Chapter 8
Elias Marlowe came to Alexander.
He entered the Vaughn estate at 2:17 in the morning through a servants’ passage no current guard knew existed.
Alexander woke to a man sitting in the chair across from his bed.
His weapon was in Alexander’s hand before he was fully upright.
The stranger did not move.
Late forties.
Scar across one eyebrow.
Dark coat.
A black coin resting between his fingers.
“Shoot if that makes you feel more like Victor.”
Alexander stared.
“Elias.”
The man smiled faintly.
“Isabella said you were quicker.”
Alexander lowered the weapon slightly.
“You entered my daughter’s house.”
“Your house.”
“My daughter sleeps here.”
Elias’s smile disappeared.
“Then perhaps now you understand why servants’ doors matter.”
Alexander got dressed.
They moved to the private study.
No guards.
Elias refused a drink.
Alexander looked at the black coin.
“Seal.”
“Yes.”
“Why send one to Charles?”
“To scare him.”
“Worked.”
“Good.”
“You met Isabella.”
Elias looked away.
“Yes.”
“How long?”
“Eight months before she died.”
“Why didn’t she tell me?”
“She wanted to.”
“That sentence is becoming exhausting.”
Elias almost smiled.
“She was afraid you would do exactly what you did after she died.”
“Revenge.”
“Blind revenge.”
Alexander accepted it.
“Did you want Sofia?”
Elias’s expression hardened.
“No.”
“Raymond said you did.”
“Raymond spent forty years turning our blood into a threat.”
“Would old Marlowe men follow Sofia?”
“Some.”
“She’s three.”
“They wouldn’t care.”
Alexander looked at him.
“Would you?”
“No.”
Immediate.
“Sofia is my niece.”
Alexander stared.
The word made something unexpected move inside him.
Family.
Not Vaughn.
Not Hayes.
Marlowe.
Sofia had an uncle she had never met.
“What did Isabella want?”
“To tell Sofia the truth when she was old enough.”
“Nothing else?”
“To make sure the people who killed our family could not use her.”
“Raymond.”
“Yes.”
“Charles.”
“Yes.”
“Someone else.”
Elias stared.
“You found Victor’s room.”
“Yes.”
“Then you heard Isabella.”
“Yes.”
“She was right.”
“Who?”
Elias looked toward the dark windows.
“I don’t know the name.”
Alexander almost laughed.
“I crossed a city at two in the morning for that?”
“I know the role.”
“What role?”
“Steward.”
Alexander frowned.
“Household?”
“Originally.”
Elias continued.
“Before Ashcroft, every major family had someone who controlled the invisible parts of a house.”
Servant entrances.
Schedules.
Food.
Guest rooms.
Which doors were left open.
Who overheard what.
“The Marlowes called him Steward.”
“Who was Vaughn Steward?”
“Someone around Victor.”
“Raymond?”
“No.”
“Charles?”
“No.”
“Then?”
Elias shook his head.
“The Steward opened Ashcroft from inside.”
Alexander’s face hardened.
“Meaning.”
“Raymond’s men did not break every door.”
“They were let in.”
“Yes.”
“By someone Marlowes trusted.”
“Yes.”
“Who?”
“Isabella thought the same person later helped arrange her death.”
Alexander leaned forward.
“Why?”
“Pattern.”
“What pattern?”
“Service routes.”
Elias looked toward the corridor.
“Her car route changed because someone inside the estate told her a bridge was closed.”
Alexander remembered.
The night Isabella died, she changed plans after receiving a message from household staff.
He had never questioned it.
“Who told her?”
“I don’t know.”
“Who was working?”
“Ask your staff.”
“Fifteen months.”
“Then ask who left afterward.”
Alexander thought.
Three longtime employees retired in the months after Isabella.
One died.
One moved.
One remained.
Margaret Shaw.
Head of household.
Seventy-two.
She had served Victor.
Then Alexander.
She had dressed Alexander’s wounds as a boy.
Organized Isabella’s wedding.
Held Sofia hours after birth.
Alexander felt cold.
“You think Margaret.”
Elias shook his head.
“I think she knows.”
Different.
“Where is she?”
“Still here?”
“Yes.”
Elias almost laughed.
“Then your family never learned anything.”
Alexander ignored the insult.
“What happened at Saint Jude’s?”
Elias’s face hardened.
“Raymond offered me money to disappear.”
“You refused.”
“Yes.”
“Charles threatened Sofia.”
“Yes.”
“What did Isabella do?”
“She told them she had already hidden the Seal.”
Alexander looked at the black coin.
“You have it.”
“A copy.”
“Where’s original?”
Elias smiled faintly.
“Sofia.”
Alexander went still.
“What?”
“Isabella hid it somewhere only her daughter could reach later.”
“Where?”
“She never told me.”
“Does it matter?”
“Only symbolically.”
“Then why does Raymond care?”
“Because old men worship symbols.”
Alexander almost smiled.
Fair.
“What happened after the meeting?”
“Isabella drove me to a safe house.”
“Then?”
“She went home.”
“Two days later.”
“Dead.”
Elias’s jaw tightened.
“Raymond sent Thomas Reed.”
“Yes.”
“But Thomas wasn’t the first car.”
Alexander stared.
“How do you know?”
“I followed.”
“You were there.”
“Behind.”
“Who reached Isabella first?”
Elias’s face became dark.
“A black Vaughn sedan.”
“Driver?”
“I couldn’t see.”
“Passenger?”
“One.”
“Who?”
“I only saw the silhouette.”
“Man?”
“Yes.”
“Age?”
“Older.”
“Anything else?”
Elias stared.
“He wore Victor’s ring.”
Alexander stopped breathing.
Victor Vaughn had been dead twelve years when Isabella died.
His signet ring had disappeared after the funeral.
Alexander had assumed Margaret placed it in the crypt.
Someone else had it.
Someone inside the family old enough to inherit Victor’s symbols.
Elias continued:
“Isabella stopped willingly.”
She trusted the car.
Trusted the ring.
Trusted the man.
Alexander whispered:
“Steward.”
“Maybe.”
“What happened?”
“They spoke beside the road.”
“Then?”
“Isabella got back into her car.”
“Alive.”
“Yes.”
“The Vaughn sedan left.”
“Yes.”
“Thomas arrived later.”
“Yes.”
“Then crash.”
“Minutes after.”
Alexander felt the mystery change.
The Steward may not have physically killed Isabella.
But he had been the last trusted person to speak with her.
“Why come now?”
Elias looked toward the ceiling.
“Because Sofia was dressed as a servant.”
Alexander stared.
“How did you know?”
“I have eyes in old places.”
“Inside my estate.”
“Yes.”
Alexander almost reached for his weapon again.
Elias remained calm.
“If I wanted your daughter, you would not have met me first.”
Alexander believed him.
Not trusted.
Believed.
Elias placed the black coin on the desk.
“Raymond made the same mistake twice.”
“What?”
“He thought dressing Marlowe blood as servants made us powerless.”
May you like
Elias stood.
“It only taught us which doors powerful men never watch.”
