Chapter 6 - Someone Inside the Gate
Dorian did not sleep.
Audrey knew because she didn’t either.
At four in the morning she found him sitting alone in the library, still wearing the clothes he had worn to the warehouse.
A glass of whiskey sat untouched beside him.
The photograph of Elena lay on the table.
Audrey stopped in the doorway.
“You should sleep.”
“So should you.”
“I’m not the one staring at evidence of my wife’s murder.”
His eyes remained on the photograph.
“Accident.”
“What?”
“The police report said accident.”
Audrey entered.
“Maybe they were wrong.”
“I inspected the car myself.”
“Did you?”
Dorian finally looked up.
“What does that mean?”
“It means grief changes what people see.”
His expression sharpened.
“Careful.”
Audrey folded her arms.
“I’m not accusing you.”
“It sounded like it.”
“I’m saying you had just lost your wife. Maybe somebody gave you an answer and you needed it to be true.”
Dorian leaned back.
“My wife’s brake line failed on a wet road.”
“And now you have a photograph suggesting somebody expected that accident.”
He looked away.
Audrey sat across from him.
“Who knew about Warehouse 3179?”
“My father. Adrian. Elena. A few senior employees.”
“Your security chief?”
“Nolan Pierce joined three years later.”
“Estate manager?”
“No.”
“Attorney?”
“Yes.”
“Name?”
“Martin Bell.”
“Still working for you?”
“Twenty-one years.”
“So we have Adrian, your attorney, maybe old employees.”
Dorian’s jaw tightened at his brother’s name.
“You think Adrian did this.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You keep thinking it loudly.”
Audrey almost smiled.
“That’s not a thing.”
“With you it is.”
She leaned forward.
“Caleb is afraid of somebody wearing a wolf ring.”
“Hundreds exist.”
“You said only a few replicas went to senior people.”
“Forty-two.”
“That’s not hundreds.”
Dorian exhaled.
“My father gave them as loyalty awards. Executives. Friends. Political allies.”
“Could you get a list?”
“Yes.”
“Then get it.”
He looked at her.
“You’re giving me orders in my own house.”
“Apparently.”
For the first time since the warehouse, Dorian almost smiled.
Then footsteps sounded.
Adrian entered.
He looked exhausted.
“I heard you found something.”
Dorian’s expression closed instantly.
“Who told you?”
“Nolan.”
Dorian stood.
Adrian noticed the photograph.
“What is that?”
No one answered.
Adrian stepped closer.
His face changed.
“Elena?”
Dorian watched him carefully.
“It was inside 3179.”
Adrian stared.
“That warehouse is abandoned.”
“You remember it?”
“Of course. Dad used it before the company expanded.”
Audrey observed him.
No obvious fear.
No hesitation.
“What did you find?”
Dorian told him.
Adrian sat heavily.
“Jesus.”
“Did you know Elena used that warehouse?”
“No.”
“Did you know anyone watched her?”
“No.”
“Do you know who killed her?”
Adrian looked hurt.
“Dorian.”
“Answer.”
“No.”
The brothers stared at each other.
Audrey suddenly understood something.
Dorian might trust Adrian.
But Dorian’s world had taught him never to trust anyone completely.
Not even blood.
Adrian rubbed his face.
“Four years, Dorian. If you think I had anything to do with Elena—”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You don’t have to.”
Audrey intervened.
“The ring from the camera could belong to dozens of people.”
Adrian looked at her.
“Camera?”
Dorian’s eyes narrowed.
Audrey realized her mistake.
Adrian had not been told about it.
“What camera?” he asked.
Dorian remained silent.
Adrian looked between them.
“You have footage?”
“A partial image.”
“Of who?”
“We don’t know.”
Adrian stood.
“Then why am I being questioned?”
“Because Caleb was removed using an internal credential.”
Adrian froze.
“How internal?”
“Master-level.”
“My code?”
“One of four.”
Adrian’s face hardened.
“Check mine.”
“We are.”
“Good.”
He started toward the door.
Then stopped.
“If you discover whoever did this, tell me before police do.”
Audrey frowned.
“Why?”
Adrian looked back.
“So I can decide how much of him is left for them.”
After he left, Audrey turned to Dorian.
“Family resemblance.”
Dorian ignored that.
“You shouldn’t have mentioned the camera.”
“I know.”
“If he’s involved—”
“You said you trust him.”
“I trust evidence more.”
By noon, Nolan Pierce arrived with access logs.
Adrian’s credential had been used at 10:39 p.m. the night Caleb disappeared.
Dorian stared at the report.
Audrey felt the room grow colder.
“Where was Adrian?”
“Charity gala at the Marlowe Hotel,” Nolan said.
“Witnesses?”
“Two hundred.”
“Could somebody copy his credential?”
“Yes, but not easily.”
“Who had access to his phone?”
“Assistants. Security. Household staff if he left it unattended.”
Dorian handed the report back.
“Quietly investigate.”
“Yes, sir.”
After Nolan left, Audrey asked, “What happens if it really was Adrian?”
Dorian looked toward the window.
“I don’t know.”
That answer worried her.
Because a man like Dorian always knew what he intended to do.
Unless the answer frightened even him.
That afternoon Caleb found Audrey in the garden.
He carried Arthur Junior beneath one arm.
“Can we go somewhere?”
“Where?”
“The greenhouse.”
Inside, rain tapped gently against the glass roof.
Caleb sat among potted lemon trees.
Audrey waited.
Finally he asked, “If somebody does something bad, does that make them bad forever?”
“No.”
“What if it’s really bad?”
“Depends.”
“What if they hurt somebody?”
Audrey chose her words carefully.
“People should be responsible for what they do. But people can also change.”
Caleb stared at Arthur Junior.
“What if they say they’ll hurt Dad?”
Audrey’s pulse quickened.
“Did somebody say that?”
Caleb’s eyes filled.
“He said Dad thinks he knows everything.”
“Who?”
Caleb shook his head.
“I can’t.”
“You don’t have to today.”
The boy looked surprised.
Audrey touched his hand.
“But you should know something.”
“What?”
“Secrets only protect dangerous people when good people are scared to speak.”
Caleb looked down.
Outside the greenhouse, someone moved behind the hedges.
Audrey saw a dark jacket.
“Dorian?”
No answer.
She stood.
The figure disappeared.
Audrey stepped outside.
Nothing.
Then she noticed something resting on a stone bench.
A silver wolf ring.
Freshly placed.
Beside it was a handwritten note.
STOP ASKING THE BOY.
Audrey immediately looked toward the mansion.
The gates had never opened.
May you like
The cameras had never gone offline.
Which meant whoever had left the warning was still inside the estate.
