Chapter 3 - The Guest Who Wasn’t Invited
Dominic did not run.
That would have been easier.
He went home, retained counsel, and voluntarily returned for an interview the following afternoon.
His explanation was simple.
Yes, he had handed Gavin something.
No, it was not dangerous.
A pastry assistant had given Dominic a small silver container of edible decorative powder after someone asked him to carry it into the ballroom.
Dominic saw Gavin wearing a Bellamy Family Office badge and assumed he belonged with event staff.
He handed it over.
That was all.
“Which pastry assistant?” Detective Ellison asked.
“I don’t know.”
“Male? Female?”
“Female.”
“Age?”
“Twenties.”
“Hair?”
“Dark.”
There were nine women under thirty on the pastry and catering staff.
None remembered handing Dominic anything.
The silver container recovered from the trash did not match equipment listed by the pastry company.
Dominic’s story had a hole.
It was not yet proof.
Dr. Harris sent samples to a laboratory.
The result confirmed intentional contamination with a concentrated allergenic material capable of causing a severe reaction in Ethan.
He refused to discuss exact amounts with me.
Good.
I did not need a recipe for my son’s death.
I needed a name.
Gavin Price was not Gavin Price.
Fingerprints identified him as Gavin Mercer, forty three, former event logistics contractor with convictions for fraud and identity misuse.
No violent record.
Large gambling debts.
That explained money motive.
Not who paid.
His fake badge had been generated from a legitimate event access credential assigned to a donor who canceled that afternoon.
Somebody with system access duplicated it.
Nathan Cole promised to find out who.
I watched him work.
He had been our security chief for nine years.
Former state police.
Elena trusted him.
I trusted him.
That word felt dangerous now.
Trust.
Sophia and Lily moved temporarily into a furnished guest cottage away from the main house.
Not because I wanted them close.
Because someone who attempted to kill Ethan knew Lily had seen him.
Sophia resisted.
“I can stay with my sister.”
“She lives thirty minutes away.”
“Yes.”
“Too exposed.”
Her face tightened.
“I don’t want charity.”
“This is security.”
“My daughter saved Ethan. I understand. That doesn’t make us your property.”
The sentence stopped me.
“You’re right.”
She had spent years working in a house where people obeyed when I spoke.
I had nearly done the same thing for different reasons.
“What do you want?”
“A secure place where I control the door.”
“Done.”
I rented an apartment through counsel under a corporate security program, with Sophia holding the lease and keys.
She accepted that.
Good.
Lily asked one question before leaving.
“Can Ethan come?”
“When police say it’s safe.”
She looked disappointed.
Ethan was worse.
“She saved me.”
“Yes.”
“Then why does she have to leave?”
“Because the person who did this may know she saw him.”
He stared.
“Uncle Dominic?”
I had not told him.
Children hear everything.
“Police are investigating.”
“Did he do it?”
“I don’t know.”
“Do you think he did?”
That was harder.
“I think he lied about something.”
Ethan looked down.
“Mom liked him.”
Elena had loved Dominic.
They fought constantly and adored each other.
“He loved Mom too.”
“Then he wouldn’t hurt me.”
I wanted to tell him yes.
Family love protects.
I could no longer say that automatically.
“I don’t know.”
That evening, Moretti Holdings general counsel called.
“Alessandro, police served preservation requests.”
“Give them everything lawfully required.”
“There’s a complication.”
“What?”
“Dominic accessed Ethan’s allergy information.”
I stopped.
“Where?”
“Family medical contingency file.”
We maintained emergency records for family travel.
Restricted.
Dominic had legitimate access as COO only when coordinating travel security.
“When?”
“Two days before the party.”
“Reason?”
“He entered ‘birthday event emergency readiness.’”
My chest tightened.
Had he always reviewed?
“No.”
“How often?”
“First time in eighteen months.”
There.
Not proof.
A pattern.
Then general counsel said:
“One more thing.”
“What?”
“The board audit you authorized last month flagged transactions under Dominic’s division.”
I closed my eyes.
“Do police know?”
“Not yet. Counsel is preparing disclosure.”
“How much?”
“Preliminary eight point four million dollars.”
That number had nothing to do with Ethan’s cake yet.
May you like
But Dominic had motive to fear investigation.
And ten days after Ethan’s birthday, I had been scheduled to confront him with the audit.
