Chapter 2 - The First Lie
Evan Cross answered without hesitation.
“Checking the boiler.”
Gabriel watched him for three silent seconds.
Fourteen years taught you things about a man.
Gabriel knew the slight crease beside Evan’s mouth when he was irritated. He knew Evan tapped his thumb against his index finger when calculating numbers in his head. He knew the particular flatness that entered his voice when he believed somebody was wasting his time.
And he knew how Evan lied.
The frightening part was that until that moment, Gabriel had never realized he knew.
“Problem?” Evan asked.
Gabriel slipped the blue-marked key into his pocket.
“No.”
Lucy stood beside him clutching her stuffed bear.
She stared at Evan.
Gabriel noticed.
So did Evan.
“What’s the kid doing out here?”
“Her name is Lucy.”
Evan gave a small shrug. “Right.”
Gabriel’s expression remained neutral.
“We’ll leave in five minutes.”
Evan walked toward the front doors.
Gabriel waited until they closed behind him.
Then he crouched beside Lucy.
“Listen carefully. Don’t tell anyone what we saw.”
“Even Mom?”
Gabriel considered it.
“Especially not until I talk to her.”
Lucy’s eyebrows pulled together.
“My mom doesn’t lie.”
“I didn’t say she did.”
“You looked like you thought everybody did.”
The observation hit harder than Gabriel expected.
Eight years old, and she had read him accurately.
He straightened.
“Stay with your mother.”
Gabriel found Hannah Bennett polishing silver in the formal dining room.
She was thirty-two, quiet, composed, and had worked at the mansion for nearly four years. Unlike employees who became nervous whenever Gabriel entered a room, Hannah usually acknowledged him with a respectful nod and continued working.
Today, she stopped immediately.
“Mr. Rowan?”
“Take Lucy home.”
Her face drained.
“Did she do something?”
“No.”
Lucy ran toward her.
Hannah placed a protective hand on her daughter’s shoulder.
Gabriel noticed how instinctive the gesture was.
“Paid afternoon,” he said. “Keep your phone on.”
Hannah studied his face.
“Something happened.”
It wasn’t a question.
Gabriel looked at Lucy.
The girl said nothing.
Good.
“I’m handling it.”
Hannah didn’t move.
“Does this involve my daughter?”
“It involves something she noticed.”
Hannah’s grip tightened around Lucy.
“Then I want to know.”
“And you will.”
Gabriel lowered his voice.
“But right now I need both of you somewhere safe.”
That changed her expression.
Hannah understood danger.
Perhaps better than Gabriel had assumed.
She removed her apron without another question.
Twenty minutes later, Gabriel’s SUV entered downtown Chicago.
Evan sat across from him.
“You’re quiet.”
“I’m thinking.”
“That usually costs somebody money.”
Gabriel almost smiled.
It was an old joke.
One Evan had made hundreds of times.
Today it sounded rehearsed.
Gabriel looked through the tinted window.
“Cancel the meeting.”
Evan frowned.
“With Calder?”
“Yes.”
“He flew in from New York.”
“He can fly back.”
“What happened?”
“I remembered something.”
“What?”
Gabriel turned toward him.
“I forgot my father’s watch.”
Evan stared at the gold watch already visible beneath Gabriel’s cuff.
Only for half a second.
Then he laughed.
“Getting old?”
“Apparently.”
Gabriel instructed the driver to turn around.
Nobody spoke during the return journey.
When they reached the estate, Gabriel went directly upstairs.
The study door showed no forced entry.
The cabinet beneath his desk remained locked.
He inserted the blue key Lucy had found.
Click.
Inside, the leather envelope was gone.
Gabriel sat slowly.
Evan appeared in the doorway.
“Find your watch?”
Gabriel looked up.
“Yes.”
Evan smiled.
“Good.”
Then walked away.
Gabriel waited until the footsteps disappeared.
He opened his laptop and accessed the estate security system.
Camera 17 covered the upstairs hallway.
At 1:42 p.m., the recording skipped.
At 1:59, it resumed.
Seventeen minutes were missing.
Gabriel checked the access logs.
Administrator override.
Authorized account:
E. CROSS.
Gabriel stared at the screen.
There could be an explanation.
He wanted there to be one.
That realization angered him more than the evidence itself.
He had forgiven nobody easily in his life, yet somewhere inside him, he was already inventing excuses for Evan.
A security update.
A malfunction.
A coincidence.
Then his phone rang.
Hannah.
He answered immediately.
“Mr. Rowan?”
Her breathing was uneven.
“What happened?”
“I think somebody followed us.”
Gabriel stood.
“Where are you?”
“At home. Lucy and I got inside, but there’s a black sedan parked across the street.”
“Lock every door.”
“I already did.”
“Stay away from the windows.”
Gabriel was moving before the sentence ended.
“Gabriel?”
It was the first time Hannah had ever used his first name.
He stopped.
“There’s something else.”
“What?”
“Lucy says the man driving that car was at your house this morning.”
Gabriel’s jaw tightened.
“Who?”
Lucy’s voice came faintly through the phone.
Then Hannah repeated her answer.
“Mr. Cross.”
May you like
Gabriel looked toward the open study door.
At that exact moment, somewhere downstairs, the mansion alarm went dead.
