Chapter 8 - The Third Person
“Who was with them?” Claire asked.
Daniel answered with one name.
“Ethan.”
Claire’s entire body went cold.
She looked at her fiancé.
He looked stunned.
“That’s impossible.”
Daniel’s voice crackled through the phone. “The clip is timestamped 3:39 p.m. You entered the security room with your mother and sister.”
“I was in the groom’s suite.”
Richard frowned. “I saw you there around 3:30.”
Mia looked at Ethan. “Where were you at 3:39?”
“I don’t know. Maybe walking to the hall.”
Claire held up a hand.
“Daniel, send me the clip.”
“I can’t. Someone’s locked the archive remotely.”
Margaret stared straight ahead.
Claire noticed.
“Can you show us in person?”
“Yes. Security office, lower level.”
Claire ended the call.
Ethan stepped toward her. “Claire, I did not shut off that camera.”
“Then we’ll see the clip.”
Margaret blocked the door.
“This wedding has already been delayed thirty minutes.”
Claire looked at her as if she were a stranger.
“You think I’m still walking down that aisle before I know why my fiancé appears in footage with the people who sabotaged my room?”
Margaret lowered her voice. “Think carefully. Three hundred people are outside.”
“Good. Then there will be plenty of witnesses when I leave.”
Ethan said, “Mom, move.”
She did not.
For the first time, Richard raised his voice.
“Margaret. Move.”
She stepped aside.
Claire, Ethan, Mia, and Richard headed for the service elevator.
Vanessa followed.
On the way down, she whispered, “The clip won’t prove what you think.”
Claire looked at her. “What will it prove?”
Vanessa pressed her lips together.
The elevator opened.
Daniel was waiting outside the security office.
His face was grim.
“Someone wiped the clip.”
Claire stopped.
“You said you recovered it.”
“I did.”
“So where is it?”
Daniel held up a tiny flash drive.
“I made a copy first.”
Margaret appeared at the end of the hallway.
May you like
She saw the drive.
And ran toward them.
