Chapter 2 - The Result They Tried to Hide
Arthur reached the balcony first.
Nobody was there.
Six floors below, security lights swept across the estate grounds while men moved toward the gates.
Norah remained beside Gideon.
For the first time since she had entered the Wolf estate, she understood that its guards, cameras, armored doors, and walls were not protecting everyone inside.
They might have been trapping them with whoever wanted Gideon dead.
Elias ordered all medications suspended until each prescription could be independently verified.
Gideon listened without interrupting.
His voice remained weak.
“Mercer?”
“Security is searching,” Arthur said.
“Alive.”
Arthur understood.
“You want him brought back.”
“I want answers.”
Norah started toward the door.
“Stay.”
She stopped.
Gideon was looking at her.
“Me?”
“Yes.”
Arthur glanced between them.
Gideon closed his eyes briefly.
“Everyone who was supposed to protect me missed it.”
His gaze returned to Norah.
“You didn't.”
“I noticed breakfast.”
“You noticed what mattered.”
That distinction would follow Norah for years.
At that moment, however, she wanted only to go downstairs, finish cleaning the east hall, and pretend she had never raised the glass.
Instead, Gideon asked her a question.
“Who brings my breakfast?”
“Usually me.”
“Who prepares it?”
“Chef Lucien.”
“Who has access before you take it upstairs?”
Norah thought.
Kitchen staff.
Security.
Medical aides.
House management.
Sometimes Arthur.
Sometimes doctors.
Too many people.
“Half the estate.”
Gideon's mouth tightened.
“Then we narrow it.”
For the next forty-eight hours, the estate became a sealed investigation.
Nobody left.
The gates closed.
Arthur collected phones.
Security reviewed footage.
Elias rebuilt Gideon’s treatment plan from original pharmacy records.
Without the suspect medication and morning tonic, Gideon’s laboratory values began slowly improving.
Not dramatically.
But enough.
His heart rhythm stabilized first.
Then his confusion eased.
By the second evening, he could sit upright without assistance.
Twelve doctors had prepared the family for his death.
A maid had asked one question.
Yet Norah felt no triumph.
Because somebody had ordered that drink.
Somebody had altered the chart.
And Mercer had vanished seconds after the irregularities were discovered.
Late that night, Norah entered Gideon’s room with fresh water.
He was awake.
“No red juice?” he asked.
She almost smiled.
“Not unless you want Arthur to arrest the fruit.”
Gideon's mouth moved slightly.
It took Norah a second to realize he was smiling.
“Come here.”
She approached.
“You're afraid of me.”
Norah considered lying.
“Yes.”
“Good.”
“That isn't usually what people say.”
“People who aren't afraid make stupid decisions around dangerous men.”
“Are you dangerous?”
Gideon looked at her for a long moment.
“Yes.”
No performance.
No threat.
Just an answer.
Norah appreciated it more than she expected.
“Then why should I stay?”
“Because whoever did this thinks you're unimportant.”
His eyes hardened.
“That makes you valuable.”
The next morning Arthur discovered that twelve minutes of security footage from the kitchen had been erased.
Only twelve.
7:51 to 8:03.
The tonic had been prepared at 7:54.
Norah stared at the blank section of the timeline.
“Who can delete footage?”
Arthur didn't answer immediately.
“That system requires executive authorization.”
“Yours?”
“And Gideon’s.”
Gideon had been unconscious.
Norah looked at Arthur.
He understood the implication.
“There is another authorization key.”
“Whose?”
Arthur’s expression closed.
“One belonging to a man who died two years ago.”
That afternoon, security found Mercer’s abandoned jacket near the east wall.
No Mercer.
No medication chart.
But inside the jacket was a pharmacy receipt.
Elias examined it.
“This isn't from Mr. Wolf’s pharmacy.”
The receipt was for a small independent pharmacy thirty miles away.
Arthur sent men there.
They returned after dark with news.
Mercer had purchased nothing.
Someone else had used his name.
Norah asked the obvious question.
“Who?”
Arthur placed a printed surveillance photograph on the table.
The image was grainy.
A man in a baseball cap stood at the pharmacy counter.
His face was turned away.
But his left hand was visible.
A distinctive ring gleamed on his finger.
Gideon saw it.
All color left his face.
Norah had never seen fear in him before.
“Who is that?” she asked.
Gideon didn't answer.
Arthur did.
“That ring belonged to Gideon’s brother.”
Norah looked again.
“Belonged?”
Arthur nodded.
“Dominic Wolf died two years ago.”
At that exact moment, Gideon’s private phone rang.
Nobody moved.
The number was blocked.
Gideon answered.
A man's voice spoke only three words.
Norah watched Gideon go completely still.
Then he whispered the name of the dead man.
May you like
“Dominic?”
And someone on the other end laughed.
