Chapter 11 - The Power Cut in the East Wing.
The lights returned within thirty seconds, but thirty seconds was enough to change the house.
Daniel sent two security staff toward the east wing while Mason stayed near Avery's room.
Clara refused to leave the upstairs hall.
Patricia stood beside her, and for once neither woman argued.
Graham called Adrian repeatedly.
Every call went unanswered.
Lena remained downstairs with the trust documents and copied every file to an encrypted drive.
"Nobody touches originals," she said.
Mason agreed.
The night had already produced enough disappearing paper.
Daniel's voice came through Mason's phone.
"We found the breaker panel open."
"Anyone there?"
"No."
"Check the family office."
A minute later, Daniel called again.
"The office door is open."
Mason went downstairs with Graham.
The room smelled faintly of overheated electronics.
One desk drawer had been pulled out.
A shredder bin sat half-open beneath the counter.
Daniel held up several strips of paper.
"Someone tried to destroy these."
Lena joined them and began arranging the strips across the desk.
Most were ordinary expense reports.
One strip contained part of a Northstar logo.
Another showed a number matching Avery's trust account.
Graham looked furious.
"Adrian."
Mason shook his head.
"Maybe."
Graham turned.
"You saw the laptop record."
"I also saw enough forged signatures tonight to stop treating a device name like a confession."
Lena looked up approvingly.
Patricia entered behind them.
"Where is Adrian?"
Daniel checked the exterior cameras.
"His vehicle is still by the east service entrance."
"Then he is in the house," Graham said.
A soft voice came from the doorway.
"No, I'm not."
Everyone turned.
Adrian Vale stood in the hall with both hands visible and rain on the shoulders of his navy coat.
Daniel moved toward him.
Adrian raised a phone.
"Before anyone decides I am the villain, watch this."
Mason held out his hand.
Adrian gave him the phone.
A video filled the screen.
It showed the east wing office twenty minutes earlier.
A hooded figure entered, opened the breaker panel, and moved toward the desk.
The face was hidden.
"How did you get this?" Daniel asked.
"I installed a private camera after someone used my foundation laptop last month."
Graham stared at him.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Adrian gave his father a tired look.
"Because you respond to every problem by hiding documents in safes."
Patricia almost smiled despite herself.
Mason watched the video again.
The figure moved with familiarity.
They knew where the drawer was.
They knew the camera mounted in the hallway but not Adrian's hidden camera inside.
Clara came downstairs after Russell took a chair outside Avery's bedroom.
She looked at the screen.
"Pause there."
Mason stopped the video.
The figure's sleeve had pulled back slightly.
A narrow bracelet was visible.
Clara's eyes widened.
"I've seen that before."
Patricia looked at her.
"Where?"
Clara thought.
"In the kitchen."
Mason's mind moved through the staff.
Then Clara shook her head.
"Not on staff."
She turned toward Mason.
"Serena wears one like that."
Adrian frowned.
"Serena was with Northstar when I left them at midnight."
Mason looked at him.
"You were with Northstar too?"
Adrian sighed.
"I consult for them."
"And you forgot to mention that?"
"Everyone already thinks I work for them."
Graham shook his head.
"Consulting is not loyalty."
Adrian looked at his father.
"Finally, something we agree on."
Lena zoomed in on the bracelet.
It was silver with a distinctive rectangular clasp.
Mason remembered giving Serena a bracelet exactly like it after five years of service.
Patricia's voice became quiet.
"Then Serena lied to us on the phone."
Mason called her again.
This time she answered immediately.
"Mason?"
"Where are you?"
"Still with Northstar."
Mason looked at the paused image.
"Show me."
A silence followed.
"What?"
"Turn on video."
Serena did not.
Mason's voice hardened.
"Now."
The call ended.
Daniel checked the gate camera.
"A woman just left through the west garden on foot."
Clara looked toward the dark windows.
Mason watched the security feed.
The woman wore a hooded coat.
On her wrist, even through the grainy image, something silver flashed.
May you like
Then Daniel received another alert.
Avery's bedroom window sensor had just opened.
