Chapter 5 - THE CHILD WHO REMEMBERED
The security team swept the garden within minutes.
No one was injured. The shots had struck the door and the stone planter, apparently intended as a warning rather than a direct attempt to kill anyone.
That did not comfort Claire.
She held Lily so tightly that the child began to squirm.
“Mommy, you're squeezing.”
“I'm sorry.”
“Was it thunder?”
Claire kissed her hair. “Something like that.”
Nathan watched from the wheelchair. His face had gone pale with anger.
“Lock down the estate,” he ordered. “No one enters or leaves without Matteo's approval.”
Matteo nodded.
Grant arrived ten minutes later.
“What happened?”
Nathan looked at him. “You tell me.”
Grant's gaze shifted toward Claire and Lily.
“Are they all right?”
“Don't pretend you care.”
Grant's face hardened. “I have protected this family for years.”
“Then explain why someone just fired into my garden.”
“Maybe the Vane crew knows you're investigating.”
“Or maybe someone inside this house gave them the address.”
Grant looked offended.
Nathan no longer trusted the expression.
That night, Claire decided she would take Lily to a hotel. Nathan did not argue. He arranged for a female security officer to accompany them and gave Claire an envelope with enough money for a month of rent.
She pushed it back.
“I don't want to owe you.”
“You don't.”
“I mean it, Nathan.”
“So do I. It's not a gift. It's payment for the four months you've worked here, plus the wages you were denied while the theft accusation was investigated.”
Claire hesitated.
“Then put it in payroll. I want a proper record.”
Nathan nodded. “Done.”
Before leaving, Lily ran to his chair.
“Can I give you something?”
She placed a tiny paper star in his palm.
“It's for being brave.”
Nathan looked at the star.
“I'm not always brave.”
“That's okay. You can practice.”
Claire carried Lily toward the door.
Nathan watched them go.
The next morning, Matteo brought a report. The shooter had used a service road that only contractors and senior staff knew about. The access code had been used twice in the previous week.
Both times, the code belonged to Grant.
Nathan said nothing.
He asked Matteo to check the security recordings from the night the blue envelope appeared in Claire's locker.
At 6:42 p.m., Grant entered the staff corridor.
At 6:53, Dennis Pike followed.
At 7:03, Pike left carrying a folded cleaning cart.
But a second camera captured something else: a small figure in a yellow raincoat standing near the stairwell.
Lily.
The camera showed her watching Grant place the blue envelope inside a supply cabinet. Pike removed it later and carried it toward the staff lockers.
Nathan replayed the clip.
Then he noticed something behind Grant.
A man stood at the end of the corridor, wearing a dark coat and a silver watch with a scratched face.
Not Pike.
Someone else.
May you like
The man looked directly into the camera.
Then he raised one finger to his lips.
