Chapter 6 - The Dead Man in the Ballroom
The statement changed the room.
Richard stared at the photograph on the screen.
Celeste looked toward the closed door, as though expecting the gray-haired man to enter.
Evelyn removed her glasses and cleaned them slowly.
Margaret kept her eyes on Julian.
“You said Gabriel left the project.”
“He did.”
“You didn’t say he died.”
“I didn’t think it was relevant.”
“A dead man appeared in the ballroom today wearing my husband’s cuff link.”
Julian’s hands tightened.
“You did not see his face clearly.”
“Sophie did.”
Everyone looked at the child.
Margaret immediately regretted allowing the conversation to turn toward her.
Sophie sat very still.
The adults in the room frightened her less than the sudden attention.
Margaret touched her shoulder.
“You don’t have to answer anything.”
Sophie looked at the photograph.
“It was him.”
Julian leaned forward.
“Children confuse people.”
Margaret’s voice cooled.
“Do not question my daughter.”
“I am questioning an identification made from across a crowded ballroom.”
“She saw him beneath a table.”
Celeste turned toward Sophie.
“What was he doing?”
“Fixing the cloth.”
“Did he speak to you?”
“No.”
“Did he give you the cuff link?”
Sophie shook her head.
“He put it there.”
Margaret looked at her.
“You saw him place it under the table?”
Sophie nodded.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“You were talking.”
The simplicity of the answer hurt.
Margaret had spent the afternoon hunting threats while Sophie watched the person behind one of them move through the room unnoticed.
Maya displayed another record.
“The official Gabriel Vale died in a boating accident five years ago. His body was never recovered.”
“Then he was declared dead, not confirmed dead,” Evelyn said.
“Yes.”
Julian pressed his fingers against his forehead.
“You are building a conspiracy around an old photograph and a frightened child.”
Maya turned to him.
“The date embedded in this image is three days before Daniel Ellison’s death. You said Gabriel had already died.”
“Digital dates can be altered.”
“The restaurant’s archived security records confirm the meeting.”
Julian’s face hardened.
“What do you want from me?”
“The truth,” Margaret said.
“You’ve already decided what that is.”
“No. I have decided you are lying.”
Sophie tugged Margaret’s sleeve.
“Can we have cake now?”
The room went quiet again.
Margaret glanced at the clock.
Three fifteen.
She had promised.
“Yes.”
Celeste stared at her.
“You’re stopping this meeting for cake?”
“I’m keeping a promise to my daughter.”
“That is not a priority.”
Margaret stood.
“It is the only priority in this room no one has corrupted.”
She took Sophie’s hand and led her into a smaller lounge beside the conference room.
Evelyn followed.
A staff member brought two slices of chocolate cake from the gala kitchen. Sophie examined hers with serious attention, making sure the icing was evenly distributed.
Margaret sat beside her.
“Are you scared?” she asked.
“A little.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Did the gold lady know Daddy?”
“Maybe.”
“Did the flower man know him?”
“Yes.”
“Is he a bad man?”
“I don’t know.”
Sophie ate one bite.
“Bad people don’t always look bad.”
Margaret stared at her.
“Who told you that?”
“Daddy.”
The spoon paused halfway to Sophie’s mouth.
“When?”
“In the video.”
“What video?”
“The one on his old phone.”
Margaret’s heartbeat changed.
“What old phone?”
“The black one in your desk.”
Margaret kept Daniel’s last phone in a locked drawer in her home office. The device had been damaged in the crash. Investigators recovered photographs and call records but said the internal storage containing videos was corrupted.
“How did you open the drawer?”
“I didn’t. It was open.”
“When?”
“Yesterday.”
Margaret had not opened it in months.
“What video did you see?”
“Daddy was sitting in the car. He said if someone found the video, they should look where the lions face the window.”
The lion.
Daniel’s cuff link.
Margaret crouched beside Sophie.
“Did he say anything else?”
“He said not to trust the person who cried first.”
Margaret looked through the glass wall toward the conference room.
Celeste was crying.
Julian sat beside her, speaking quietly.
“What happened to the phone?” Margaret asked.
“It turned black.”
“Did you leave it on the desk?”
Sophie shook her head.
“I put it in my backpack.”
“Is your backpack here?”
“In the coat room.”
Margaret stood immediately.
Evelyn followed her into the hallway.
“What is it?”
“Daniel recorded a video before his death.”
“Where?”
“Sophie found it on his damaged phone.”
They reached the coat room.
Rows of jackets, handbags, and gift packages lined the shelves.
Sophie’s small lavender backpack should have been on the lowest rack.
It was gone.
The attendant checked the claim ticket.
“I’m sorry. A gentleman collected it ten minutes ago.”
“What gentleman?”
“Gray hair. Dark suit.”
“Was he wearing a flower?”
The attendant nodded.
“A red carnation.”
Margaret’s security coordinator entered through the opposite door.
“We checked every exit,” he said. “No one matching the description has left the building.”
“Lock the exterior doors.”
Julian appeared behind them.
“You cannot imprison hundreds of guests.”
Margaret faced him.
“Someone took my daughter’s backpack.”
His expression shifted.
“Why would anyone want a child’s backpack?”
“Because Daniel’s phone was inside.”
Julian stopped breathing for one visible second.
Celeste emerged from the conference room.
“What phone?”
Margaret looked from one to the other.
Julian recovered first.
“This is becoming dangerous. Take Sophie home.”
“You would like that.”
“For once in your life, stop assuming every warning is an attack.”
“You forged my husband’s signature.”
“You cannot prove I did.”
“Not yet.”
A chime sounded through the building.
The conservatory’s automated fire doors began closing between the main corridors.
Margaret’s security coordinator checked his radio.
“We didn’t trigger that.”
The lights flickered.
Guests shouted in the ballroom.
Then every presentation screen in the building changed.
The foundation logo disappeared.
A grainy video appeared.
Daniel Ellison sat inside a parked car at night.
His face was exhausted.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Margaret,” he said, “if you are seeing this, then Julian knows I found the second account.”
May you like
The video froze.
The screens went black.
