Chapter 5
I remembered those calls perfectly now.
Three.
9:14.
9:17.
9:22.
I had been sitting beside Ismeralda.
Not engaged yet.
Just seeing each other quietly.
Roland rarely called repeatedly unless something mattered.
I told myself I would return it after dessert.
Then Ismeralda suggested we leave early for drinks elsewhere.
I forgot.
A stupid ordinary failure.
The kind that becomes unbearable only later.
I looked at her across the study.
“Did you know Roland called me that night?”
Her eyes changed.
“No.”
I believed the first word.
Then she added:
“Why would I?”
Too much.
I asked Rafe to pull the old household call logs.
Not the phone itself.
Estate records.
There it was.
At 9:25 that night, Roland called the house line too.
Who answered?
A guest services assistant.
The note beside it read:
MR. FERNWICK — URGENT SECURITY MATTER — PASSED TO MISS ISMERALDA.
I felt something inside me go cold.
I turned the page toward her.
She stared.
Adelise stared too.
“Passed to you.”
Ismeralda whispered:
“I don’t remember.”
Eighteen months.
Possible.
Then the old assistant, now working elsewhere, joined by video.
She remembered.
Because Roland sounded frightened.
Not panicked.
Roland never panicked.
He said:
“Tell Dashiell the west staircase is staged. Corwin knows I saw.”
The assistant tried reaching me.
Ismeralda intercepted.
Told her she would handle it because she was with me.
Then?
The message never reached me.
I looked at my fiancée.
“Why?”
She finally sat.
“He was overreacting.”
No.
“You knew what he meant.”
Silence.
There.
Adelise stood.
“You knew my father was in danger.”
Ismeralda snapped:
“I knew he was making accusations.”
“Against your cousin.”
“Yes.”
Too honest.
Good.
Then I asked:
“What did you do with the message?”
She looked at Corwin.
First time since dawn.
He closed his eyes.
There.
“I called Corwin.”
Adelise made a small sound.
Not crying.
Worse.
Ismeralda whispered:
“I told him Roland knew.”
That was the moment.
Not the disappearance.
May you like
The door opening before it.
My fiancée had warned the man Roland was trying to expose.
