Chapter 3 - the photograph from eighteen months ago)
Rachel survived the first thirty minutes because one of the wedding guests was an emergency physician.
Nathan would later learn that those thirty minutes had probably saved her life.
When the ballroom doors finally opened, paramedics flooded inside.
The electronic locks had suddenly released without explanation.
Rachel was carried toward the ambulance with Marcus beside her.
Nathan tried to follow.
A detective stopped him.
"Mr. Cole."
Nathan turned.
Chicago Police Detective Laura Bennett was forty something, calm eyed and visibly unimpressed by the wealth surrounding her.
"We need everyone who witnessed the incident to remain here."
"My sister was poisoned."
"And we'll have officers at the hospital."
"My daughter saw the man."
Bennett looked toward Lily.
Nathan immediately regretted saying it so loudly.
Lily sat wrapped in a hotel blanket beside Elena.
"She is six."
"I know."
"You're not questioning her without me."
"I wasn't suggesting that."
Nathan studied the detective.
Bennett lowered her voice.
"Mr. Cole, someone tampered with the ballroom security system. At least one person inside was deliberately poisoned. Another suspected contaminated item was destroyed. A hotel employee is missing and his identity appears to be false."
Nathan stiffened.
"What do you mean false?"
"The name Owen Pike is not assigned to anyone working this event."
Nathan looked toward where Owen had disappeared.
"The inspector?"
"He wasn't an inspector."
A chill passed through him.
"Then who was he?"
"That's what we're trying to establish."
Nathan remembered Owen's certainty.
Sir, the little girl is right. This cake is poisoned.
"Maybe he knew because he was involved."
Bennett nodded.
"Possible."
"He took the capsule."
"We know."
Nathan handed her the photograph from the abandoned jacket.
Her expression changed.
"Where did you get this?"
"Service hallway."
She studied it.
"This is your home?"
"Yes."
"You said your daughter recognized the suspicious man."
"She thinks she saw him near Rachel's house."
"Anything else?"
Nathan hesitated.
The black stag.
Anna.
The card.
It sounded irrational.
But twelve hours ago he would have called a poisoned wedding cake irrational too.
"There may be something at my house."
"What?"
"A card connected to my wife's accident."
Bennett's attention sharpened.
"What kind of card?"
Nathan described it.
"You still have it?"
"I think so."
"I'd like to see it."
Nathan looked toward Lily.
"I need to get her somewhere safe."
Bennett glanced around the ballroom.
"I wouldn't recommend your house."
That sentence followed Nathan all the way to the hospital.
Rachel had been stabilized by the time he arrived.
The substance found in her champagne remained unidentified, but doctors were confident that rapid treatment had prevented permanent damage.
Marcus sat outside intensive care.
His tuxedo jacket was gone.
His white shirt was wrinkled.
For the first time Nathan had ever seen him, Marcus Vale looked like an ordinary terrified man.
Nathan sat beside him.
"She'll be okay."
Marcus stared at the floor.
"I promised your parents I'd protect her."
Nathan said nothing.
Their parents had died years earlier.
Nathan had practically raised Rachel after that.
"I should have seen something."
"So should I."
Marcus looked over.
"Do you blame me?"
Nathan considered lying.
"No."
Marcus nodded slowly.
"Good."
"That doesn't mean I trust everyone around you."
Marcus almost smiled.
"I wouldn't either."
Nathan leaned forward.
"Who benefits if Rachel dies?"
Marcus's expression hardened.
"That's a dangerous question."
"Answer it."
"My family company is restructuring ownership after our marriage."
"Meaning?"
"Rachel receives a voting position in the Vale Trust."
Nathan stared.
"She never told me."
"She didn't care about the money."
"Somebody does."
Marcus stood.
"My mother fought the marriage."
"Charlotte?"
"Publicly she supported it. Privately she offered Rachel money to leave me."
Nathan's jaw tightened.
"How much?"
"Enough that Rachel laughed."
Nathan would have laughed too if Rachel had been awake.
Marcus continued.
"My uncle Harrison also opposed it. He controls part of the trust. If Rachel and I have children, his voting percentage becomes weaker."
"Anyone else?"
"Half the executive board."
Nathan rubbed his face.
"Great."
"There is something else."
Marcus hesitated.
Nathan waited.
"Six months ago someone tried to access Rachel's medical records."
Nathan looked at him.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"We thought it was tabloid nonsense."
"Who accessed them?"
"We never found out."
Nathan stood.
"Get me the records."
"Nathan."
"Everything. Security logs. Staff names. Anyone who had access to this wedding."
Marcus looked toward the intensive care doors.
"Done."
Nathan found Lily asleep in a private waiting room with Elena sitting nearby.
"You stayed."
Elena looked up.
"She asked me to."
Nathan sat beside his daughter.
"Thank you."
Elena hesitated.
"Mr. Cole, there is something I didn't tell the police yet."
Nathan's gaze lifted.
"The man your daughter pointed to."
"What about him?"
"I saw him before today."
Nathan became very still.
"Where?"
Elena looked toward the hallway before answering.
"At another wedding."
"When?"
"About two years ago."
"Which wedding?"
She swallowed.
"Your wife's."
Nathan stared at her.
Elena corrected herself quickly.
"I mean the event where I saw your wife. She wasn't getting married."
Nathan could barely hear.
"You knew Anna?"
"No."
"Then how do you know it was her?"
"Because I saw her photograph tonight when the detective asked about your family."
Nathan stood.
"Where did you see my wife?"
Elena looked frightened now.
"At the Black Stag Hotel."
Nathan felt the room shift beneath him.
"There is no Black Stag Hotel."
"Not anymore."
Elena reached into her pocket and removed an old brass key.
A black stag had been engraved across it.
"It burned down eighteen months ago."
Nathan could not speak.
May you like
Elena looked at him.
"The same night your wife died."
