Chapter 4 - THE PHOTOGRAPH IN LENA'S BAG
"I wasn't in the study."
Lena said it before anyone accused her.
The security director, Paul Mercer, held up one hand.
"I'm not saying you were."
"Your face is."
Grant stepped closer.
"She was upstairs."
Paul nodded.
"We're confirming that."
"We don't need to confirm it," Grant said. "I saw her on the roof before noon."
Margaret added, "So did I."
Lena should have felt relieved.
Instead she felt afraid.
Someone had not simply stolen the letter.
They had used her badge to do it.
Police asked Lena when she had last handled the card.
"Six-thirty this morning."
"Did you take it off?"
"Staff cards stay clipped to the uniform."
"Any time it wasn't?"
Lena thought.
At eight-forty, she'd changed shoes in the staff room.
Her uniform jacket had hung on a chair for perhaps five minutes.
Several employees had come through.
So had wedding vendors.
And Daniel Cross.
She remembered him because he had opened the wrong door.
"Mr. Cross came into housekeeping."
Grant looked at her.
"Daniel?"
"He said he was looking for the men's dressing room."
Paul frowned.
"That's on forty-four."
"I told him."
"How long was he inside?"
"Maybe thirty seconds."
Savannah looked at Lena.
"Long enough."
Margaret immediately shook her head.
"Do not accuse Daniel because he walked through a room."
Savannah almost laughed.
"You're still protecting him?"
"I am protecting facts."
"That's worked beautifully for this family."
Grant stepped between them.
"Stop."
Police asked permission to inspect Lena's belongings.
She agreed.
Her grocery bag remained in a staff locker.
Inside were her spare shoes, reading glasses, a granola bar, her wallet—
And the black-and-white Harbor House photograph.
Lena stopped breathing.
"No."
Paul lifted it carefully.
Margaret rose.
"That's from the envelope."
"I didn't put that there."
The detective studied Lena.
"Ms. Brooks—"
"I did not put it there."
Grant took the photograph.
He looked at the four people standing beneath the Harbor House sign.
His parents.
Daniel Cross.
Thomas Pierce.
On the back was handwriting.
Margaret saw it and reached for the photograph so quickly Grant nearly dropped it.
She read aloud.
"Maggie, north column test failed twice. Daniel knows. If Robert won't stop the pour, I will."
The date beneath it was April 19, 2007.
Six days before the collapse.
Margaret sat down.
"I've never seen this."
Savannah stared.
"My father wrote that."
"You recognize his handwriting?"
"I grew up with birthday cards from him."
Grant looked at Margaret.
"If he sent this to you—"
"He didn't."
"How can you know?"
"Because I would have remembered."
Savannah's expression hardened.
"Or because admitting you saw it makes you responsible."
Margaret flinched.
Lena surprised herself by speaking.
"She's telling the truth."
Savannah turned.
"How do you know?"
"I've worked for Mrs. Hale nine years."
Margaret's eyes moved toward her.
Lena continued.
"She lies differently."
Grant almost smiled despite everything.
Margaret did not.
But she didn't argue.
Paul examined the back.
"Could have been placed with Robert's letter later."
"By whom?" Grant asked.
Nobody answered.
Then Lena remembered something else.
Daniel Cross in the service corridor.
Not this morning.
At 11:30.
He had come out of Grant's study hallway adjusting his cuff.
"I saw Mr. Cross near the study before I went upstairs."
Margaret's head snapped toward her.
"He said he was looking for Grant's cuff links."
Grant frowned.
"My cuff links were already on."
Savannah whispered, "He knew about the letter."
Margaret looked genuinely shaken now.
"He couldn't have."
"Why?"
"Because Robert wrote it to me."
"Who else knew?"
"No one."
Grant looked at his mother.
"Did Daniel know Dad confessed?"
Margaret did not answer.
That was answer enough.
Grant's face hardened.
"Mom."
"After Robert died, Daniel asked if he'd left anything behind concerning Harbor House."
Savannah stepped forward.
"And you told him?"
"I told him there was a letter."
"You have been lying all day."
"I did not tell him where I kept it."
Lena felt the room shifting again.
Every answer exposed another lie beneath it.
Paul returned to the electronic records.
"There's something else."
He explained that Lena's badge had not been used at the main study door.
It had been used at the inner records room.
That mattered because the outer door had an executive override.
Grant looked at him.
"Who has executive override?"
"You. Mrs. Hale. Mr. Cross. And me."
Paul voluntarily handed his own access history to the detective.
Margaret whispered, "Daniel."
Savannah turned toward the rooftop security monitors.
"What about reception footage?"
There were no cameras aimed directly at the guest tables for privacy reasons.
But dozens of guests had recorded the incident.
Police had already requested copies.
One video showed Margaret and Savannah arguing near the railing.
No audio.
Savannah grabbed the envelope.
Margaret pulled it back.
Paper tore.
Savannah shoved her.
Margaret went over.
Lena ran.
Grant ran.
People screamed.
And then, while everyone's eyes were on the railing, another figure entered the bottom of the frame.
Daniel Cross.
He hurried forward.
For half a second he bent beside the place where Margaret had been standing.
His right hand closed around something pale blue.
Then he slid it beneath his jacket.
Lena pointed at the screen.
"There."
Grant froze the image.
Daniel's face was visible.
So was the corner of Robert Hale's missing letter in his hand.
Lena looked at Margaret.
"He didn't come toward the railing to save you."
May you like
She touched the screen.
"He came for the letter."
