Chapter 4 - SOMEONE INSIDE THE HOUSE
Tessa laughed once.
It sounded wrong.
“Why would anyone want to kill me?”
Nobody answered.
That frightened her more than an answer would have.
Victor stood.
“Paulie, move Liam downstairs. Two guards.”
Liam protested.
“I’m not staying here.”
Victor looked at him.
“You can stay here or explain yourself to the people outside the gate.”
Liam shut up.
“Tessa.”
She crossed her arms.
“What now?”
“You’re coming with me.”
“Where?”
“To find out why someone wants you dead.”
Victor led her through a private hallway into the estate’s security room.
Dozens of screens covered one wall.
Tessa stared at camera feeds from hallways, gates, kitchens, garages.
“You record the staff?”
“I record my property.”
“That’s comforting.”
Nico pulled up footage from the previous three days.
“We traced Liam’s arrival backward through city cameras we have access to. The sedan picked him up near Madison, followed him for eleven blocks.”
Tessa leaned toward the screen.
“Wait.”
Victor looked at her.
“What?”
“Go back.”
Nico rewound.
The black sedan appeared at an intersection.
Tessa pointed.
“That car.”
“We know.”
“No. I’ve seen it before.”
Victor’s eyes narrowed.
“Where?”
“Here.”
Silence.
Tessa searched her memory.
“Two nights ago. I was taking trash behind the kitchen around midnight. A black sedan was parked across the road.”
“Did you see anyone?”
“No.”
“Why didn’t you report it?”
“Because cars exist, Victor.”
Paulie entered at that moment.
Tessa noticed the brief look he gave her after hearing Victor’s name.
Not Mr. Romano.
Victor.
She ignored it.
Nico switched feeds.
“We checked the outside cameras.”
A black sedan appeared near the estate two nights earlier.
Then again the next night.
Victor watched silently.
“Someone was tracking her schedule.”
Tessa’s skin prickled.
“That’s impossible.”
“No,” Victor said. “Someone inside told them when you worked.”
She thought of Mrs. Bell.
The kitchen staff.
The guards.
The maids.
People she ate with.
People who complained about sore feet beside her.
Someone had given strangers her schedule.
Victor turned toward Paulie.
“Lock staff exits.”
Paulie hesitated.
“All of them?”
“All.”
“That’ll create panic.”
“Good.”
Paulie left.
Tessa looked at Victor.
“You think one of your employees is helping them.”
“I know someone is.”
A security guard suddenly called from across the room.
“Boss.”
He enlarged a feed from the laundry hallway.
A man in a maintenance uniform was pushing a cart.
Tessa frowned.
“I’ve never seen him.”
Victor’s posture changed.
Neither had he.
“Zoom in.”
The man glanced toward a camera.
Then reached up.
The screen went black.
Victor drew his weapon.
“Where is that hallway?”
Nico answered.
“Twenty yards from the staff bedrooms.”
Tessa’s breath caught.
Her room.
Victor grabbed her arm.
“Stay here.”
“No.”
“For once in your life, follow an order.”
He left with Nico.
Tessa stared at the dead camera feed.
Something felt wrong.
Then she saw movement on another screen.
A laundry cart entered the service elevator.
She looked at the floor indicator.
Third floor.
Victor was heading toward the second.
“Victor!”
No answer.
Tessa grabbed the radio on the desk.
“The elevator!”
Static.
Then a guard’s voice.
“What?”
“He’s not on the second floor. The maintenance guy took the service elevator to three!”
Tessa looked toward another camera.
Third-floor hallway.
The elevator opened.
Empty.
No man.
Only the cart.
Then Tessa noticed something hanging from beneath it.
A wire.
Her heart stopped.
“Nico!”
She grabbed the radio again.
“DON’T TOUCH THE CART!”
The video feed flashed white.
The entire estate shook.
May you like
An explosion thundered overhead.
And every security screen went black.
