Chapter 8 - The Dead Man’s Cap Should Not Have Been Inside Grant’s OfficeLauren hid inside the upstairs linen closet.
It was absurd.
Thirty-one years old, hiding in the mansion where she'd grown up like a teenager caught sneaking home after curfew.
But the voices below left her no choice.
Grant Whitmore and Nolan Price entered the study.
The door closed.
Lauren slipped from the closet and moved silently toward the balcony overlooking the foyer.
She could see part of the study through an interior glass panel.
Nolan stood beside Grant's desk.
Fifty-two.
Close-cropped gray hair.
Lean.
Controlled.
He had the same expression Lauren remembered from Ethan's trial.
As though every person in the room was a problem already solved.
Grant picked up the red cap.
"Where did you get this?"
"Doesn't matter."
"It matters to me."
"It showed up this morning."
"Where?"
"Pool equipment room."
Lauren nearly gasped.
She covered her mouth.
Nolan continued.
"Someone's been inside."
Grant's face hardened.
"Ethan?"
"Possibly."
"He was in the yard."
"He didn't reach the equipment room last night."
"Then who?"
"That's what I'm trying to determine."
Grant threw the cap onto the desk.
"Destroy it."
Nolan didn't move.
"That's not wise."
"Why?"
"Because whoever placed it there wants us to destroy it."
Grant stared.
Lauren felt something colder than fear.
Her father wasn't surprised the cap existed.
He was frightened it had returned.
Nolan looked toward the door.
Lauren ducked.
When she looked again, Grant had lowered his voice.
She couldn't hear every word.
Only fragments.
"...Mason should have left it alone."
"...same mistake Caleb made."
"...sale closes next week."
"...empty the pool."
Lauren's heart pounded.
She pulled out her phone and started recording.
Nolan's next words came clearly.
"We remove the old chamber tonight."
Grant shook his head.
"Too risky."
"More risky than Cole finding it?"
"He doesn't know where the entrance is."
"He found the intake."
Grant turned sharply.
"How?"
"The powder."
Lauren leaned closer.
Nolan knew exactly what Ethan had put into the pool.
Not poison.
Tracer.
Which meant Grant's public statement had been deliberately false.
Nolan continued.
"Someone gave him the old plans."
Grant's expression changed.
Lauren instinctively stepped backward.
"He thinks it was you," Nolan said.
Her father said nothing.
Lauren's skin went cold.
Nolan added, "Was it?"
Grant's answer came instantly.
"No."
Lauren knew that tone.
Her father was telling the truth.
Nolan moved toward the window.
"Then we have another problem."
"What?"
"Someone else knows."
Lauren stopped recording.
She retreated toward her bedroom.
Her hands shook so badly she nearly dropped the phone.
Ethan had been right.
The anonymous messages weren't all from her.
Someone else was guiding him.
Someone who knew about Caleb.
Someone who knew about the fifth line.
Someone with access to the pool equipment room.
She texted Ethan.
NOLAN KNOWS THE POWDER WAS TRACER. GRANT LIED PUBLICLY. THEY'RE REMOVING THE OLD CHAMBER TONIGHT.
Ethan responded instantly.
LEAVE.
She typed:
I RECORDED THEM.
LEAVE NOW.
She almost smiled.
Still Ethan.
Still issuing orders like the world became manageable if everyone simply listened.
Then a floorboard creaked behind her.
Lauren turned.
Rex stood in the hallway.
His tail moved once.
"Hey, baby."
She crouched and touched his head.
Rex sniffed her hand.
Then looked toward the staircase.
His ears lifted.
Footsteps.
Nolan.
Lauren hurried into her bedroom.
Rex followed.
"No."
He entered anyway.
She closed the door just as Nolan reached the hallway.
His footsteps stopped outside.
A knock.
"Lauren?"
She forced her voice to remain normal.
"Yeah?"
"Your father said you were out."
"I came back."
"For what?"
She looked around.
"Laptop charger."
Silence.
Then the handle moved.
Locked.
Nolan tried again.
Lauren's breathing stopped.
"Open the door."
"I'm changing."
Another pause.
Rex growled.
Very softly.
Nolan heard it.
"Rex is in there?"
"He followed me."
"Open the door."
Lauren looked toward the balcony.
Second floor.
Too high to jump.
The bathroom connected to a guest bedroom through an old shared dressing area, but Grant had sealed that passage during renovations years ago.
Or so she thought.
She opened the bathroom door.
A narrow cabinet stood against the old connecting wall.
Lauren pulled it aside.
Behind it was a decorative panel.
Her fingers found the seam.
It moved.
The passage hadn't been sealed.
Only covered.
Nolan knocked harder.
"Lauren."
She opened the panel.
Darkness.
"Come on, Rex."
The dog followed.
Lauren closed it behind them.
Seconds later, she heard her bedroom door open.
Nolan had a master key.
She moved through the narrow passage into the guest room and slipped into the hallway through another door.
Rex stayed beside her.
Downstairs, Kane suddenly barked.
Lauren froze.
Nolan appeared at the opposite end of the hallway.
Their eyes met.
For one second, neither moved.
Then Nolan looked at Rex.
"Come here."
Rex didn't.
Nolan made a sharp hand signal.
An old command.
Ethan's command.
Rex hesitated.
Lauren saw it.
Nolan did know how to control him.
Exactly as Ethan suspected.
"Rex," Nolan said again.
The Pit Bull looked from Nolan to Lauren.
Then something extraordinary happened.
Rex stepped in front of Lauren.
Blocking Nolan's path.
Nolan's expression changed.
"Move."
Rex growled.
Lauren backed toward the staircase.
Nolan didn't follow.
Not immediately.
He simply stared at the dog.
Then at her.
"You've been talking to Ethan."
It wasn't a question.
Lauren felt her stomach drop.
"I don't know what you're talking about."
Nolan smiled faintly.
"Your father may believe you're bad at lying."
He reached into his jacket.
Lauren tensed.
But he pulled out a phone.
On the screen was a photograph.
Lauren and Ethan.
Inside the storage unit.
Taken through the vent.
Nolan had it.
"So," he said quietly, "let's stop pretending."
Rex growled louder.
Lauren's phone vibrated in her pocket.
She didn't look.
Nolan stepped closer.
"Ask Ethan something for me."
Lauren stared.
"What?"
"Ask him whether Caleb ever told him why Rex was locked up that night."
Her blood ran cold.
Nolan smiled.
"Then ask him who put him there."
Lauren whispered, "You did."
The smile disappeared.
For the first time, Nolan Price looked afraid.
May you like
And Lauren understood immediately.
She had guessed correctly.
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