Chapter 3 - THE WEST OFFICE
The corridor outside the west office was colder than the rest of the mansion.
Elise noticed it as soon as she arrived the next morning. The heating vents were silent, the curtains were drawn, and the scent of furniture polish hung in the air despite the fact that nobody had cleaned the corridor since the previous afternoon.
A guard stood beside the office door.
“You’re not allowed inside,” he reminded her.
“I know.”
“Clean the corridor and leave.”
“That was the plan.”
She began with the picture frames, wiping the glass in slow, even strokes. Her eyes moved over the hallway’s details: the carpet edge, the door hinges, the brass plate beside the office, the small camera mounted above the archway.
The camera’s indicator light was dark.
Elise set down her cloth.
“Is that camera broken?”
The guard glanced up. “Maintenance is handling it.”
“When did it stop working?”
“Why?”
“Because there’s dust on the lens, but the dust is disturbed around the edge. Someone’s touched it recently.”
The guard’s expression hardened. “You should focus on cleaning.”
“I am.”
She turned back to the picture frame. In the glass, she could see the guard watching her. She could also see the faint reflection of a second person approaching from the far end of the corridor.
A man in a gray suit.
He stopped when he noticed her looking.
“Who are you?” he asked.
“Elise. Housekeeping.”
“I didn’t ask what you do. I asked who you are.”
The guard straightened. “Mr. Voss, she’s assigned to the corridor.”
Victor Voss was Caleb’s legal adviser, a polished man with silver at his temples and the manner of someone accustomed to being obeyed. He gave Elise a brief, dismissive glance.
“Then she should keep working.”
He unlocked the west office and went inside.
Elise watched the door close. A moment later, she heard a drawer slide open and a phone vibrate.
She returned to cleaning, but something about Voss bothered her. It wasn’t that he had been rude. Wealthy men were rude every day. It was the way the guard had reacted to him—too quickly, too carefully. The man had not checked Voss’s identification or asked why he was there. He had simply stepped aside.
A few minutes later, Voss left carrying a thin black folder. He didn’t use the main corridor. Instead, he walked toward a narrow service stairwell that led to the underground garage.
Elise waited until he was gone, then noticed a small strip of paper caught beneath the office door.
She glanced at the guard.
“Can you move your foot?” she asked.
He looked down. “What?”
“You’re standing on the corner of my cleaning cloth.”
He shifted impatiently. Elise bent to retrieve the cloth and, with it, the strip of paper. She folded it into her glove before he could see what she had picked up.
In the staff room, she unfolded it.
It was a torn corner of a printed schedule. Only a few words remained visible:
NORTH GATE — 8:40 P.M.
TRANSFER CONFIRMED
NO WITNESSES
Her stomach tightened.
She should take it straight to Caleb. But if Voss was involved, and if he had access to the security team, she could be walking into another trap.
Elise tucked the paper into the inner pocket of her uniform and went to find Caleb.
He was in the library, reviewing the report on his wheelchair. When she entered, Jonah was standing beside the desk.
“I found something in the west corridor,” Elise said.
Jonah’s eyes narrowed. “What did you touch?”
“Paper beneath the office door.”
“You were told not to interfere with anything.”
“I was told to clean the corridor. Paper is part of the corridor when someone drops it.”
Caleb held up a hand. “Show me.”
Elise placed the torn schedule on the desk.
Caleb read it once, then again. “North gate?”
“That’s the entrance used by delivery vehicles and contractors,” Jonah said. “It’s not on the public security schedule.”
“Who has access to it?” Caleb asked.
“Security, maintenance, and the senior staff.”
“And Victor Voss?”
Jonah hesitated. “He has a permanent access card.”
Caleb’s face became still.
“Call him.”
Jonah made the call. Voss answered on the second ring and claimed he was at his office downtown. Caleb asked him to return to Rowan House immediately. Voss sounded offended, but agreed.
While they waited, Caleb turned to Elise.
“Did you see anything else?”
“The camera outside the office is disabled. The guard said maintenance was handling it, but he didn’t know when it stopped working.”
Jonah checked the camera log. “It was disabled at 6:12 this morning.”
“By whom?” Caleb asked.
Jonah’s fingers moved across the tablet. “The system says administrator access.”
“Which account?”
“Mine.”
The room fell silent.
Jonah looked up sharply. “I didn’t disable it.”
Caleb believed him—or wanted to. Jonah had been at his side for years. But loyalty could not be used as a substitute for proof.
“Reset every access credential,” Caleb ordered. “No exceptions. And find out whether the administrator account was used from inside the house.”
Elise watched the men move into action. She had thought the danger was hidden in the floor and the wheelchair. Now it was in the corridors, the cameras, and the names on the access list.
When Voss finally arrived, he looked at the torn schedule and laughed.
“This could have come from anywhere.”
“Did you enter my office this morning?” Caleb asked.
“I’m your legal adviser. I enter your office when I have business with you.”
“Did I invite you today?”
Voss’s smile faded.
“No,” Caleb said. “You didn’t.”
Voss’s gaze moved to Elise. “Are we taking evidence from the housekeeper now?”
“We’re taking evidence from anyone who has it,” Caleb replied.
May you like
For the first time, Voss looked genuinely angry.
And Elise knew she had found the right corridor.
