Chapter 6 - THE FORTY-SEVEN MISSING MINUTES
The investigators reconstructed the evening hour by hour.
At 8:30 p.m., Leo ate dinner upstairs.
At 8:52, Eleanor entered his room.
At 9:06, his aide was told to leave the estate.
At 9:14, two security guards were reassigned from the west wing.
At 9:21, Miles Crowe used his access card near Arthur’s old study.
At 9:34, Leo was moved into the unused nursery.
At 9:41, the west corridor camera stopped recording.
At 10:28, smoke first appeared in a basement storage area.
At 10:42, the explosion occurred.
Forty-seven minutes of camera footage were missing.
Clara listened while Detective Reeves explained everything.
Richard stood near the hospital window.
“What are you saying?”
Reeves closed the folder.
“I’m saying somebody altered the security system.”
Eleanor folded her arms.
“That house has over one hundred employees.”
“Yes.”
“Then investigate them.”
“We are.”
She looked toward Clara.
Reeves noticed.
“So far, Ms. Hayes is the only person whose movements are accounted for during the entire relevant period.”
Crowe frowned.
“How?”
“Ballroom cameras.”
Clara had been supervising staff downstairs.
She had not gone near the west wing until the fire started.
Richard finally looked at his daughter.
“Why did you send Leo’s aide home?”
“She was sick.”
The aide was interviewed twenty minutes later.
She was not sick.
Eleanor had told her the evening schedule changed.
“Why did you reassign security?”
“I didn’t.”
The security supervisor produced a text message.
It came from Eleanor’s phone.
Her face tightened.
“My phone was unattended throughout dinner.”
Clara almost admired the speed of the excuses.
Then Leo woke.
Richard approached immediately.
“Leo.”
The boy looked at him.
For several seconds, neither spoke.
Richard had missed birthdays.
School conferences.
Physical therapy evaluations.
Christmas mornings.
He had sent gifts instead.
Expensive gifts.
The kind adults used when presence became inconvenient.
“Grandfather.”
Richard’s voice softened.
“I’m here.”
Leo stared at him.
“You weren’t before.”
Richard had no answer.
Detective Reeves asked if Leo felt well enough to speak.
Richard objected.
Leo did not.
“I want to.”
He described Eleanor giving him three pills.
He described Crowe removing his chair.
He described the locked room.
Then he said something Clara had not heard.
“When Aunt Eleanor closed the door, Mr. Crowe asked if she was sure.”
Everyone stopped.
“What did she say?”
Reeves asked.
Leo swallowed.
“She said, ‘By tomorrow, the trust problem will be over.’”
Richard’s face changed completely.
Clara looked at him.
“What trust?”
Richard did not answer.
But Miles Crowe did.
“Leo misunderstood.”
Richard turned on him.
“Shut up.”
It was the first time Clara had ever heard Richard Sterling raise his voice.
Then he looked at Clara.
May you like
“When Leo turns twelve, he inherits Arthur’s controlling shares.”
Leo’s twelfth birthday was seventeen days away.
