The missing notebook changed the investigation.
Until then, Marcus had assumed Evan Rourke was operating alone from somewhere outside the estate.
Now there was only one reasonable conclusion.
He still had help inside.
Marcus sealed the mansion before sunrise.
All thirty-seven employees were moved into separate areas.
Phones were collected.
Security badges were disabled.
No vehicles crossed the gate.
The estate's security system ran on independent backup power, but someone had intentionally shut down one interior circuit during the forty-seven-second blackout.
A circuit controlling Sadie's hallway.
Not Gabriel's.
Sadie stood in the library clutching the empty sewing box.
“My mother's notebook wouldn't help him.”
Marcus disagreed.
“It had supplier information.”
“So?”
“So he knows we traced the thread.”
Gabriel, propped against pillows now, watched silently.
Sadie shook her head.
“He already knows that.”
“What else was in the notebook?”
She tried to remember.
“Measurements. Orders. Old customer names.”
“Addresses?”
“Yes.”
“Phone numbers?”
“Some.”
Marcus leaned closer.
“Anything connected to the thread?”
Sadie closed her eyes.
Then she remembered.
“My mother wrote complaints in the margins.”
“What kind?”
“If fabric failed. If dyes bled. If thread damaged material.”
Gabriel understood first.
“She might have recorded that manufacturer.”
Sadie's stomach tightened.
“Yes.”
Marcus swore.
“Meaning Evan didn't steal a memory. He stole evidence.”
Gabriel swung his legs toward the edge of the bed.
Dr. Reed immediately objected.
“You are not getting up.”
Gabriel ignored him.
“Bring every employee file.”
Marcus hesitated.
“You need rest.”
“Bring them.”
Sadie watched the two men stare at each other.
Marcus finally nodded.
Within twenty minutes, personnel records covered the library table.
Sadie stood beside Gabriel while he reviewed photographs.
Cooks.
Housekeepers.
Drivers.
Gardeners.
Security staff.
Maintenance workers.
Private nurses.
Gabriel knew many personally.
Sadie knew more.
Invisible people saw patterns.
She pointed to a maintenance technician.
“Carl wasn't here during the blackout.”
Marcus checked.
“Correct. Basement boiler room.”
A housekeeper.
“She was with me yesterday.”
Cleared.
A driver.
“Vacation.”
Cleared.
Then Sadie's finger stopped.
A woman named Elise Grant.
Forty-two.
Assistant household manager.
Sadie's supervisor.
Marcus noticed.
“What?”
Sadie frowned.
“Nothing.”
“That's not nothing.”
“Elise had access to the maintenance cabinet.”
Marcus pulled her record.
“Five years employment. No flags.”
Sadie continued looking at the photograph.
“She also does inventory.”
“For what?”
“Cleaning supplies. Linens. Kitchen goods.”
Gabriel asked, “Medical supplies?”
“No. But after you were injured, the house started receiving extra shipments.”
Marcus's eyes narrowed.
“Who signed them in?”
Sadie swallowed.
“Elise.”
Marcus stood.
Gabriel lifted a hand.
“Wait.”
Marcus looked back.
Gabriel turned to Sadie.
“Why did you hesitate?”
Sadie thought carefully.
“Elise has been different since the shooting.”
“How?”
“She watches the medical team.”
“Everyone does.”
“No.”
Sadie shook her head.
“She watches what gets thrown away.”
Marcus went still.
Sadie remembered the first week.
Elise had reprimanded her for disposing of bloody dressings in the wrong container.
At the time, Sadie thought she was simply strict.
Then two days later, she had found Elise sorting sealed medical waste bags.
Sadie had assumed a nurse asked her to.
Maybe nobody had.
Marcus was already moving toward the door.
Gabriel said, “Bring her here.”
Ten minutes later, Elise Grant entered the library.
She was composed.
Too composed.
“Mr. Vale.”
Gabriel stared at her.
“Sit.”
She sat.
Marcus remained behind her.
Sadie stood by the bookshelf.
Elise glanced toward her.
Only once.
But Sadie saw the hatred.
Gabriel did too.
“Where were you during last night's blackout?”
“In my room.”
“Alone?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“I was sleeping.”
Gabriel nodded.
“Who signs medical deliveries?”
“Usually security.”
“Usually?”
“Sometimes me.”
“Did you receive surgical supplies after I was shot?”
Elise paused.
“I don't remember.”
Marcus set a clipboard on the table.
“Your signature.”
Elise looked down.
“Then I suppose I did.”
“From which supplier?”
“I don't know.”
Sadie watched her hands.
Perfectly still.
Too still.
Gabriel asked, “Where is Ruth Brooks's notebook?”
For the first time, Elise blinked rapidly.
“I don't know what you're talking about.”
Sadie stepped forward.
“It was taken from my room.”
Elise looked at her.
“I'm sorry.”
“You don't sound sorry.”
Marcus glanced at Sadie.
Gabriel did not stop her.
Sadie continued.
“You always said my mother must've been talented.”
“She was, apparently.”
“I never told you she kept supplier records.”
Elise's face changed.
Tiny.
Almost invisible.
But Sadie saw it.
Gabriel saw Sadie see it.
He leaned back.
“Elise.”
She turned toward him.
“Empty your pockets.”
Her composure broke.
Only slightly.
“I beg your pardon?”
“Now.”
Marcus stepped closer.
Elise slowly emptied one pocket.
Keys.
A handkerchief.
Lip balm.
Nothing else.
“The other.”
She hesitated.
Then moved suddenly.
Not toward Marcus.
Toward the medical tray.
Her hand closed around a pair of surgical scissors.
Sadie jumped back.
Marcus caught Elise's wrist before she made it two feet.
The scissors hit the floor.
Dr. Reed shouted.
Guards rushed in.
Within seconds, Elise was restrained.
Gabriel's expression never changed.
“Search her.”
A female security officer arrived.
Three minutes later, she returned holding a folded piece of paper.
Sadie recognized it immediately.
A page torn from her mother's notebook.
Marcus unfolded it.
Near the bottom was Ruth's handwriting.
Black marine braid—Harkwell Imports. Strong but chemically treated. Caused rash after handling. Never use on clothing touching skin.
Underneath, in different handwriting, was a number.
Marcus looked at Elise.
“What's this?”
Elise said nothing.
He entered the number into a secure database.
A bank account appeared.
Payments from an offshore company.
Total: $640,000.
Gabriel looked at her.
“Evan?”
Elise finally spoke.
“You were going to destroy everything.”
Gabriel's face remained cold.
“What?”
“The organization. The money. The businesses. People spent their lives building this.”
“You mean stealing.”
“You benefited too.”
“Yes.”
Gabriel's answer surprised Sadie.
Elise laughed bitterly.
“And now you suddenly discovered a conscience?”
Gabriel did not defend himself.
“I discovered an exit.”
“You would've handed everything legitimate to lawyers and dissolved the rest. Evan knew what that meant.”
“For him.”
“For all of us.”
Gabriel studied her.
“Where is he?”
Elise smiled.
“You'll never find him.”
Marcus stepped forward.
She looked at him.
“And you think you're safe, Marcus? He knows you stayed loyal.”
Gabriel said quietly, “Enough.”
Elise looked toward Sadie.
“This is because of you.”
Sadie felt fear tighten her chest.
Elise's eyes burned.
“You should've stayed invisible.”
Sadie remembered all the years her mother had worked while wealthy clients barely learned her name.
She remembered hospital administrators speaking over them.
Employers who called her “girl.”
Surgeons who told her to step back.
Then she looked Elise directly in the eye.
“No.”
Her voice didn't shake.
“That was the mistake you made.”
Elise frowned.
Sadie continued.
“You thought invisible meant stupid.”
For the first time, Gabriel smiled openly.
Elise was removed.
By evening, federal investigators were quietly contacted through one of Gabriel's attorneys.
That decision shocked Marcus.
“You sure?”
Gabriel nodded.
“If Evan planned this through our companies, I want every record opened.”
“That exposes us.”
“I know.”
Sadie looked at him.
Gabriel caught the look.
“What?”
“You're willing to lose everything?”
“No.”
He looked toward the Atlantic.
“I'm willing to lose what should've never been mine.”
That night, Sadie sat beside the library window.
Gabriel was asleep.
Marcus stood near the fireplace.
Dr. Reed reviewed laboratory results.
For the first time, the house was almost peaceful.
Then Marcus's phone rang.
He answered.
His face changed.
“Where?”
Gabriel's eyes opened.
Marcus ended the call.
“They found Rourke's car.”
“Where?”
“Port Alder marina.”
Sadie straightened.
“Was he there?”
Marcus shook his head.
“No.”
Gabriel stared at him.
“What was?”
Marcus's expression hardened.
“A ticket for tomorrow morning's ferry.”
“Destination?”
“Cape May.”
Sadie's heart skipped.
Her mother's old supplier, Halpern, had a second warehouse near Cape May.
And the original batch records proving exactly who purchased the black thread were stored there.
Evan wasn't running anymore.
He was going to destroy the last evidence.