Chapter 3 - The Missing Eight MinutesThomas laughed when Detective Alvarez told him.
It was not amusement.
It was disbelief sharpened by fear.
“My account?”
They were in the east sitting room at Carlisle House the next morning. Daniel had not slept. Laura remained upstairs with Mia, who had refused to leave her mother’s side since returning from the hospital.
Alvarez sat across from Thomas.
“You recognize the username?”
“Yes.”
“You have administrator access?”
“Yes.”
“Did you disable the cameras?”
“No.”
“Does anyone know your password?”
“No.”
Daniel stood by the fireplace.
Thomas glanced at him.
“Sir, I did not.”
“I know.”
Alvarez looked toward Daniel.
“You cannot know yet.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“I know he jumped into the pool.”
“That establishes what he did afterward, not before.”
Thomas nodded slowly.
“She’s right.”
Daniel looked at him.
Thomas appeared twenty years older than he had the previous morning.
“What were you doing seven minutes before Mia went outside?”
Alvarez asked.
“Inventorying the wine cellar.”
“Anyone with you?”
“No.”
“Camera?”
“There’s a service corridor camera.”
Alvarez checked her notes.
“That one was operating.”
Thomas looked relieved.
“Then you can see me.”
“We can see you enter the corridor. There’s no camera inside the cellar.”
“How long?”
“Eleven minutes.”
Thomas exhaled.
“So whoever used my credentials knew I was out of sight.”
Nobody spoke.
Alvarez asked, “Who knew your schedule?”
Thomas considered.
“Mrs. Carlisle.”
“Evelyn?”
“Yes.”
“Anyone else?”
“Mr. Shaw was here yesterday morning.”
Daniel turned.
“Victor?”
Victor Shaw had been Carlisle Hospitality’s general counsel for fourteen years. He had handled Samuel Carlisle’s estate, Daniel’s succession as chief executive, three acquisitions and the legal structure of nearly every family trust.
He had also been Evelyn’s closest professional ally since Daniel was in college.
“What was Victor doing here?”
Thomas looked surprised Daniel didn’t know.
“He met with your mother in the library.”
“When?”
“Approximately nine.”
The pool incident occurred shortly after ten-thirty.
“Did he leave?”
“His car did.”
“What does that mean?”
“I did not personally see him leave.”
Daniel took out his phone.
Laura appeared in the doorway.
She wore yesterday’s clothes.
“What’s Victor got to do with this?”
Daniel turned.
“You should be upstairs.”
“You should stop telling me where I should be.”
Alvarez interrupted before the argument could grow.
“Mrs. Carlisle, did you know Mr. Shaw was here yesterday?”
“No.”
Daniel called Victor.
It went to voicemail.
He called again.
Same result.
Laura folded her arms.
“That’s interesting.”
“It’s eight in the morning.”
“He answers you at three in the morning when a hotel’s liquor license is threatened.”
Daniel couldn’t argue.
Alvarez gathered her notes.
“We’re requesting digital records from the security provider. Do not attempt to access or reset the system. Do not remove any devices.”
“When will you know something?”
“When we know it.”
After she left, Laura walked toward the office.
“Where are you going?”
“To get my laptop.”
Daniel followed.
“Why?”
“Because I think this is connected.”
“To what?”
Laura stopped.
For months Daniel had sensed that she was holding something back. She had called it work. She had refused to explain why she kept taking calls from a forensic accounting firm after leaving public practice.
Now he saw the hesitation again.
“What?” he asked.
Laura shut the study doors.
“Three months ago, I found discrepancies in Carlisle Hospitality’s vendor payments.”
Daniel stared.
“What kind?”
“Millions.”
His expression changed.
“You audited my company?”
“I noticed something by accident.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“I was helping your father’s foundation reconcile a property grant. One vendor appeared in both the foundation books and the company’s renovation expenses.”
“Which vendor?”
“Alder Crescent Consulting.”
“I’ve never heard of it.”
“Neither had I.”
She opened her laptop.
“Then I found six more payments.”
“How much?”
“Eight-point-four million over four years.”
Daniel sat down.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I was going to.”
“When?”
“When I had evidence you couldn’t dismiss because your mother called me paranoid.”
“That’s not fair.”
Laura looked at him.
“Isn’t it?”
He said nothing.
She turned the laptop.
A spreadsheet filled the screen.
Payments.
Dates.
Invoices.
Authorizations.
Daniel recognized two names immediately.
His mother.
Victor Shaw.
His phone rang.
Victor.
Daniel answered on speaker.
“Where are you?”
Victor sounded irritated.
“In my car. Your mother called me at six this morning saying detectives are treating a malfunction like attempted murder.”
Laura’s eyes narrowed.
“Why were you at the house yesterday?”
Silence.
Then Victor said, “Laura’s there?”
“Yes.”
“I met Evelyn about estate documents.”
“Which documents?”
“Daniel, this is not a conversation for the phone.”
“It is now.”
Victor sighed.
“Your mother is terrified. She made a terrible judgment letting Mia swim, but if you start treating her like a criminal—”
“The vest had three holes.”
Victor stopped talking.
Daniel watched Laura.
“Did you know that?”
“No.”
Too fast.
Laura heard it too.
Daniel said, “The cameras were disabled.”
Another silence.
Victor’s tone changed.
“You need counsel.”
“I have counsel.”
“No, you have me as corporate counsel. You need separate criminal counsel for your family.”
“Why?”
“Because once police start taking servers and phones, everything gets dragged into this.”
Everything.
The word bothered Laura.
“What exactly are you worried they’ll find, Victor?”
“Don’t start.”
“I already did.”
Victor swore under his breath.
“I’ll be at the house in forty minutes.”
He hung up.
Laura stared at the call screen.
Daniel looked at the spreadsheet again.
Eight-point-four million.
Before he could ask another question, Laura’s phone vibrated.
A secure-message notification appeared from Martin Keene, the forensic accountant she had quietly hired.
She opened it.
One sentence.
DO NOT USE YOUR CARLISLE EMAIL. I FOUND THE BENEFICIAL OWNER OF ALDER CRESCENT.
Laura’s fingers went cold.
May you like
A second message appeared.
IT’S EVELYN.
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