Chapter 3 - THE MAID WHO SAW TOO MUCH
The wedding reception ended before midnight.
Guests were escorted downstairs in small groups. Some were angry about the interruption. Others were already sending messages to friends, describing the scene in breathless detail. Several had recorded the fall, but none seemed to have captured what happened immediately before it.
Rose sat in a private conference room while a police officer photographed her injured hands.
She had changed out of her uniform. A borrowed cardigan covered her shoulders, but the champagne stains remained on her skirt. Her phone lay on the table beside a paper cup of water.
Nathaniel entered with his security director, Daniel Price.
“Are you all right?” Nathaniel asked.
Rose nodded, then reconsidered. “My ribs hurt.”
“Have the paramedics examine you.”
“They already did. Nothing appears broken.”
“Good.”
Daniel placed a folder on the table. “We have preliminary camera footage. The rooftop cameras recorded the area, but a floral arrangement blocks part of the railing.”
“Convenient,” Nathaniel said.
“Too convenient,” Daniel replied. “The arrangement was moved about twenty minutes before the incident.”
Nathaniel looked at him.
“Who moved it?”
“The wedding planner says Victoria asked for it.”
Rose remembered something.
“I saw her speaking to a man near the service corridor before the ceremony.”
Nathaniel turned toward her. “Who?”
“I don't know his name. He wore a dark suit and had a silver tie pin. He wasn't one of the guests I recognized. She gave him a small envelope.”
Daniel opened his folder. “Can you describe him?”
“Late forties, perhaps. Tall. Dark hair, gray at the temples. He had a scar near his chin.”
Nathaniel and Daniel exchanged a look.
“Marcus Bell,” Daniel said.
Nathaniel frowned. “Our chief financial officer?”
“I believe so.”
Rose nodded slowly. “He said something about a signature. I was bringing fresh linen through the service passage. I didn't mean to listen, but I heard Victoria say, ‘After tonight, there won't be anyone left to stop it.’”
Nathaniel's jaw tightened.
“What did Bell say?”
“He said, ‘Only if Eleanor signs before the board meeting.’ Then they noticed me.”
“Did they threaten you?”
“No. Victoria asked if I was lost. I apologized and left.”
Daniel wrote it down.
Nathaniel sat opposite Rose. “Why didn't you report it?”
“I didn't know what it meant. And I was a maid. I had no reason to believe anyone would listen.”
He looked at her scraped hands.
“You were the only person who moved when my mother went over that railing.”
Rose lowered her eyes. “I couldn't just watch.”
“Most people watched.”
“I wasn't thinking about what would happen to me.”
Nathaniel was silent.
A knock sounded. A nurse from the hospital called with an update. Eleanor was conscious and had a fractured wrist, bruising, and a concussion. Doctors were monitoring her for internal injuries.
Nathaniel exhaled.
“I'm going to the hospital.”
Daniel nodded. “I'll stay here and coordinate with the police.”
Nathaniel stood, then paused.
“Rose, you are not to leave alone tonight. We'll arrange transport and have someone accompany you.”
“I can take a taxi.”
“No.”
The firmness in his voice surprised her.
“I don't want to be treated like a prisoner.”
“You won't be. But someone may have tried to kill my mother, and you may have seen the person responsible.”
Rose looked at the blue paper on the table.
“Then I suppose I'm not safe just because I changed out of my uniform.”
Nathaniel followed her gaze.
“No,” he said. “You aren't.”
Before leaving, he asked Daniel to secure the original recording from every camera, including the service elevators and loading dock.
Then his phone rang.
The caller ID showed Victoria.
He answered.
“Where are you?” she asked.
“At the hospital.”
“Without me?”
“You can meet us there.”
A pause.
“Nathaniel, we need to talk about your mother.”
“We will.”
“Not in front of doctors and police.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Why not?”
Victoria ended the call.
Daniel watched him.
“She's frightened.”
May you like
Nathaniel put his phone away.
“So am I.”
