Chapter 3 - THE WATCH THAT STOPPED AT 9:17
“You stole my father's watch?”
Rafael's question was so quiet that Bianca almost seemed relieved.
She straightened her evening gown.
“Don't be ridiculous. I borrowed it.”
“Then give it back.”
“I left it in the bridal sitting room.”
“Show me.”
Bianca looked toward the ballroom doors.
For the first time that evening, she seemed to realize how many people were listening.
“Rafael, your mother has just been through something terrible. We should be concentrating on her.”
“My mother is standing because Allison pulled her away from a chandelier your brother's company installed.”
Bianca's face flushed.
“You're accusing my family before anyone has investigated.”
“No,” Rafael answered. “I'm asking for a watch.”
He turned to Ward.
“Take Bianca to the sitting room. Bring back the watch. And make sure Julian doesn't leave the grounds.”
Ward nodded.
But as he escorted Bianca away, I noticed his hand tighten around his radio.
Something about him bothered me.
Earlier, when Oliver played the recording, Ward had immediately looked toward the balcony.
He had recognized the voice.
Yet he hadn't said so.
Rafael helped his mother into a chair in the private office.
I brought water and a blanket.
“Thank you, Allison,” Elena whispered.
“Please don't thank me. Anyone would have helped.”
“No.”
She studied me.
“Not everyone did.”
I thought of Bianca laughing when she ordered me onto my knees.
I thought of the other guests looking away.
And I thought of my two daughters waiting at home.
My youngest, Sophie, was six. She still believed I could fix absolutely anything.
My oldest, Emma, was ten.
She needed surgery next month to correct a painful problem with her hip. The surgeon had explained the procedure carefully, but Emma had only asked whether she would be able to dance afterward.
I had promised her she would.
That promise was the reason I hadn't walked out when Bianca humiliated me.
Rafael noticed my expression.
“Allison, you can go home. I'll make sure you're paid for tonight.”
I shook my head.
“Sir, I saw someone near the maintenance staircase before dinner.”
“Who?”
“One of the electricians. He had a dark blue tool case with a yellow stripe.”
Rafael immediately called his chief facilities manager, Daniel Price.
Daniel had worked at the estate for nearly twenty years.
He arrived carrying a set of photographs taken after the collapse.
“Mr. Blackstone,” he said, “I've checked the fixture's installation records.”
“And?”
“Someone substituted part of the mounting assembly.”
Rafael went completely still.
“Explain.”
“The original design required four locking bolts and a reinforced safety connection. The bolts we found don't match the approved specifications.”
“Could they have come loose naturally?”
Daniel looked at the photographs.
“Not like this.”
He placed a damaged bolt on the desk.
A small letter M had been stamped near its head.
Elena leaned forward.
Her eyes widened.
“I've seen that mark before.”
“Where, Mom?”
“Your father's old files. He made a terrible fuss over that exact symbol.”
Rafael frowned.
“Dad retired from construction oversight years before he died.”
“Yes,” Elena replied. “But there was one project he never stopped worrying about.”
She touched the silver rosary in her lap.
“Harborview.”
Rafael's expression hardened.
Harborview was a waterfront residential complex developed on property owned by the Blackstone family.
I knew the name.
The estate's housekeeping staff had helped prepare holiday donations for its residents.
Many were retirees living on fixed incomes.
“My father approved that project,” Rafael said.
“He approved the land,” Elena corrected. “Not everything that happened afterward.”
Before she could explain, Ward returned.
Bianca wasn't with him.
Neither was the watch.
“The sitting room was empty,” Ward announced.
Rafael stood.
“Where is she?”
“We're searching.”
“And Julian?”
“His vehicle is still here.”
“That wasn't my question.”
Ward hesitated.
Then his radio crackled.
A guard reported that an exterior service gate had been opened using an authorized security credential.
The gate led toward the wooded road behind the estate.
Rafael turned sharply.
“Whose credential?”
Ward lowered his eyes.
“Mine.”
Silence filled the office.
Rafael stared at the man who had protected his family for twelve years.
“You told me your card was in your possession.”
“It was.”
“Then explain how somebody used it.”
Ward swallowed.
“I can't.”
Rafael moved closer.
“Elias, my son was standing twenty feet from that chandelier.”
“I know.”
“My mother almost died.”
Ward looked genuinely shaken.
“I know that too.”
“Then tell me what you've done.”
Before he could answer, Oliver stepped into the doorway.
He held a photograph from the party's instant-print photo booth.
“Dad, I found something.”
Rafael took it.
The photograph showed Bianca standing beside a mirror in the sitting room.
Behind her, reflected in the glass, stood Julian Moreland.
He was holding an old gold wristwatch.
But the watch wasn't what made Rafael's face change.
The man standing beside Julian was Elias Ward.
May you like
And beneath the photograph, someone had handwritten three words.
9:17. WATCH REMOVED.
