Chapter 3

The security footage arrived two days later, and the first thing Wren noticed was the time stamp.

11:43 PM, the night before the reception. The hall was dark, the chandelier dimmed to a low glow, the tall windows showing only the black of the grounds beyond. The padded chair by the window sat empty.

Then Dorothy entered.

She came in from the left, through the door that led to the kitchen, and she was alone. She wore a long robe, deep plum silk to match the blouse she'd wear the next day, her platinum bob loose around her shoulders. She looked neither left nor right. She walked straight to the chair, and she was carrying something in her hand.

A piece of paper. White. Folded in half.

Wren leaned closer to the laptop screen, her heart picking up. The footage was grainy, the night mode flickering, but clear enough. Dorothy reached the padded chair and stopped. She looked around the room once, then bent and placed the paper on the seat of the chair — flat, face up, centered.

Then she stood, looked at it for a long moment, and left.

The time stamp read 11:44 PM.

Wren reached for the photograph on the table. She held it up to the screen. Same chair. Same window. Same chandelier light in the background.

But in the photograph, Theo was sitting there. And in the photograph, the sign was on his chest, not on the seat.

She scrolled the footage forward. Hours passed in seconds. The dim light shifted, the sky beyond the windows began to gray, and at 6:17 AM, a figure entered the hall.

Rosalind.