“Yes.”
“And then Adrian took the same seat?”
Daniel nodded.
“Was that automatic?”
“No.”
I looked at Adrian.
“Did Claire move you?”
“I told her to get me onto the earliest Houston flight. I didn’t choose the seat.”
“Then she put you there.”
He reached for his phone.
Daniel stopped him.
“Sir.”
“What?”
“We haven’t been able to contact Claire.”
Adrian’s expression shifted.
“Since when?”
“She didn’t show for the morning briefing.”
“Call her again.”
“We have.”
“Her apartment?”
“Building security says she left last night around ten.”
“With luggage?”
Daniel paused.
“Yes.”
A quiet pressure filled the table.
I thought about the note.
Ask Adrian who was supposed to be sitting in seat 14B.
The answer was no longer a stranger.
It was his assistant.
The woman who managed his travel.
The woman who would know his schedules.
And perhaps his family history.
“Does Claire know about Caroline?” I asked.
Adrian looked at me.
“She’s worked for me seven years.”
“So yes.”
“Yes.”
“Does she know Northbridge?”
“I don’t know.”
Daniel leaned forward.
“There’s more.”
I almost laughed.
“Of course there is.”
He glanced at Lily.
I understood.
“Sweetheart?”
She looked up.
“Yes?”
“Would you like to take your picture to the front desk and ask if they have crayons?”
She considered this.
“What colors?”
“Probably all of them.”
She immediately climbed down.
Adrian stood.
“I’ll take her.”
I looked at him.
“You don’t have to.”
“I know.”
He held out his hand to Lily.
She took one of his fingers.
I watched them cross the lobby.
An extraordinarily wealthy man with no jacket and a four-year-old carrying a drawing of him as a giant stick figure with a dog.
My throat tightened unexpectedly.
Daniel noticed.
He politely looked back at the computer.
“What else?” I asked.
“We reviewed Ms. Ellison’s company access logs.”
“You can do that legally?”
“She’s an employee using company systems.”
I nodded.
“At 11:06 last night, someone logged into her company account.”
“Where?”
“Houston.”
I glanced toward Adrian and Lily.
“Was she here?”
“We don’t know.”
“What did they access?”
“Old travel records.”
My stomach dropped.
“Whose?”
Daniel rotated the screen.
I read the names.
Adrian Prescott.
Caroline Prescott.
Samuel Baines.
And Ethan Walker.
I looked up.
“Why would Ethan have travel records in Adrian’s company?”
“That’s the problem.”
“What problem?”
