Dominic looked through the glass doors.
Arthur Voss was watching him.
He smiled.
Dominic turned back.
“When was this brace last inspected?”
“This morning.”
“By whom?”
“My rehabilitation staff.”
“Names.”
“Dominic—”
“Names.”
Mercer swallowed.
“Angela Pierce handled the initial session. One of the technicians may have adjusted it afterward.”
“May have?”
“I don’t personally watch every adjustment.”
Dominic’s voice dropped.
“You will tonight.”
Arthur opened the conference room door.
“Dominic?”
Nobody answered.
Arthur stepped into the great room.
He was sixty, silver-haired, elegant, and patient in the way dangerous men often were.
“The council has been waiting twenty minutes.”
Dominic studied him.
Arthur glanced at the brace.
Then at Ellie.
His smile remained.
“What happened?”
“A child found something my doctors missed.”
Arthur gave a quiet chuckle.
“A child?”
Ellie slipped behind Clare.
Dominic noticed something.
Arthur hadn’t asked what the child found.
He had asked what happened.
Perhaps meaningless.
Perhaps not.
“Vincent.”
“Yes?”
“Lock the estate.”
Arthur’s smile disappeared.
The six council members rose behind the glass.
Vincent stared at Dominic.
“Full lockdown?”
“Full.”
Arthur stepped forward.
“Dominic, that seems excessive.”
Dominic looked at him.
“I haven’t told you what we found.”
Arthur stopped.
Another silence.
Dominic slowly rose.
Mercer reached for him.
“Don’t.”
Dominic put weight on his left leg.
Pain came.
But not nearly as sharply as before.
He took one step.
Then another.
Everyone watched.
For the first time in days, the crushing pressure beneath his calf had eased.
Dominic looked down at Ellie.
The little girl watched his leg carefully.
He took a third step.
Clare covered her mouth.
Vincent’s expression became colder with every movement.
Arthur said nothing.
Dominic stopped directly in front of him.
“The vote is postponed.”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
“On what grounds?”
“Mine.”
“You cannot postpone indefinitely.”
“I only need tonight.”
Arthur’s eyes moved toward the others.
“You’re making a serious accusation.”
“I haven’t made one.”
“You locked the doors.”
“I lock my own doors whenever I want.”
Arthur smiled faintly.
“Of course.”
He returned to the conference room.
Dominic watched him go.
Then turned toward Vincent.
“Every security recording covering the rehabilitation wing for the last month.”
“I’ll get them.”
“Make copies first.”
Vincent understood immediately.
Tonight, trust itself had become evidence.
“And Vincent?”
“Yes?”
“Nobody knows exactly what the girl noticed.”
Vincent glanced at Ellie.
“Understood.”
Dominic turned toward Clare.
She was trembling.
“You and Ellie are staying here tonight.”
“Sir, please. She didn’t mean—”
“This isn’t punishment.”
Dominic lowered himself until his eyes were level with Ellie’s.
“You like figuring out how things work?”
Ellie nodded.
“Did you touch anything besides that strap?”
She shook her head.
“Did you ever see somebody touch it?”
Something changed in her face.
Clare noticed it too.
“Ellie?”
The child whispered, “I saw the man.”
Dominic became very still.
“What man?”
“The man who came when Mommy was getting towels.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
“What did he do?”
Ellie touched the little latch on her toy.
“He clicked it.”
Vincent immediately reached for his phone.
Dominic raised a hand.
“Wait.”
He looked at Ellie again.
“What did the man look like?”
Ellie thought.
Then pointed through the glass wall.
Not toward Mercer.
Not toward the guards.
Toward the council room.
Her finger moved.
Stopped.
Directly on Arthur Voss.
Clare whispered, “Oh, God.”
Arthur stared through the glass.
And slowly, very slowly, his patient smile vanished.
1
The estate was sealed in ninety seconds.
Steel gates closed at the foot of the drive. Security shutters locked over service entrances. Every employee was instructed to remain where they were.
Phones stayed with their owners, but the property’s private network was cut from outside access.
Dominic sat in his library while Vincent assembled the first footage.
