Chapter 1 - THE MAN ETHAN FOUND IN THE GARAGE
The first thing Ethan Caldwell did after leaving the kitchen was not find Ryan.
He called security.
That detail mattered later.
Because anger might have sent another man storming through the estate, throwing punches and creating a story Ryan could manipulate.
Ethan created a record instead.
At 3:17 a.m., he called Marcus Hale, the estate’s head of security.
“At 2:40 this morning, where was Ryan Mercer?”
There was a pause.
“Grounds crew access corridor, sir.”
“Was he scheduled?”
“No.”
“Preserve every camera recording between midnight and now.”
Marcus’s voice changed.
“What happened?”
“Do it first.”
Ethan walked through the service hallway toward the underground garage.
Two security officers joined him.
He found Ryan leaning against a black maintenance SUV, smoking beneath a NO SMOKING sign as though rules existed for other people.
Ryan smiled when he saw Ethan.
“Couldn’t sleep, boss?”
Ethan stopped six feet away.
“Put the cigarette out.”
Ryan obeyed slowly.
Something in Ethan’s expression apparently warned him.
“What’s wrong?”
“Where were you at two thirty?”
Ryan shrugged.
“Taking trash out.”
“You work in facilities administration.”
“So?”
“So you haven’t taken trash out since you were promoted nineteen months ago.”
Ryan’s smile weakened.
Ethan continued.
“Did you see Ivy Carter tonight?”
Silence.
There.
Not guilt yet.
Recognition.
Ryan crossed his arms.
“She complaining again?”
Ethan became perfectly still.
“Again?”
Ryan realized his mistake.
“I mean, she’s always nervous.”
“I didn’t say she complained.”
Ryan’s jaw tightened.
“Then why are you asking?”
Ethan took one step closer.
“Because she has fingerprints around her throat.”
Ryan looked toward the security officers.
Then laughed.
“She probably got into something with her boyfriend.”
“Ivy doesn’t have a boyfriend.”
“How would you know?”
Ethan ignored that.
“Did you touch her?”
“No.”
“Did you threaten her?”
“No.”
“Did you follow her behind the dumpsters?”
Ryan stopped breathing for half a second.
Enough.
Marcus emerged from the corridor holding a tablet.
“Sir.”
He handed it to Ethan.
The camera footage showed Ivy leaving the employee entrance at 2:11.
Ryan followed forty-three seconds later.
The camera overlooking the dumpsters went dark at 2:13.
It returned at 2:24.
Ryan stared at the screen.
Then his face changed.
“You can’t prove anything.”
Ethan looked up.
“I haven’t accused you of anything.”
Ryan had accused himself.
Ethan turned toward Marcus.
“Call the police.”
Ryan’s arrogance disappeared.
“Wait.”
“No.”
“Ethan, you don’t understand.”
It was the first time Ryan had ever used his first name.
Ethan turned back.
Ryan lowered his voice.
“If you bring police into this, your company has a much bigger problem than some maid getting slapped around.”
Every person in the garage went silent.
Ethan’s face became colder.
“Some maid?”
Ryan realized too late how that sounded.
He stepped forward.
One security officer immediately moved between them.
Ryan raised his hands.
“Ask your brother.”
Ethan stopped.
“My brother?”
“Ask Nathan why I still have a job.”
Nathan Caldwell.
Chief financial officer of Caldwell Global.
Ethan’s younger brother.
Ryan smiled again, but now there was fear underneath it.
“He’ll tell you why you really don’t want the police looking too closely at me.”
Then Marcus’s phone rang.
He listened.
His eyes shifted toward Ethan.
“Sir, Chicago police are already at the front gate.”
Ethan frowned.
“I didn’t call them yet.”
Marcus lowered the phone.
May you like
“They said someone reported an assault twenty minutes ago.”
And the caller had given them Ivy’s name.
