Chapter 2 - The estate doors locked at 10:14 p.m.Every entrance sealed.
Every elevator switched to private security control.
The council members were escorted into separate rooms.
Arthur Voss was kept in the library under guard.
Dominic went straight to the rehabilitation wing.
Clare followed with Ellie.
Dr. Mercer carried the brace inside a medical examination room.
Vincent stood near the door.
“Everyone who had access to this wing goes on the list,” Dominic said.
Vincent handed him a tablet.
“Twenty-three names.”
Dominic frowned.
“Too many.”
“Cleaning staff. Nurses. Physical therapists. Drivers. Security.”
“Remove anyone who never had unsupervised access.”
Vincent worked through the list.
Seven names disappeared.
Then six more.
Then four.
“Six remaining,” Vincent said.
Dominic studied them.
“Who fitted the brace yesterday?”
A woman named Marla Kent.
Physical therapist.
Seven years with the estate.
No complaints.
Excellent evaluations.
Dominic looked at Mercer.
“Call her.”
Five minutes later, Marla arrived.
She looked nervous.
“I heard there was a problem.”
Dominic placed the brace on the table.
“This.”
Marla stared at it.
“I didn’t fit that today.”
“Who did?”
She swallowed.
“Dr. Reed.”
“Dr. Nathan Reed?”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked at Mercer.
“Is Reed yours?”
Mercer shook his head.
“He works with the external rehabilitation team.”
“External?”
“They subcontract physical therapy.”
Dominic’s face hardened.
“Who approved them?”
Mercer hesitated.
“The medical administrator.”
“Name.”
“Elliot Crane.”
Vincent immediately looked down at his tablet.
“Elliot Crane resigned six days ago.”
Dominic’s eyes narrowed.
“Why?”
“Family reasons.”
“Where is he now?”
Vincent searched.
Then stopped.
“His phone is off.”
Dominic leaned back.
“Interesting.”
Clare stood silently near Ellie.
The little girl was playing with her wooden latch again.
Click.
Click.
Click.
Dominic looked at her.
“Ellie.”
She paused.
“What?”
“Can you show me what you saw?”
Ellie climbed onto the chair.
She reached for the brace.
Dominic stopped her.
“Don't touch it.”
She nodded.
Then she held up her wooden toy.
“Like this.”
She rotated one side.
Then flipped it around.
“Wrong.”
Mercer stared.
“What made you notice?”
Ellie shrugged.
“Daddy taught me.”
Clare looked away.
Dominic noticed.
“Her father taught her this?”
Clare nodded.
“He repaired things.”
“What did he repair?”
“Locks. Hinges. Machines.”
Dominic looked at the toy.
A simple wooden latch.
Two metal loops.
A small moving pin.
Ellie clicked it shut.
Dominic felt a strange chill.
“Ellie, when you saw the man yesterday, what was he doing?”
“Fixing Daddy’s thing.”
“Your daddy’s thing?”
She nodded.
“The shiny thing.”
Clare stepped closer.
“Ellie, Daddy has been gone a long time.”
Ellie looked confused.
“He said he would come back.”
Silence.
Clare's eyes filled with tears.
Dominic watched her.
There was something she had never told him.
Vincent walked in.
“We found something.”
Dominic turned.
“Security footage?”
“Yes.”
“Show me.”
Vincent placed the tablet on the table.
A timestamp appeared.
6:43 p.m.
The hallway outside Dominic’s rehabilitation room.
Clare was pushing a laundry cart.
Ellie stood nearby.
Then a man appeared.
Dark jacket.
Baseball cap.
Medical mask.
He entered Dominic’s room.
Twenty-two seconds later, he came out.
Vincent enlarged the image.
No face.
But Dominic noticed the walk.
A slight limp.
Left shoulder lower than the right.
“Freeze.”
Vincent stopped the frame.
Dominic stared.
“That gait.”
“You know him?”
“Not yet.”
Then Vincent zoomed in on the man's right hand.
There was a ring.
A black stone.
Dominic's expression changed.
“Arthur wears one.”
Vincent shook his head.
“Thousands of people do.”
Dominic pointed.
“Not like that.”
The ring had a thin silver line through the center.
Dominic had seen it before.
Years ago.
At a warehouse meeting.
On the hand of a man he had believed dead.
“Run facial enhancement.”
Vincent nodded.
Then his phone rang.
He answered.
“Go.”
His face changed.
“What?”
Dominic watched him.
Vincent slowly lowered the phone.
“The medical storage room has been broken into.”
Mercer stepped forward.
“What was taken?”
Vincent looked at Dominic.
“Nothing.”
Dominic frowned.
“Then why break in?”
Vincent swallowed.
“Someone went through the files.”
“Which files?”
“Yours.”
Dominic stood.
“Paper records?”
“No.”
Vincent turned the tablet toward him.
“Your original medical scans.”
Dominic stared at the empty cabinet.
“Everything?”
“No.”
“Then what?”
Vincent pointed to the drawer.
“One thing is missing.”
A pause.
“Your first post-crash X-ray.”
Dominic felt something cold settle in his chest.
The brace was only one piece.
Someone had been building a story around his failing body.
And now someone was removing the evidence that could prove how the story began.
Dominic looked at Arthur’s guarded location on the security map.
“Bring him to me.”
Vincent hesitated.
“Arthur?”
“Yes.”
“And if he refuses?”
Dominic picked up his cane.
“Then remind him whose house he’s standing in.”
But before Vincent could leave, Ellie tugged Dominic's sleeve.
He looked down.
She was holding the wooden latch.
“Mr. Dominic?”
“Yes?”
“The man didn't have Arthur's ring.”
Dominic froze.
“You’re sure?”
Ellie nodded.
“He had another one.”
“What did it look like?”
She made a circle with her finger.
“Silver.”
Then she paused.
“Like Mommy’s.”
Clare suddenly went pale.
Dominic looked at her hand.
May you like
She was wearing a simple silver ring on her right hand.
The ring she had not taken off since the day her husband died.
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