Chapter 4 - The Camera That Went Blind|
By midnight, every guest had left the mansion after being questioned.
The birthday decorations remained untouched.
Golden balloons hung above the ballroom. Half-empty champagne glasses stood on tables, and Ethan's enormous birthday banner still stretched across the wall.
It looked like a celebration abandoned in the middle of a nightmare.
Lily had finally fallen asleep in my arms.
I carried her toward the staff wing, hoping to disappear until morning.
But Gabriel Knox stepped into the hallway.
“Mrs. Ellis?”
I stopped.
Gabriel was forty, broad-shouldered, with a narrow scar near his eyebrow and the permanently suspicious expression of a man who trusted absolutely no one.
“Mr. Moretti would like to speak with you.”
I looked at my sleeping daughter.
“Now?”
“He said you could bring Lily.”
Ten minutes later, I sat inside Dominic Moretti's private study.
The room smelled of expensive leather and cedarwood.
Dominic stood behind his desk while Gabriel displayed security footage on a wall monitor.
“The kitchen cameras operated normally until 5:42 p.m.,” Gabriel explained.
“Then every camera covering the east service corridor went offline.”
Dominic's jaw tightened.
“Who had access?”
“Seven people.”
“Names.”
Gabriel hesitated.
“Yourself. Me. Mrs. Hargrove. Two technicians. Your attorney, Simon Voss, through an emergency administrator account.”
He paused.
“And Mrs. Ellis.”
I stopped breathing.
“What?”
Gabriel turned toward me.
“Your staff credentials were used to access the security panel at 5:41.”
I stared at him.
“That's impossible.”
Dominic said nothing.
“I was upstairs arranging fresh towels in the guest suites.”
“Can anyone confirm that?” Gabriel asked.
“Mrs. Hargrove sent me there.”
Gabriel exchanged a glance with Dominic.
My stomach dropped.
“You think I did this?”
“No one has accused you,” Dominic replied.
“But someone used your credentials.”
I looked at Lily, asleep against my shoulder.
“Mr. Moretti, I've worked for you for six years. I've never stolen anything. I've never betrayed your family.”
Dominic walked around his desk.
“Look at me, Mara.”
I did.
“Do you believe someone is trying to frame you?”
“Yes.”
He studied my face.
Then nodded once.
“So do I.”
Gabriel frowned.
“Boss—”
“Whoever poisoned that cake knew Ethan's allergy, our security system, and Mara's access code.”
Dominic glanced toward Lily.
“That's not coincidence.”
Before Gabriel could answer, someone knocked.
Mrs. Hargrove entered carrying a folded cleaning uniform.
“Forgive the interruption, sir. I found something in Mrs. Ellis's locker.”
She placed a small silver container on Dominic's desk.
My heart nearly stopped.
Lily stirred in my arms.
Her eyes opened.
She saw the container.
May you like
And began screaming.
“Mommy! That's his!”
