Chapter 6 - FORTY-EIGHT MISSING MINUTES
Rafe Quinn did not answer immediately.
That was answer enough.
Adrian placed the broken watch on the kitchen table.
“Look at me.”
Rafe raised his eyes.
“The official report says 10:02,” Adrian continued. “My watch stopped at 9:14. I remember picking Iris up beside the east gallery. Explain the difference.”
Rafe glanced toward Maren and Mrs. Pike.
“Sir, this should be discussed privately.”
“My daughter was injured in my own home. Everyone in this room deserves the truth.”
Rafe swallowed.
“The first report listed the time she reached the emergency entrance, not when she fell.”
Adrian stared.
“Why?”
“The original incident record was replaced.”
“By whom?”
Rafe's silence stretched.
Finally, he answered.
“Under instructions from Miss Ward.”
Adrian turned away.
For several seconds, he seemed unable to speak.
Then he asked the question Maren had been dreading.
“Was medical care delayed?”
Rafe looked down.
“The first vehicle wasn't dispatched immediately. The guests were still using the main drive.”
Maren felt sick.
“You delayed help for a little girl because important people were leaving a party?”
“I was told the injury might be minor.”
“Who told you that?”
“Miss Ward.”
Adrian struck the table with his palm.
“Enough.”
Rafe flinched.
Adrian's voice dropped.
“You will preserve every security record from that night. Every maintenance report. Every message. Nothing disappears.”
Rafe nodded.
But Maren noticed his hands.
They were shaking.
That afternoon, Adrian walked through the east gallery for the first time in months.
The corridor overlooked the gardens through tall windows.
A narrow service gate separated the gallery from a short flight of marble steps.
It had been replaced after Iris's accident.
The new barrier was polished brass.
Perfect.
Almost beautiful.
Maren stood beside Adrian.
“Is this where it happened?”
He nodded.
“She was trying to find me. She'd brought a paper crown she'd made in the nursery.”
He stopped.
“I was hosting a reception for investors and public officials. I told security I wasn't to be interrupted unless it was urgent.”
Maren said nothing.
“I heard someone shouting. By the time I reached her, she was crying on the floor.”
His voice became rough.
“I keep remembering that she asked me why her leg wouldn't move.”
Maren looked toward the steps.
“You couldn't undo her injury.”
“No.”
“But you could have listened to her afterward.”
Adrian accepted the words without argument.
From the doorway came a small voice.
“Daddy?”
Iris sat in her wheelchair with Mrs. Pike behind her.
She was holding a folded sheet of paper.
“I made a picture.”
Adrian knelt.
“What did you draw, sweetheart?”
“The party.”
The drawing showed yellow lights, three stick figures, and something resembling a gate.
Beside the gate was a crooked red line.
Adrian pointed.
“What's this?”
“A ribbon.”
Maren leaned closer.
“What ribbon, Iris?”
“The red one. On the gate.”
“Who put it there?”
Iris thought for a moment.
“Aunt Celia.”
Adrian and Maren exchanged glances.
“Why?” Adrian asked gently.
“She said don't go there.”
Iris looked down.
“But later it was gone.”
Adrian felt the words settle heavily in his chest.
Celia had known the gate was unsafe.
She had warned the child.
Someone had removed the warning.
He kissed Iris's forehead.
“You didn't do anything wrong.”
“I know,” she whispered.
It was the first time he had heard her say that.
After Mrs. Pike took Iris back to the sunroom, Adrian turned toward Rafe.
“Why was that ribbon removed?”
Rafe stared at the drawing.
“I had the corridor cleared for the evening photographs.”
“Who ordered that?”
Rafe's eyes reddened.
“You did, sir.”
Adrian went still.
“I ordered you to move the guests into the ballroom.”
Rafe shook his head.
“No, sir.”
He took a folded maintenance order from his pocket.
“Your office approved removing every temporary barrier from the east gallery.”
Adrian reached for the paper.
His signature was at the bottom.
May you like
And beneath it, in Celia's handwriting, someone had added:
“PROCEED BEFORE THE GUESTS ARRIVE. NO EXCEPTIONS.”
