Chapter 10 - THE CALL THAT NEVER CAME
At the estate, detectives had secured the lighting controls and the ballroom. Julian’s fingerprints were on the cabinet beside the rig, but so were those of several staff members. Grant’s control room footage showed him there when Cole’s message was sent. Ethan still refused to let him near Noah.
One question would not leave Elena alone.
“If Julian was ready,” she said, “why didn’t the chandelier fall?”
Grant checked the sequence recorded by the lighting system. The trigger had been armed at 8:42 p.m. It was disabled at 8:43.
The pyramid fell at 8:44.
“Someone stopped it before Elena got to Noah,” Ethan said.
Grant brought up the hallway camera outside the lighting room. Vivian entered at 8:43. She came out holding the brass key Noah now carried on its blue ribbon.
“She knew,” Elena said.
Ethan called his mother again. This time she answered.
“Are you alone?” Vivian asked.
“No.”
“Good. Let Elena hear me.”
Ethan put her on speaker. For a moment, all they heard was the hum of a car.
“Julian showed me a message this afternoon,” Vivian said. “He said someone had found Rosa’s photographs. He promised to turn over the old records if I helped bring you to the ballroom.”
“You agreed?”
“I thought he wanted to tell you what happened to your father. I believed he was too afraid to do it in private.”
“You watched Noah stand beside that glass tower.”
“I saw Cole reach for it. I went straight to the lighting room. I had just shut off the rig when I heard it fall.”
“Where are you?”
“Near the old garage. Julian went inside to look for the records. I’m in the car.”
“Drive away,” Ethan said.
“I tried. He took the keys.”
A car door opened on the other end. Vivian whispered, “He’s coming back.”
The call ended.
Ethan handed the phone to the detective. “Trace it. Send officers to the garage.”
The detective moved at once.
Elena touched the folded page from Rosa’s envelope. “Your father wrote that he’d call auditors in the morning. Do you think Julian confronted him in the garage?”
“Yes.”
“And your mother was there.”
Ethan looked toward the second cufflink on the table.
May you like
A fresh message appeared on his phone. It came from Julian.
MOM DOESN’T KNOW WHAT’S UNDER THE GARAGE FLOOR. COME BEFORE SHE FINDS OUT.
