Chapter 1 - THE QUESTION NO ONE ANSWERED
“Who told you not to touch me?”
Julian Vescari’s question hung over the terrace.
The doctor had one hand against Julian’s shoulder. A security guard held
a thermal blanket. Gabriel Knox, the head of security, stood beside the
wheelchair with his jaw tight.
Nobody answered.
Julian looked at Claire Bennett, the temporary assistant who had dragged
him out of twelve feet of water.
“Your name?”
“Claire.”
“Were you told not to enter the lake?”
“No.”
“Were you told to wait for security?”
“No.”
His gaze moved to Gabriel.
“Then why did everyone else wait?”
Gabriel stepped forward. “We had a safety protocol. Guests were told to
keep clear until the response team assessed the situation.”
“What response team?”
“The medical team.”
“The doctor was standing twenty yards away.”
The doctor looked uncomfortable. “I was told not to move you until
security cleared the water.”
“By whom?”
The doctor glanced at Gabriel.
A murmur passed through the guests.
Gabriel kept his voice controlled. “You have a spinal injury, Julian. A
careless rescue could have caused further damage. I was trying to
protect you.”
“By letting me drown?”
“By following procedure.”
Claire watched Gabriel’s face. He did not look frightened or relieved.
He looked calculating.
She remembered her brother Andrew’s advice: Don’t listen first. Look
first. People lie with words because words are easy. Faces cost more.
Gabriel’s eyes had not followed Julian when the chair went over. They
had gone to Victoria.
Julian’s older sister stood beside the white roses, holding an untouched
glass. Her cream silk dress was immaculate. Her expression was composed,
but her fingers had tightened around the stem.
Julian saw Claire looking.
“Did you hear something before I went in?”
“There was a voice behind me. Someone said, ‘Don’t.’”
“Who?”
“I couldn’t see.”
Victoria finally approached. “Julian, you’re freezing. We should get you
inside.”
He looked at her. “Did you tell them not to touch me?”
Her expression softened into wounded patience. “Of course not. I was
terrified.”
“Were you?”
“Don’t do this here.”
“Where would you prefer? Somewhere with fewer witnesses?”
Julian ordered the guests to remain until his attorney arrived. The
paramedics prepared to take him to his private suite. Claire stepped
away, shivering so hard her teeth knocked together.
A staff member wrapped a blanket around her shoulders.
“Get her dry clothes,” Julian ordered. “And find her other shoe.”
Victoria looked at him sharply. “You’re giving orders about a temporary
employee while you’re half-drowned?”
“I’m giving orders in my own home.”
As the chair rolled toward the house, Julian caught Claire’s wrist.
“Don’t leave.”
“Why?”
“Because I think you saw something.”
“I saw you fall.”
“No. You saw what happened before everyone decided to do nothing.”
Claire wanted to tell him she had not come to Bellweather to investigate
his family. She had come to find something that belonged to her brother.
Near the waterline, she noticed a small black device among the wet
leaves. A red light blinked beneath its casing.
She stepped toward it.
Gabriel moved quickly. “Don’t touch that.”
“Why?”
“It’s part of the chair’s electronic control system.”
“Then why is it in the lake?”
Julian turned his head. “Bring it to me.”
Gabriel did not move.
“Now,” Julian repeated.
A security officer retrieved the device with gloved hands and sealed it
in a clear evidence bag. On one side was a strip of white tape. Two
letters had been written in blue ink.
A.B.
Andrew Bennett.
Claire felt the terrace tilt beneath her.
Three weeks earlier, her brother’s final scheduled message had arrived
on her phone:
If you ever get inside the Vescari estate, look for the blue ledger.
Don’t trust the man who says he saved Julian.
She had come to Bellweather under a false employment reference, hoping
to find the ledger. She had not expected to rescue Julian—or to find
Andrew’s initials on a device recovered from the lake.
Gabriel read the letters too.
For one brief moment, his expression changed.
May you like
Claire saw it.
And she knew he had recognized them.
