Chapter 2 - Forty-Seven Missing Seconds
Detective Rachel Cole arrived seven minutes later.
She entered through an emergency access point that security opened remotely and sealed again behind her.
Two uniformed officers followed.
Then came Assistant U.S. Attorney Nathan Pierce and three federal agents.
That changed the mood immediately.
This was no longer rich people panicking at a private party.
It was an active investigation.
Rachel saw my face and walked directly toward me.
“Do you need medical attention?”
“I can stand.”
“That wasn’t my question.”
A paramedic was brought inside.
While he checked my lip and cheekbone, Rachel separated Adrian from Conrad.
Adrian objected.
Loudly.
“My attorney should be here.”
“You can call him.”
“My phone has no signal.”
I answered before Rachel could.
“Cellular repeaters were disabled when the lockdown activated.”
He stared at me.
“You planned this.”
“I planned security.”
“You planned to trap me.”
“I planned to keep evidence from walking out the front door.”
Rachel glanced between us.
“What evidence?”
I reached for the chain around my neck.
Then froze.
My pendant was gone.
My fingers moved across my collarbone again.
Nothing.
My pulse jumped.
Rachel noticed.
“What’s wrong?”
“I was wearing a pendant.”
“What kind?”
“Black stone.”
Adrian’s expression didn’t move.
That frightened me more than a smile would have.
Rachel turned toward him.
“Did you take anything from Ms. Hartwell?”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“It contained a camera.”
Conrad laughed once.
“You secretly recorded my son?”
“Public ballroom.”
I looked at Adrian.
“And a hallway where he assaulted me.”
His jaw tightened.
The pendant camera had been my insurance.
I had worn it because the Mercer family had already proven they could manipulate building surveillance.
What I hadn’t expected was for Adrian to notice it.
Rachel ordered officers to search the corridor.
Owen sent security personnel toward the east wing.
Ten minutes later, a young server came running into the ballroom.
Her name tag read TESSA.
She was pale.
“Mr. Shaw.”
Owen turned.
“What happened?”
“There’s someone in the catering pantry.”
We followed her.
Rachel went first.
I ignored my father when he told me to stay behind.
Inside the pantry, another server was sitting against the wall, dazed but conscious.
Her name was Mia Lawson.
A medic immediately knelt beside her.
Rachel crouched nearby.
“Mia, can you hear me?”
She nodded.
“What happened?”
“I found something.”
Her voice shook.
“Near the hallway.”
“What?”
“A necklace.”
My stomach dropped.
“Where is it?”
Mia looked toward me.
“A man came in.”
“Which man?”
“I didn’t see his face.”
She swallowed.
“He grabbed it.”
Adrian had been visible in the ballroom during that time.
So it wasn’t him.
Rachel asked the question I was already thinking.
“Did he say anything?”
Mia closed her eyes.
“Yes.”
“What?”
“He said I should have left it where it was.”
Owen leaned toward one of his guards.
“Lock the service corridors.”
Mia suddenly grabbed Rachel’s wrist.
“Wait.”
Everyone stopped.
“He dropped this.”
She opened her hand.
A torn piece of ivory paper rested against her palm.
Only four words were visible.
Rachel read them aloud.
“Charles Hartwell authorized payment.”
My father stopped breathing.
I looked at him.
He didn’t ask what the paper meant.
He didn’t look confused.
He looked afraid.
May you like
And that was when I realized my father knew exactly what I had been investigating.
He had simply never told me.
