Chapter 4 - THE SHOT IN THE DARK
Guests screamed from the ballroom.
Elena dropped to the floor as glass exploded behind her.
Detective Mason drew his weapon.
“Everyone stay down.”
A second gunshot echoed through the west hallway.
Emergency lights flickered on.
Noah was still alive.
The first bullet had struck the wall above him.
The second had shattered the study window.
Adrian crouched beside the desk.
Victoria had disappeared.
Mason moved into the hallway.
The storage room door swung slowly on its hinges.
A shadow crossed the far end of the corridor.
Mason ordered the figure to stop.
Footsteps raced toward the service staircase.
One of the officers followed.
Elena pressed a cloth against Noah’s wound.
“Who attacked you?”
Noah struggled to focus.
“I did not see the face.”
“But you pointed at Adrian.”
“No.”
Noah swallowed painfully.
“I was pointing behind him.”
Elena looked toward the broken window.
A piece of black fabric hung from the jagged glass.
It matched the material that had been used to gag Noah.
Adrian moved closer.
“Elena, we need to get you out of here.”
She stepped away from him.
“You knew someone had been inside the vault.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You were not surprised when the envelope was missing.”
Adrian lowered his voice.
“I was worried.”
“You were terrified.”
Victoria suddenly reappeared at the other end of the hallway.
Her dress was torn near the shoulder.
She was breathing hard.
“Someone attacked me on the stairs.”
Mason returned with the officer.
They had found no one.
Elena stared at Victoria’s torn dress.
The fabric was black.
Victoria followed her gaze.
“This was not me.”
Mason placed the fabric from the window into an evidence bag.
“We will let the laboratory decide that.”
Paramedics carried Noah away.
The police searched every room, but the intruder was gone.
An officer found a service door unlocked near the greenhouse.
Mud covered the floor.
A single set of footprints led outside.
Mason ordered everyone to remain available for questioning.
As the guests left, whispers followed Elena through her own house.
By midnight, only Elena, Adrian, Victoria, and the police remained.
Mason approached Elena privately.
“We found something beneath Noah’s hand.”
He opened a small plastic bag.
Inside was a silver cuff link engraved with the letter A.
Elena had given Adrian the pair on their wedding anniversary.
She looked across the room.
One cuff link was missing from Adrian’s shirt.
Adrian noticed the evidence bag.
His face hardened.
“That proves nothing.”
Mason studied him.
“It proves you have more explaining to do.”
Victoria moved closer to Elena.
“I warned you.”
“The real thief is not the person on the television.”
Before Elena could answer, her phone vibrated.
A message had arrived from an unknown number.
It contained a photograph of the missing envelope.
May you like
Beneath it were six words.
Ask your husband what he signed.
