss stepped closer.
“You have donated millions to St. Augustine.”
“That does not purchase my silence.”
“No, apparently a maid does.”
Adeline heard him.
So did Emily.
The young server's shoulders tightened.
Enzo walked toward Voss.
“You should stop using women's jobs as evidence that their words matter less.”
Voss laughed nervously.
“This performance is getting old.”
Emily surprised everyone by stepping forward.
“No.”
Her voice shook.
“What is getting old is men grabbing us and then acting confused when someone remembers.”
The ballroom went silent.
Emily looked terrified by her own courage.
Lucia moved beside her.
That small act steadied her.
Voss looked around for support.
Several hospital trustees who had avoided his eyes earlier were now watching him directly.
One woman removed her board pin from her lapel and placed it on the table.
“I want an independent review of tonight,” she said.
Another trustee nodded.
“So do I.”
Voss's face changed.
Adeline understood the mechanics of power in real time.
One person speaking did not automatically defeat it.
But it gave the next frightened person somewhere to stand.
Matteo returned with another update about the abandoned Ashford car.
“The driver has a fracture at the back of his skull.”
“Can he speak?” Enzo asked.
“Not yet.”
“Anything in the vehicle?”
“A torn piece of black fabric caught in the rear door.”
Enzo frowned.
“Uniform?”
“Possibly.”
Matteo lowered his voice.
“And one of our exterior guards is missing from his post.”
“Name?”
“Owen Mercer.”
Adeline recognized it.
Owen had watched her from the kitchen door earlier that night.
At the time she had thought he was merely bored.
Now his absence felt deliberate.
Enzo looked toward the service corridor.
“Find him.”
May you like
Adeline's skin prickled.
She did not know that within an hour Owen Mercer would find her first.
