Chapter 4 - The Missing Minute.
Gabe had spent most of his adult life learning that people lied best when they mixed truth into the story.
Cole and his friends had probably found Emily in the garage.
They had probably called an ambulance.
They had probably even been frightened by what they saw.
The question was what happened before that fear appeared.
Lena sent Gabe a secure copy of Emily's folder.
The documents showed payments from Calder Foundation accounts to consulting companies that barely existed.
Several of those companies had received money days before Maddox Development purchased nearby properties at unusually low prices.
Emily had marked twelve transactions in red.
Beside each one, she had typed the same question.
WHO APPROVED THIS?
One name appeared repeatedly.
Arthur Bell.
Arthur was Calder's chief financial officer and Emily's direct supervisor.
Gabe knew him only from a holiday dinner two years earlier, where Arthur had praised Emily as "too honest for modern accounting."
At the time, everyone had laughed.
Now the sentence felt different.
Gabe called him at 4:18 in the morning.
Arthur answered immediately.
"Gabriel?"
"Why are you awake?"
Silence.
"I heard about Emily."
"From who?"
Another silence.
"The office."
"At four in the morning?"
Arthur exhaled.
"What do you want?"
"I want to know why my sister was investigating payments you approved."
The line went dead.
Gabe stared at his phone.
Ten seconds later, Lena messaged him.
ARTHUR BELL JUST TURNED OFF HIS PHONE.
Gabe returned to Emily's room.
She looked unchanged.
That frightened him more than any bad news could have.
Dana entered quietly and adjusted the IV line.
"Her pressure is improving."
"Is that good?"
"It's something."
Gabe nodded.
Dana hesitated before leaving.
"There was another visitor Friday night."
"Who?"
"A man I didn't recognize."
"Can you describe him?"
"Mid-fifties, gray coat, dark hat, walked with a cane."
"When?"
"Around two."
Gabe showed her a photo of Richard Maddox.
Dana shook her head.
Then he showed Arthur Bell.
Her expression froze.
"That's him."
Gabe felt the pieces shift again.
Arthur had been at the hospital before Emily's family had even arrived.
He had lied about when he learned of the incident.
And he had disappeared from the call the moment Gabe mentioned the transfers.
Lena called with another discovery.
"I accessed public maintenance logs for the Calder garage."
"And?"
"Cameras on Levels Three through Five were reported offline from 10:30 to 11:30 Friday night."
Gabe almost laughed at the convenience.
"All of them?"
"All except the elevator camera."
"You have it?"
"No."
"Why not?"
"Because someone requested the file be removed from the building server at 11:41."
"Who?"
"Arthur Bell."
Gabe looked at the clock.
"Can it be recovered?"
"Maybe."
"Maybe isn't enough."
"Then give me an hour."
Gabe sat beside Emily again.
He remembered the bell in her voicemail.
Level four.
If the elevator camera survived anywhere, it had seen her moments before everything changed.
At 5:03 a.m., Lena sent a single image.
It was a recovered thumbnail from the deleted elevator file.
Emily stood inside the elevator at 10:41 p.m., clutching a brown envelope to her chest.
Beside her stood Cole Maddox.
Behind Cole stood Mason Reed and Tyler Voss.
And in the back corner, partially hidden by the door frame, was a fourth figure.
May you like
The face was blurred.
But the silver-tipped cane was perfectly clear.
