Chapter 2 - Leonard Pike
The bald man’s name was Leonard Pike.
Daniel learned it from Detective Mara Keene forty minutes later.
The boutique had been cleared.
Paramedics had treated Rosa’s arm.
Emma sat wrapped in Daniel’s jacket inside a private fitting room.
Celeste was elsewhere speaking to police.
Daniel wanted to stay with Emma.
He also wanted answers.
Detective Keene gave him both.
“Mr. Pike is sixty-two. Former private security contractor.”
“Who invited him?”
“We’re checking.”
“He deliberately pushed that tower.”
“We have witnesses.”
“My daughter saw him.”
“Yes.”
Daniel’s jaw tightened.
“Then arrest him.”
Keene studied him.
“You slammed him into a display wall.”
Daniel stared.
“He tried to hurt my daughter.”
“I understand why you reacted.”
“No, you don’t.”
Keene’s expression did not change.
“But your reaction is also evidence.”
Daniel looked away.
He had spent his life being told he had a temper.
Most people who said it had only seen the tattoos, the broad shoulders, the younger version of Daniel who fought in bars before his first daughter was born.
He had worked for fifteen years to become someone else.
In less than five seconds, Leonard Pike had brought that old man back.
“Is he pressing charges?”
“He hasn’t decided.”
Daniel laughed bitterly.
Keene continued.
“Mr. Pike claims the tower collapsed accidentally.”
“He’s lying.”
“Probably.”
Daniel looked sharply at her.
She did not apologize.
“Witnesses saw him touch the structure. We need footage.”
“There are cameras everywhere.”
“That’s what we thought.”
Daniel’s stomach tightened.
“What does that mean?”
“The camera covering the tower went offline at 7:41.”
“When did it collapse?”
“7:47.”
Daniel stared.
“Six minutes.”
“Yes.”
“Other cameras?”
“Several.”
“But?”
“The clearest angle is missing.”
Daniel stood.
“That is not a coincidence.”
“I didn’t say it was.”
Emma appeared in the doorway.
Rosa stood behind her.
Daniel immediately softened.
“Hey.”
Emma ran toward him.
He lifted her carefully.
“Rosa says she can stay with me.”
Daniel looked at Rosa.
“You need treatment.”
“I had treatment.”
“You need stitches.”
“Three.”
Daniel stared at the bandage.
“You took the glass.”
Rosa looked at Emma.
“She was closer.”
Something tightened in Daniel’s throat.
“Thank you.”
Rosa nodded.
Celeste entered.
She had changed.
No longer shocked.
Angry.
“Daniel, we need to leave.”
Emma stiffened in his arms.
Daniel felt it.
Celeste noticed too.
“What is this?”
“Emma stays with me.”
“I am your wife.”
“Yes.”
“And her stepmother.”
“Yes.”
Celeste looked at Rosa.
“But suddenly the maid gets to decide where she goes?”
Rosa’s expression remained calm.
“I’m not deciding anything.”
“Then stop standing there like you are.”
Daniel stepped between them.
“Enough.”
Celeste looked at him.
“You believe her?”
“I believe Emma.”
Celeste stared.
Daniel continued.
“What happened with the shoes?”
Celeste exhaled.
“She was being difficult.”
“She’s six.”
“She threw a tantrum because she wanted cheap shoes.”
Emma buried her face against Daniel’s shoulder.
He felt his anger rise.
“Why would that bother you?”
“Because this was a launch event.”
“So?”
“She was wearing something that looked like it came from a discount store.”
Daniel stared.
“They did.”
Celeste blinked.
“I bought them.”
Silence.
Daniel had taken Emma shopping two weeks earlier.
She had chosen simple cream shoes because they looked like the pair her late mother Julia used to wear.
Forty-five dollars.
Emma loved them.
Celeste looked briefly embarrassed.
Then defensive.
“That isn’t the point.”
“What is the point?”
“She represents Mercer Luxe.”
“She is a child.”
“She is the founder’s daughter.”
“She is my daughter before she represents anything.”
Celeste looked away.
Rosa whispered:
“She knocked the box down.”
Daniel turned.
“What?”
Rosa continued.
“Mrs. Mercer pushed the shoebox from the bench with her foot.”
Celeste’s eyes widened.
“That is a lie.”
“Emma bent down to pick up the shoe because you told her to.”
Daniel slowly turned toward Celeste.
“Did you?”
Celeste’s voice sharpened.
“You are seriously letting an employee accuse me at my own event?”
“It wasn’t your event.”
Her face froze.
Daniel regretted the cruelty immediately.
But not enough to take it back.
Mercer Luxe had been created by Daniel and his first wife, Julia.
Celeste had married into it eighteen months earlier.
She had spent those eighteen months acting increasingly as though the company had been waiting for her.
Detective Keene returned.
“Mr. Mercer.”
Daniel turned.
“We identified how Mr. Pike entered.”
“How?”
“Vendor credentials.”
“What vendor?”
Keene looked at her notes.
“Halcyon Event Logistics.”
Daniel frowned.
He knew nearly every major vendor Mercer Luxe used.
Not that one.
Rosa did.
Her face changed.
“What?”
Daniel asked.
Rosa looked at him.
“I heard that name years ago.”
“When?”
She hesitated.
“When Julia was alive.”
Daniel went still.
Julia had been dead five years.
“How?”
Rosa looked toward Celeste.
Then back at Daniel.
“Mrs. Mercer was investigating them.”
Celeste frowned.
“Which Mrs. Mercer?”
Rosa’s eyes hardened.
“Daniel’s first wife.”
May you like
The room became silent.
And for the first time that night, Daniel realized the man who nearly dropped hundreds of champagne glasses onto his daughter might be connected to a secret his dead wife had discovered years before.
