Chapter 9 - the man who started the fire)
Daniel Rusk surrendered without resistance.
Firefighters contained the blaze before it spread beyond the old library.
The grandfather clock was destroyed.
Half the wall blackened.
But the hidden compartment was already empty.
Jessica had removed the important ledgers.
Rusk knew that.
Which made the fire strange.
Cole questioned him inside the mansion's dining room while investigators searched his SUV.
Jessica listened.
"I didn't start the fire," Rusk said.
Cole gave him a flat look.
"You walked out of a burning room carrying the evidence box."
"I came because someone triggered an internal security alert."
"Who?"
"Frank."
Jessica felt the pieces rearrange.
Rusk continued.
"He called me thirty minutes ago. Said someone had broken into Sterling House."
"And you came alone?"
"I thought the threat was connected to Luke."
"Why didn't you contact police?"
"Because Luke hired me to handle threats before they became public."
Cole's voice hardened.
"Luke also trusted you with Crown irregularities."
Rusk looked at Jessica.
"I told him."
Jessica frowned.
"Told Luke what?"
"That Crown access had been duplicated."
Luke had never mentioned it.
Rusk continued.
"Three months ago Emily Warren reported suspicious activity. I traced it to an internal authentication server."
"Who had access?"
"Seven people."
"Names."
Rusk listed them.
Emily Warren.
Harold Pike.
Frank Vance.
Wendy Sterling.
Daniel Rusk.
Charles Denton.
And Luke Sterling.
Jessica said, "Luke didn't send those messages."
"I know."
"How?"
"Some were sent while he was physically with me."
Cole asked, "Who did you suspect?"
"Frank."
"Only Frank?"
Rusk hesitated.
"No."
"Who else?"
"Charles Denton."
Jessica thought of the CFO.
Calm at the board meeting.
Helpful.
Apparently surprised by the forged signatures.
"What made you suspect Charles?"
"He controls financial reporting. Almost eighty-seven million moved without appearing in consolidated audits."
Cole nodded.
"That requires cooperation."
"Exactly."
A firefighter entered.
"We found an ignition source."
Cole stood.
"Where?"
"Behind the east bookcase. Electrical accelerant device."
Rusk looked confused.
"Timed?"
"Remote."
Cole looked at Rusk.
"You entered after ignition?"
"Yes."
"Why carry the box out?"
"Because I saw it on the floor."
Jessica frowned.
"The box was inside the clock compartment."
Rusk shook his head.
"When I arrived, the panel was open. The box was lying beside the clock."
Someone else had been there.
Cole asked, "Did you see anyone?"
"No."
Jessica walked toward the blackened library entrance.
An investigator stopped her.
"Careful."
She stood behind the tape.
The grandfather clock had collapsed.
Burned wood covered the floor.
Jessica looked at the base.
Something metallic reflected beneath the debris.
She pointed.
"What's that?"
An investigator retrieved it with gloves.
A small gold cuff link.
Initials engraved.
C.D.
Charles Denton.
Cole looked at Jessica.
"Could be planted."
"Could be."
Rusk said from behind them, "Charles wears those every day."
Jessica remembered the board meeting.
She pictured him sitting at the head of the table.
White shirt.
Dark suit.
Hands folded.
No cuff links.
His sleeves had been buttoned.
Jessica's phone rang.
Luke.
She answered.
"Are you safe?"
"Yes."
"Fire?"
"Contained."
She walked away from the others.
"We found Charles Denton's cuff link."
Luke went silent.
"Luke?"
"I spoke to Charles Tuesday afternoon."
"About what?"
"The missing money."
Jessica stopped.
"You confronted him?"
"Not directly. I asked him to review old subsidiary accounts."
"And?"
"He told me the records had been archived."
"Did he know you suspected theft?"
"He may have."
Jessica closed her eyes.
"Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"I didn't remember until now."
The drug.
Fragmented memory.
Luke continued.
"Jessica, Charles gave me something Tuesday."
Her pulse accelerated.
"What?"
"A key."
"What kind?"
"Small brass key. Said he found it in Father's old desk."
"Where is it?"
"I put it in my wallet."
The wallet had been taken with Luke's personal effects after his supposed death.
Wendy had collected them from the hospital.
Jessica turned.
"Wendy has it."
She looked toward the mansion.
Wendy had been released after questioning because investigators did not yet have enough to charge her with Luke's poisoning.
Her location tracker showed she was at her Manhattan apartment.
Jessica whispered, "The key matters."
Luke asked, "Why?"
"Because Charles gave it to you hours before you were poisoned. Frank burned the library. Someone wanted Arthur's files."
She looked at the black metal box.
"What if the ledgers weren't the most important thing Arthur hid?"
Cole approached.
"Jessica."
"What?"
He held up a plastic evidence bag.
Inside was a fragment of burned paper recovered beneath the grandfather clock.
Only six handwritten words were readable.
The final account is not here.
Jessica stared.
Arthur had hidden something else.
May you like
Something important enough for a man to be drugged, declared dead and placed inside a coffin.
And the key to it was now in Wendy Sterling's possession.
