Chapter 4 - The Room Behind the Wall.
Wren found the photograph inside her staff locker five minutes later.
It was not a copy of the picture Dominic carried.
This one had been taken much later.
Samuel stood outside his Bellweather shop beneath a faded blue awning, older now, silver-haired, one hand resting on the frame of the front door.
The date stamped in the corner was only six months before his death.
A red circle had been drawn around his face.
On the back, someone had written in block letters.
NEXT TIME THE LIGHTS GO OUT, YOU STAY DARK.
Lena stood beside Wren with both hands clasped over her mouth.
"I didn't touch anything else."
"Good."
Wren's voice sounded steadier than she felt.
Dominic remained in the office doorway.
Elias, his security chief, had already photographed the locker and the hallway outside it.
"Who has access to this room?" Dominic asked.
Wren looked at Lena.
"Event staff, committee members, estate management."
"How many people?"
"Too many."
Dominic's jaw tightened.
Bianca appeared behind him as if summoned by the mention of committee members.
"What is going on?"
Nobody answered.
Her eyes found the photograph in Wren's hand.
For the briefest instant, recognition crossed her face.
Wren saw it.
So did Dominic.
"You've seen this before," Wren said.
Bianca recovered quickly.
"I've seen your grandfather in photographs."
"Where?"
"You used to keep one on your desk."
Wren stared at her.
"Not this one."
Bianca folded her arms.
"I don't catalog your family pictures."
Dominic stepped aside from the doorway.
"Then you won't mind if Elias checks the security footage."
Bianca's face hardened.
"This is a private foundation event."
"A threat was placed in an employee's locker."
"Then the estate's security team can handle it."
Dominic's voice dropped.
"The estate's generator was manually disabled ten minutes ago."
Bianca said nothing.
Wren looked from one of them to the other.
"Why are you fighting over who gets to check a camera?"
Bianca's mouth opened.
Dominic answered first.
"Because whoever controls the footage controls the first version of the truth."
Wren felt the sentence settle into her.
That was what Bianca had always understood better than anyone.
Not truth.
Version.
The version in which Bianca built the gala.
The version in which Wren was only staff.
The version in which the compass had been trash until Dominic touched it.
Wren slipped the photograph into a clear document sleeve from her binder.
"I'm checking the cameras myself."
Bianca laughed once.
"You're the event coordinator, not a detective."
Wren looked at her.
"Tonight I'm the person being threatened."
Bianca's expression cooled.
"And the gala?"
"Lena can run the next twenty minutes."
Lena looked startled.
Wren handed her the binder.
"Dessert service begins at eight thirty-five."
"The pianist cues at eight forty-two."
"If Victor Harrington still hasn't arrived by eight forty, move the hospital video forward and cut the second donor testimonial."
Lena nodded quickly.
Wren turned toward Dominic.
"I want the security room."
"So do I."
Bianca stepped in front of them.
"You cannot just take over this estate."
Wren stopped.
"Then come with us."
Bianca blinked.
"What?"
"If you're worried about transparency, come watch."
For the first time that evening, Wren enjoyed watching Bianca search for a response.
She found none.
The security room was in the basement beneath the east wing.
The estate manager unlocked it with shaking hands.
Sixteen camera feeds glowed across a wall of monitors.
Elias moved directly to the system console.
"Show the staff corridor from seven forty-five onward."
The manager clicked through archived footage.
The screen filled with a hallway Wren knew well.
At seven fifty-one, Wren entered her locker room to retrieve extra name badges.
At seven fifty-three, she left.
At seven fifty-six, Calvin Rusk appeared at the end of the corridor.
Wren leaned closer.
Calvin stopped near the locker room door.
He looked directly at the camera.
Then the image froze.
A timestamp jumped forward nine minutes.
When the footage resumed, the hallway was empty.
"Someone deleted nine minutes," Wren said.
Wren leaned closer to the monitor and watched the frozen frame again.
Calvin's right hand was already inside his jacket when the image stopped.
His left shoulder was angled toward the locker room.
It was not proof of anything by itself.
Wren had spent too many years around donors to confuse suspicion with evidence.
Still, she noticed details because details were what people stepped over when they were in a hurry to tell a cleaner story.
She thought about the first day Bianca interviewed her.
Bianca had asked strangely specific questions about family property.
Did Wren still have relatives in Bellweather?
Did she intend to sell her grandfather's shop?
Was she sentimental about inherited objects?
At the time, Wren had assumed Bianca was making shallow conversation.
Now every question sounded like inventory.
"She knew about the shop before I ever mentioned it at work," Wren said.
Dominic looked at her.
"Bianca?"
Wren nodded slowly.
"During my interview, she asked whether I planned to sell it."
"Was that relevant to the job?"
"Not even remotely."
Elias glanced back at the frozen footage.
"Then Victor wasn't just watching after she hired you."
Wren felt a cold certainty settle in her stomach.
"He was looking for a way into my life before I walked through the door."
The estate manager looked sick.
"That shouldn't be possible without administrator access."
Dominic turned to him.
"Who has it?"
"Me."
The man swallowed.
"And Mr. Harrington's office."
Bianca went very still.
Wren noticed.
"Why would Victor's office have administrator access to the Windsor Estate?"
"The foundation leases the property several times a year," the manager said.
"Mr. Harrington's staff requested emergency privileges after a security incident last spring."
Dominic looked at Wren.
"Calvin works for Victor."
"I know."
"And nine minutes disappear when Calvin approaches your locker."
Wren folded her arms tightly.
"That still doesn't tell us why my grandfather is involved."
Elias switched to another feed.
"Maybe this does."
He pulled up the loading entrance from earlier that afternoon.
At 4:18 p.m., a black sedan entered the service drive.
Calvin stepped out.
A second man exited from the rear passenger side.
Wren leaned toward the screen.
She did not recognize him.
Dominic did.
His face turned to stone.
"Miles Vane."
Wren looked at him.
"Who is that?"
"A private investigator."
Elias added quietly, "The kind who doesn't put everything on invoices."
Wren watched Vane carry a narrow metal case into the estate.
"What does he investigate?"
Dominic's eyes stayed on the screen.
"People who are inconvenient."
Bianca finally spoke.
"This is getting ridiculous."
Wren turned.
"Then leave."
Bianca stared at her.
Wren had never said those words to her before.
"Excuse me?"
"Leave the security room."
"You work for this foundation."
"Not at this second."
The sentence surprised even Wren.
She felt something loosen inside her.
For three years, Bianca had used the gala as proof that Wren should tolerate anything for the privilege of being needed.
Tonight, Wren finally understood the difference between being needed and being valued.
Dominic looked almost amused.
Bianca noticed.
That made her angrier.
"You will regret this tomorrow."
Wren held her gaze.
"Maybe."
"But tonight I'm more interested in staying alive."
Bianca left.
The door slammed behind her.
The estate manager looked at Wren with new respect.
Wren ignored it.
Respect that appeared only after defiance was not much better than applause that appeared only after Dominic opened the compass.
Elias zoomed in on Miles Vane's metal case.
"Could be camera equipment."
Dominic shook his head.
"Or tools."
Wren looked at the brass key in her hand.
"We need to go to Bellweather."
Dominic turned toward her.
"Tonight?"
"If someone knows about the shop, every hour we wait gives them time to get there first."
"Your grandfather told you to run if I found the compass."
"He also hid a key in a box he gave me."
Wren looked down at Samuel's note.
"Maybe he wasn't telling me to run from you."
Dominic's eyes narrowed.
"Maybe he was telling me what to make you do."
The thought chilled them both.
Wren pointed at the photograph.
"Whoever put this in my locker knows Samuel is dead."
"Yes."
"They also know you were looking for him."
"Yes."
"Then standing still is exactly what they want."
Dominic considered her.
"You do this often?"
"What?"
"Walk toward things after receiving death threats."
Wren almost smiled.
"I organize charity galas."
"Same skill set."
For the first time all night, she laughed.
It lasted less than a second.
Then Elias's phone rang.
He answered, listened, and looked at Dominic.
"We have a problem."
"Which one?"
"The Bellweather shop alarm was triggered twelve minutes ago."
Wren's smile vanished.
"Who is there?"
Elias looked at the screen.
"No one now."
"What did they take?"
"We don't know."
He paused.
"But the responding officer says the brick wall behind the marine clocks has been opened."
Wren stared at Dominic.
May you like
The room Samuel had hidden for twenty-seven years was no longer hidden.
And someone had reached it first.
