Chapter 2 - The Price of Being Seen
Casper ordered the guests questioned before they were allowed to leave.
Marin was taken to a private sitting room, where Hollis, the mansion’s head housekeeper, cleaned the cut on her forehead.
“You should have kept quiet,” Hollis said.
“He would be dead.”
“And now someone may come after you.”
Marin winced as antiseptic touched the wound.
“I couldn’t watch him drink it.”
Hollis studied her.
“Because he’s your employer?”
“Because he’s a human being.”
The door opened.
Casper entered with Roman.
Hollis immediately stepped back.
Casper placed a small medicine vial on the table.
“Have you seen this before?”
Marin leaned closer without touching it.
“No.”
“The label has been removed,” Roman said. “There are no usable fingerprints except Delphine’s.”
Casper watched Marin’s face.
“Do you believe she acted alone?”
“No.”
Roman raised an eyebrow.
“You sound certain.”
“Miss Voss was afraid before Dr. Bell announced the result. But she didn’t look surprised.”
Casper leaned against the desk.
“Explain the difference.”
“Surprise happens before fear. Her fear came first because she already knew what was in the glass. But after the doctor spoke, she looked toward the western balcony.”
Roman glanced at Casper.
“Who was standing there?”
“Councilman Soren Vale,” Marin answered. “And your uncle, Gideon Hail.”
The room became silent.
Casper’s jaw tightened.
Gideon was his late father’s younger brother and a senior figure in the organization.
Roman asked, “Why didn’t you mention this downstairs?”
“Because I wasn’t sure whether either of them was involved.”
Casper stepped closer.
“You notice a great deal for someone employed to polish silver.”
“I notice what keeps me alive.”
His eyes remained on hers.
“Who taught you that?”
“Being poor.”
Before Casper could ask more, Marin’s phone rang inside her pocket.
She glanced at the screen.
It was Posie.
“I need to answer.”
Casper nodded.
Marin moved toward the corner.
“Posie?”
“Where are you?” her sister asked. “You’re usually home by now.”
“I’m still at work.”
Posie coughed softly.
Marin’s hand tightened around the phone.
“Are you having trouble breathing?”
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t sound fine.”
“It was just the stairs.”
“Use the inhaler and sit near the window. I’ll come home as soon as I can.”
Casper listened from across the room.
Posie lowered her voice.
“Did something happen?”
“No.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’ll explain later.”
After the call ended, Casper asked, “Your sister is ill?”
“That is not your concern.”
“You said she was waiting for you.”
“She has a heart condition.”
“How old?”
“Sixteen.”
“And she’s alone?”
Marin said nothing.
Casper looked at Roman.
“Send a car.”
“No,” Marin said quickly.
Casper turned back to her.
“Bring her here.”
“My sister is not entering this house.”
“She may already be in danger because of what you saw.”
“No one knows who she is.”
“You filled out employment paperwork. Your address is on file.”
Marin’s face drained of color.
Casper softened his voice slightly.
“I’m not threatening you.”
“I know what men like you do when they want cooperation.”
Roman shifted uncomfortably.
Casper’s expression hardened.
“Men like me?”
“Powerful men. You turn help into debt.”
“I don’t need to use your sister to make you cooperate.”
“Then let me leave.”
“That would put both of you at risk.”
Marin stared at him.
“Give me one reason to trust you.”
“You warned me when nearly everyone else in that ballroom preferred to watch.”
“That says something about me, not you.”
For a moment, Roman looked as though he might smile.
Casper did not.
He removed his phone and called someone.
“This is Hail. Send a medical transport team to the address Roman gives you. A sixteen-year-old girl named Posie Whitlock is to be brought here safely. Tell her Marin requested it.”
“I did not request it,” Marin said.
Casper covered the phone.
“Would you rather she remain alone at an address our enemies can find?”
Marin hated that he was right.
“Do not frighten her.”
“I won’t.”
“And no armed men inside the apartment.”
“Agreed.”
He completed the call.
Thirty minutes later, Posie arrived with a nurse.
She was small for sixteen, pale, with Marin’s dark eyes and a smile that appeared even when she was exhausted.
“Okay,” Posie said as Marin hugged her. “You definitely owe me an explanation.”
Marin checked her breathing.
“Did you use the inhaler?”
“Yes, Mom.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Posie looked over Marin’s shoulder and saw Casper.
Her eyes widened.
“You work for Casper Hail?”
Marin closed her eyes.
“Please don’t say his full name like he’s a movie star.”
Casper stood near the doorway.
“Your sister saved my life tonight.”
Posie looked at the blood on Marin’s uniform.
“What happened?”
“Nothing you need to worry about,” Marin said.
“She says that when everything is terrible,” Posie told Casper.
“I’m beginning to notice.”
Marin shot him a warning look.
Before Posie could ask another question, Roman entered.
“Boss, we have a problem.”
Casper stepped into the hallway with him, but Marin followed.
Roman spoke quietly.
“Delphine is gone.”
Casper’s eyes darkened.
“How?”
“One of the guards assigned to her room was found unconscious. The security cameras on the north side were disabled.”
Marin looked toward the staircase.
“Someone inside the mansion helped her.”
Roman nodded.
“And there’s more. We searched her bedroom. Her jewelry and passport are still there, but we found photographs of Marin and Posie.”
Marin went cold.
“What kind of photographs?”
Roman handed her an envelope.
Inside were pictures of Marin leaving the mansion, shopping for groceries and walking beside Posie outside their apartment.
Some had been taken months earlier.
Delphine had been watching them long before the banquet.
Casper studied Marin.
“You weren’t targeted because you saw the vial tonight.”
Marin stared at the photographs.
May you like
“Then why?”
“That,” Casper said, “is what we need to discover before Delphine finds you again.”
