Chapter 2 - Nobody Leaves
The locks engaged one floor at a time.
Heavy bolts slid into place at the front entrance. Security doors sealed the underground garage. Exterior gates closed behind iron fencing wet with rain.
Arthur Voss walked out of the conference room slowly.
"You are trapping six senior partners in your house because a four-year-old pointed at me?"
Dominic leaned on his cane. "No. I'm keeping everyone exactly where they are because somebody tampered with medical equipment attached to my body."
Arthur gave a thin smile. "And the child is your witness?"
Clare pulled Ellie closer.
Dominic's eyes went cold. "Careful."
That one word erased Arthur's smile.
Vincent returned with two guards. "Security office is isolated. Nobody gets in without me."
"Good."
Dominic pointed to the conference room. "Phones on the table. Everyone."
One of the councilmen, Leonard Fisk, cursed under his breath. "This is ridiculous."
"Then it should be over quickly," Dominic said.
No one argued after that.
Mercer removed Dominic's brace completely and examined the skin. A dark pressure mark ran around his lower calf.
"This has been happening more than once," Mercer said quietly.
Dominic looked at him. "How long?"
"Judging by the inflammation? Days. Maybe weeks."
Clare stared at the bruise. "Someone kept tightening it wrong?"
Mercer did not answer.
Vincent did. "Looks that way."
Dominic's stomach hardened.
The crash eleven weeks earlier had nearly killed him. He had accepted the knee fracture. He had accepted surgery. He had accepted dependence on a cane, physical therapy, and humiliating mornings when a man who once controlled entire rooms could not cross a hallway without help.
What he had not accepted was being lied to.
"Bring me the logs," he said.
Vincent led Dominic toward the security office while Clare and Ellie were escorted to a guest suite.
Ellie tugged her mother's hand. "Mommy, is Mr. Dominic mad at me?"
Dominic heard the question.
He stopped.
"No, Ellie."
She looked up.
"You noticed something the grown-ups didn't."
"Because they don't like little clicks?"
For the first time that night, Vincent almost smiled.
"Something like that," Dominic said.
In the security room, forty-two camera feeds covered the estate.
Vincent pulled up the previous afternoon.
4:11 p.m. Clare entered the supply closet.
4:12 p.m. Ellie sat beside the linen cart.
4:13 p.m. Arthur Voss appeared at the far end of the rehabilitation hall.
Dominic leaned closer.
Arthur walked toward the therapy suite.
Then the screen went black.
Not static.
Black.
Exactly six minutes later, the image returned.
Arthur was gone.
Vincent checked another camera.
Black during the same six minutes.
Another.
Black.
Dominic said nothing.
Vincent's fingers moved faster across the keyboard.
"Somebody disabled three cameras locally. No system-wide failure."
"Who has access?"
"Me. Two shift supervisors. Estate IT."
"Arthur?"
"Not officially."
Dominic stared at the blank segment.
Then Vincent opened the access history.
His face changed.
"Boss."
"What?"
Vincent turned the monitor.
May you like
The cameras had been disabled using a security credential.
The credential belonged to Vincent Hale.
