Chapter 5 - The Man Julian Trusted Least
By midnight, Bellweather had transformed.
The white umbrellas were folded.
The flowers were removed.
The terrace was closed.
Security doubled at every entrance.
Yet Claire felt less safe than she had when one hundred and eighty-seven strangers surrounded her.
An enemy hidden inside a crowd was frightening.
An enemy hidden inside a locked house was worse.
Julian moved them to a smaller room in the west wing with no exterior windows.
Gabriel objected.
Julian ignored him.
Claire sat opposite Julian with Andrew’s photograph enlarged on a monitor.
Gabriel stood near the door.
“Can we determine where this was taken?” Claire asked.
“We’re working on it.”
“The building?”
“No visible address.”
“The metadata?”
“Stripped.”
“Shadows?”
Gabriel glanced at her.
“Excuse me?”
“The sunlight. Direction. Length.”
He studied the image again.
“Possibly.”
Julian said, “Send it to Elliot.”
Gabriel hesitated.
Claire noticed.
“Who’s Elliot?”
“My cybersecurity director.”
“Why the hesitation?”
Gabriel answered instead.
“Because Elliot reports to Victoria.”
Julian looked at him.
“Since when?”
“Three weeks.”
“I wasn’t informed.”
“She reorganized technology operations during your rehabilitation review.”
“My what?”
Gabriel’s face hardened.
“She has been signing more documents than you realize.”
Julian’s eyes became cold.
Claire asked, “Can she legally do that?”
Julian did not answer.
Gabriel did.
“If the board believes Julian’s health prevents him from managing day-to-day operations.”
Claire remembered Victoria’s words outside the study.
He rolled himself into the lake.
It was not only a story designed to explain attempted murder.
It was evidence.
Evidence Julian was unstable.
Dangerous to himself.
Unable to control his companies.
Victoria might not need him dead.
She might only need him declared incapable.
Claire looked at Julian.
“Your sister gets control if the board removes you?”
“Temporary voting authority.”
“How temporary?”
“Until I’m medically cleared.”
“And who recommends medical clearance?”
Silence.
Claire already knew.
People chosen by Victoria.
Gabriel’s phone buzzed.
He read the screen.
Then frowned.
“What?”
“We found Evan Mercer.”
“The guard?” Claire asked.
Gabriel nodded.
“Where?”
“Service chapel.”
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
Gabriel looked at Julian.
“But he’s asking for Claire.”
Claire’s eyebrows rose.
“Me?”
“He refuses to speak to anyone else.”
Julian immediately said, “No.”
Claire turned.
“You don’t decide.”
“This is my house.”
“My legs.”
“You’ve already been targeted.”
“So have you.”
Gabriel interrupted.
“He says he’ll only speak to her.”
Julian’s jaw tightened.
Claire stood.
“Then we go.”
The service chapel sat at the oldest edge of the estate.
Built a century earlier, it was rarely used except during family memorials.
Two security officers waited outside.
Gabriel checked the room first.
Then Claire entered.
Evan Mercer sat on the front pew.
Young.
Maybe thirty.
His tie was gone.
His white shirt was damp with sweat.
He looked terrified.
Julian remained outside the door, close enough to hear through Gabriel’s earpiece.
Claire approached slowly.
“I’m Claire.”
“I know.”
“You asked for me.”
Evan looked toward the stained-glass windows.
“They’re going to kill me.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“That isn’t helpful.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Evan swallowed.
“At the lake, I heard a command through my earpiece.”
“What command?”
“Stand down.”
Claire’s skin prickled.
“From Gabriel?”
“It used his code.”
“But his voice?”
“No.”
“Whose?”
“Distorted.”
Claire sat on the pew opposite.
“What did it say exactly?”
Evan closed his eyes.
“Asset entering water. No intervention. Stand down until medical confirms.”
Claire stared.
Asset.
Not Julian.
A security code.
Someone had planned the fall in enough detail to prepare an order.
“Why did everyone else obey?”
“Most guards assumed the command came from Gabriel.”
“What about guests?”
Evan hesitated.
“That’s different.”
“How?”
“Some of them were warned before the party.”
Claire leaned forward.
“Warned about what?”
“That Julian might create an incident.”
There it was again.
The narrative.
“What kind of incident?”
“Self-harm.”
Claire’s jaw tightened.
“Who warned them?”
“I only heard a few people talking.”
“Names.”
“Victoria’s attorney. Two board members. Doctor Hartwell.”
Claire recognized Hartwell.
Julian’s neurological specialist.
The physician advising the board.
“What did they tell people?”
“That Julian had been depressed.”
“Was he?”
Evan shook his head.
“I don’t know.”
“But they were told not to interfere?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“They said security had protocols.”
Claire felt sick.
An entire crowd had been psychologically prepared to hesitate.
Not ordered to kill.
Simply trained not to rescue.
“Who said ‘Don’t’ behind me?”
Evan stared at her.
“That was me.”
Claire froze.
“You?”
“I was trying to warn you.”
“Warn me not to help him?”
“No.”
Evan shook his head quickly.
“Don’t jump.”
“Why?”
“Because I’d seen the maintenance report.”
“What report?”
“Water under the terrace.”
Claire frowned.
“The lake?”
“No. Electrical system.”
He leaned closer.
“Someone installed a submerged security cable along the wall two days ago.”
Claire remembered diving.
Her body passing within feet of the stone.
“What kind of cable?”
“High voltage.”
Cold spread through her.
“It was live?”
“It was supposed to be.”
“Supposed to?”
Evan nodded.
“Someone disabled it four minutes before Julian went in.”
Claire sat back.
If the cable had remained active, both she and Julian could have died.
“Who disabled it?”
“That’s why I ran.”
“Who?”
Evan looked at the chapel door.
“The command came from Julian’s private terminal.”
Claire’s mind raced.
“That’s impossible. Julian was outside.”
“Exactly.”
“So someone was inside his study.”
“Yes.”
“Who has access?”
Evan whispered.
“Only three people.”
“Julian.”
“Yes.”
“Gabriel?”
“Yes.”
“And?”
Evan looked terrified.
“Claire Bennett.”
Claire’s breath stopped.
“My access card doesn’t open Julian’s study.”
“It does now.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Someone changed your clearance yesterday.”
Claire stood.
“Who?”
“I checked the audit log.”
Evan’s voice broke.
“Andrew Bennett.”
Claire stared at him.
For a moment neither moved.
“That’s impossible.”
“I know.”
“My brother hasn’t worked here.”
“His credentials were active.”
“He disappeared fourteen months ago.”
Evan nodded.
“Then someone has been using a dead employee profile for fourteen months.”
Claire thought of the photograph.
Andrew alive.
Julian deceived.
Access changed under Andrew’s name.
The electric cable disabled seconds before the sabotage.
Maybe Andrew had saved them.
Or maybe someone wanted them to believe he had.
A sound came from outside.
Sharp.
Then another.
Gabriel shouted.
The chapel lights went dark.
Evan stood so quickly the pew moved.
“They found me.”
Claire grabbed his arm.
“Stay down.”
A crash sounded at the side entrance.
Emergency lights flickered red.
Julian’s voice came through Gabriel’s dropped radio somewhere outside.
“Claire!”
She turned toward the door.
Evan pulled away.
“No!”
“We need to go.”
“Not that door.”
“Why?”
“Because whoever cut the lights knows exactly where we are.”
The old chapel had one other exit.
A narrow sacristy passage leading toward the family crypt.
Claire had noticed it when entering.
She grabbed Evan.
“This way.”
They moved through darkness.
Behind them, the main chapel door opened.
Claire heard footsteps.
Slow.
Unhurried.
Someone did not need to search.
They already knew where she was going.
Evan whispered, “There’s something else.”
Claire pulled him through the passage.
“What?”
“The voice giving orders today wasn’t using Gabriel’s code only.”
“What do you mean?”
“It switched identities.”
“Whose?”
Evan’s answer followed them into the darkness.
“Yours.”
Claire stopped.
“My voice?”
“No.”
Evan swallowed.
“Your brother’s.”
May you like
And somewhere beneath Bellweather, a system registered Andrew Bennett entering a building he had supposedly never worked in.
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