Chapter 6 - the bottle in the hidden bin)
Sterling Tower had been locked down by investigators before sunrise.
Luke's private office occupied half of the forty-sixth floor.
Jessica had visited hundreds of times.
She had never noticed the narrow cabinet built into the wall near the conference windows.
Luke had.
Of course he had.
Inside the cabinet sat a small black wastebasket.
At the bottom, beneath two discarded presentation folders, was a clear glass bottle.
Cole used gloves to lift it.
The Sterling executive seal was printed on the label.
"Corporate water," Jessica said.
Luke joined through a secure video call displayed on Cole's tablet.
"Every executive floor has it."
Cole inspected the cap.
"Already opened."
Michael, still detained for questioning, had described twisting the cap before pouring the water.
The bottle was sent immediately to a laboratory.
While technicians worked, Jessica searched Luke's office with Cole.
One wall contained framed photographs.
Arthur Sterling.
Luke and Michael as boys.
Luke and Jessica's wedding.
A company photograph from Sterling Holdings' centennial celebration.
Jessica stared at the photograph.
Twenty senior executives stood behind Luke.
Chief financial officer.
Chief operations officer.
General counsel.
Division presidents.
Board members.
People Luke trusted.
One of them was Crown.
Cole noticed her looking.
"You know them all?"
"Most."
"Who benefits if Luke dies?"
"Professionally?"
"Start there."
Jessica pointed.
"Charles Denton, CFO. He would become interim CEO under normal succession."
"Would Wendy allow that?"
"No."
"Who else?"
"Rebecca Hall, chief strategy officer."
"Relationship with Luke?"
"Complicated. He recruited her from Boston ten years ago."
"Romantic?"
Jessica looked at Cole.
"No."
"Had to ask."
She pointed to another man.
"Samuel Price. Head of international operations. Frank's old friend."
Cole made a note.
"And her?"
Jessica looked at the woman standing three people behind Luke.
Emily Warren.
Forty-five.
Executive vice president for governance.
She had worked for Sterling Holdings for eighteen years.
Quiet.
Precise.
Nearly invisible.
"Emily manages internal approvals."
"Could she access dormant subsidiaries?"
"Probably."
"Could she alter board documents?"
"Yes."
Jessica remembered something.
"She also administers executive succession protocols."
Cole looked up.
"Crown."
Jessica nodded.
"If Luke dies, Emily would manage the process."
"Does she gain control?"
"No. But she controls information."
Cole made another note.
A forensic investigator approached.
"We found something."
He displayed metadata from Pike's encrypted drive.
Several Crown messages had been created using a network token associated with Sterling Tower.
Not enough to identify a person.
But enough to narrow the source.
Forty-sixth floor.
Executive network.
Luke's floor.
Jessica felt sick.
"Someone near him."
Cole nodded.
A message arrived from the lab forty minutes later.
The bottle contained residue from the same sedative found in Luke's blood.
Michael had delivered the poisoned water.
Whether he knew it or not.
Cole called the interrogation team.
Michael listened.
His face collapsed.
"I didn't put anything in it."
"Where did you get the bottle?"
"It was on Luke's conference table."
"Who placed it there?"
"I don't know."
"Think."
Michael closed his eyes.
"When I entered, someone was leaving."
"Who?"
He opened his eyes.
"Emily."
Jessica stared at the screen.
Emily Warren.
Cole immediately called the floor security team.
No response from Emily's office.
Her assistant said she had not arrived.
Her apartment building reported she had left at 5:12 a.m. carrying two suitcases.
Cole swore softly.
"Find her."
Jessica turned toward Luke's desk.
A red notification flashed on his secure terminal.
NEW GOVERNANCE SESSION SCHEDULED.
She opened it.
An emergency board meeting had been called for noon.
Agenda:
Confirmation of Luke Sterling's incapacity.
Activation of the Continuity Provision.
Appointment of interim executive authority.
Requested by Emily Warren.
Luke stared through the video connection.
"She's moving before we can stop her."
Jessica read the attendee list.
Wendy.
Frank.
Harold Pike.
Michael.
Board members.
And Jessica herself.
She looked at Cole.
"Can we cancel it?"
"Yes."
Luke said, "No."
Jessica turned toward the tablet.
Luke's eyes had become sharp again.
"Let it happen."
"You can barely stand."
"I don't need to."
"What are you planning?"
Luke looked at Jessica.
"For years, my mother has believed you were the weakest person in this family."
Jessica understood immediately.
"You want me to attend."
"I want them to believe I'm still unconscious."
Cole frowned.
"That's risky."
Luke continued.
"If Emily is Crown, she'll expose herself."
Jessica looked at the emergency agenda.
"And if she isn't?"
Luke gave a faint smile.
"Then whoever Crown is will have to stop her."
At 11:37 a.m., twenty-three minutes before the board meeting, police found Emily Warren's car abandoned beneath the Queensboro Bridge.
Her luggage was still inside.
Her phone lay broken on the passenger seat.
May you like
And on the steering wheel, written in red lipstick, were four words.
SHE WAS NEVER CROWN.
