Chapter 2 - the message christina left behind
Samuel’s voice remained outside the library.
“Jonathan?”
Daniel Rook stood beside the door.
He had worked security for Prescott Industries for eleven years and personally protected Jonathan for six.
Nothing about Daniel frightened easily.
Now he looked uncertain.
“He knows the code.”
Jonathan kept his eyes on the door.
“Apparently.”
Leo sat beside him on the leather sofa, clutching a stuffed rabbit one of the housekeepers had found in the nursery.
The laptop screen still showed the frozen final frame of Christina’s face.
Do not let her know how much you’ve seen.
Because Florence is not the person you should be most afraid of.
Jonathan’s mind resisted the obvious implication.
Samuel had been his friend for almost three decades.
Christina had known him since childhood.
If she distrusted Samuel, why had she never told Jonathan?
Another knock.
“Jonathan, I know you’re in there.”
Jonathan closed the laptop.
He pulled out the USB.
Then he crossed to the door.
“Why are you here?”
Samuel answered without hesitation.
“Florence says there’s a problem.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
A pause.
Then Samuel spoke more quietly.
“There are three hundred guests twenty feet away. Whatever this is, let me help you control it.”
Jonathan looked at Daniel.
Daniel shook his head once.
Not yet.
Jonathan stepped away from the door.
“I’m postponing the ceremony.”
Samuel’s reply came too quickly.
“Don’t.”
Jonathan stopped.
“Excuse me?”
“You are emotional. Give yourself ten minutes.”
“My grandson says my daughter was hurt.”
Silence.
Jonathan stared at the door.
He had not told Samuel that.
When Samuel finally spoke again, his voice was different.
More careful.
“Florence told me.”
Jonathan looked toward the camera monitor mounted beside the desk.
The corridor outside the library was visible through a private security feed.
Samuel stood alone.
Florence was nowhere near him.
“Where is Florence?”
“Upstairs.”
Jonathan glanced at Daniel.
Daniel silently mouthed, He’s lying.
Jonathan walked back to the desk.
“Samuel, return to the ballroom.”
“We need to talk.”
“No.”
“Jonathan.”
“You heard me.”
Samuel remained outside another ten seconds.
Then he walked away.
Daniel waited until the monitor showed the hallway empty.
“He’s never ignored a direct instruction from you.”
Jonathan looked at the USB.
“No.”
He inserted it again.
Twenty-seven folders appeared.
Names included Foundation, May Accounts, Medical, House, S.C., F.F., and something called Blue Train.
“Can you break the encryption?”
Daniel shook his head.
“Not without taking this to our digital team.”
“No network.”
“Agreed.”
Jonathan opened the unencrypted video again.
This time he watched more carefully.
Christina sat in what appeared to be a bedroom.
Behind her was a blue wall.
A lamp.
A framed picture.
There was a bruise on her jaw.
Her right wrist had a medical bracelet.
Jonathan paused.
“Zoom.”
Daniel leaned in.
The image pixelated.
Most of the bracelet was hidden.
But two letters were visible.
H and R.
Daniel photographed the screen.
“Could be a hospital.”
Jonathan reopened the folder list.
Medical was encrypted.
Blue Train was encrypted.
House opened.
Inside were twelve security clips.
The first showed Christina entering Jonathan’s study at 11:43 p.m. seven weeks earlier.
Florence followed her.
They argued without audio.
Christina pointed toward the desk.
Florence moved closer.
Christina stepped back.
Florence grabbed her wrist.
Jonathan’s jaw tightened.
The next clip came from the kitchen.
Christina entered holding her cheek.
Florence followed.
Then Samuel appeared.
Jonathan stopped the video.
Daniel looked at him.
Samuel.
Inside Jonathan’s home.
After midnight.
On the night Christina later disappeared.
Jonathan had been in Chicago.
He had known none of this.
The video continued.
Samuel shut the kitchen door.
The three argued.
Christina placed something on the counter.
A folder.
Samuel took it.
Florence reached for Christina.
Christina pulled away.
Then the clip ended.
The next file had been corrupted.
The next showed Christina walking upstairs at 12:18 a.m.
The next showed Florence and Samuel leaving separately around 1:00.
There was no recording of Christina leaving.
Jonathan stared at the screen.
Police had shown him exterior footage of Christina’s car driving away.
Yet inside the house, no camera showed Christina reaching the garage.
Daniel opened another clip.
At 1:17 a.m., Samuel returned.
This time he entered through the service door.
He was accompanied by a man wearing medical scrubs.
Jonathan leaned forward.
The man carried a black case.
Thirty minutes later, both men left.
They were pushing a laundry cart.
Something large was inside.
Daniel stopped the footage.
Leo made a tiny sound behind them.
Jonathan turned.
The child had covered his eyes.
Jonathan immediately closed the laptop.
He crossed the room and knelt.
“You don’t need to watch.”
Leo’s lower lip trembled.
“Mommy in cart?”
Jonathan’s throat tightened.
“I don’t know.”
It was the first lie he had told the boy that day.
Daniel’s phone vibrated.
He checked it.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“The east gate.”
Daniel turned the screen.
A security officer had sent a still photograph.
Samuel Creed’s car was leaving the property.
Jonathan stood.
“He was told to stay in the ballroom.”
Daniel nodded.
“And Florence?”
Daniel called security.
His expression changed.
“She’s gone.”
Jonathan looked at the library doors.
“Gone where?”
“They can’t find her.”
Then one of the estate alarms sounded.
Not the fire alarm.
Not the perimeter alarm.
A short electronic warning from Jonathan’s private office.
Daniel looked toward the ceiling speaker.
“That’s the safe.”
Jonathan moved first.
The private office was two corridors away.
When they reached it, the door was open.
A painting had been pulled aside.
The safe stood exposed.
Florence knelt in front of it.
She had removed her veil.
One white glove lay on the floor.
Jonathan stopped in the doorway.
Florence turned.
For the first time since he had met her, there was no charm in her face.
Only fear.
“What are you looking for?” Jonathan asked.
Florence slowly stood.
She looked at the USB in his hand.
May you like
Then she said something Jonathan did not expect.
“Christina is alive.”
