“What kind?”
“Movement.”
“Once knocking.”
“I told Mia old house.”
“Did you report?”
“Yes.”
“To Kettering?”
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
Grace swallowed.
“That security sometimes used old service corridor.”
“Who?”
“She mentioned Mr. Pierce.”
“Anything else?”
Grace hesitated.
“Grace.”
“There is no wrong answer.”
“Two months ago I saw Mr. Mercer there.”
Adrian went completely still.
Denise frowned.
“Mercer who?”
Adrian’s eyes stayed on Grace.
“When?”
“You were in Geneva.”
He remembered.
“Time?”
“After midnight.”
“What was he doing?”
“I don’t know.”
“The bookcase was open.”
“Mr. Pierce was with him.”
“What did you see behind?”
“Gray door.”
“Mr. Pierce had hard black case.”
“Mr. Mercer had papers.”
“Did they see you?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“He told me there was wiring issue.”
“Told me leave.”
“Next morning Miss Kettering called.”
Adrian’s stomach tightened.
“What did she say?”
“That I entered restricted area.”
“Had you told her?”
“No.”
There it was.
Information moving from Pierce or Mercer to labor supervisor.
Grace continued:
“She asked whether I liked working for this household.”
Adrian understood threat.
“So you stopped reporting noises.”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
He stared.
“Do not apologize.”
“I should have told—”
“No.”
“You were threatened by people paid through systems I approved.”
“That is mine.”
Grace looked at him.
Adrian continued:
“Your responsibility was to survive.”
“Mia’s responsibility was to be six.”
He looked at sleeping child.
“We failed both of you.”
Grace cried quietly.
Adrian let her.
He did not try to fix the emotion.
At 7:45, Adrian returned to Duca Meridian headquarters.
The building had never looked less impressive.
Glass.
Steel.
Marble.
Forty floors of expensive certainty.
He walked into boardroom still wearing yesterday’s shirt.
Daniel Mercer sat to his right.
The man who had taught him to drive.
The man who had helped carry his father’s coffin.
The man Julian had named from a hospital bed.
Daniel stood.
“You look terrible.”
“So I’ve heard.”
“We need talk privately.”
“Later.”
Directors arrived.
Halcyon executives waited by video.
Adrian never turned screen on.
He opened merger binder.
“Today’s vote is postponed.”
The room erupted.
Daniel did not.
He watched.
A director demanded:
“On what grounds?”
“Material due diligence.”
“What material?”
“Pension liabilities.”
Daniel’s head moved slightly.
Adrian noticed.
Another director said:
“Pension was cleared.”
“Then clearing again should be painless.”
Daniel spoke.
“What changed since midnight?”
Adrian looked at him.
“I read footnotes.”