Dominic cleared the ballroom in seven minutes.

Senators, judges, actors, and men who controlled entire unions left through separate doors under Marcus Hale's supervision. Their phones were checked for recordings. Their drivers were searched.

Nobody complained twice.

Evelyn remained beneath the wedding arch with Dominic.

White roses surrounded them. Broken crystal glittered at their feet. The officiant had abandoned his book on a chair.

“You came into my house under a false name,” Dominic said.

“A partial name.”

“You searched my dead wife's room.”

“I entered after someone else broke the seal.”

“You accused my fiancée of murder in front of two hundred witnesses.”

“Would you have preferred the poison?”

His mouth almost moved. It was not a smile.

“Where is your evidence?”

“Safe.”

“That was not an answer.”

“It is the only one you get until Daniel is protected.”

Dominic stepped closer. “Your brother is in a maximum-security prison.”

“A man reached his cell three weeks ago and left a photograph of me sleeping.”

That stopped him.

Evelyn removed a folded commissary receipt from the hem of her apron. Daniel had mailed it inside a birthday card. He had circled the prices of coffee, soap, envelopes, and aspirin.

“He never asks me for money,” she said. “He used to teach emergency codes when we were kids. Prices become dates. Product numbers become letters.”

Dominic unfolded the receipt.

“What does it say?”

“ANNA KEPT THE WEDDING SHOES.”

His eyes lifted.

“I thought he meant she kept evidence inside them. Yesterday, somebody opened Anna's dressing room before I could search properly.”

“And today you brought a poisoned spoon into my wedding.”

“I brought it to Marcus at six this morning. He was pulled away by a security emergency before I could show him.”

Marcus returned through the ballroom doors. “There was no emergency logged at six.”

Evelyn met his gaze. “Your deputy, Paul Sutter, said you ordered him to take me to the staff wing.”

Marcus touched his radio. “Find Sutter.”

A voice answered with static, then silence.

Dominic looked at Evelyn's black uniform as if seeing it for the first time. “Why wait until the ceremony?”

“I didn't know which glass was yours until Celeste switched them.”

“You saw her?”

“In the mirror behind the champagne tower. She moved the ribbon marker from the left flute to the right.”

Marcus glanced toward the mirrored wall. From the altar, the glasses would have been hidden by flowers. From the service position, the reflection was clear.

“The invisible woman had the best view,” Evelyn said.

Dominic handed the receipt back. “Daniel confessed in detail.”

“He also withdrew that confession twice,” Evelyn said. “Both withdrawals vanished from the court docket.”

Marcus looked at Dominic. “That would require access to the county clerk's system.”

“Celeste's firm represented the county during its records conversion,” Evelyn said. “I found the contract in a public archive. Three weeks after Daniel's plea, the original interview video was listed as damaged.”

Dominic's expression hardened. “You have been investigating from my laundry room.”

“From anywhere your family forgot servants could hear.”

“How many documents did you copy?”

“Enough to know that someone billed Russo Maritime for Daniel's defense while the public defender claimed he had no outside counsel.”

Marcus swore softly. “A controlled plea.”

“A purchased one,” Evelyn corrected.

“He confessed to driving Anna's car off the road. The medical report showed bruising on his right shoulder, but Daniel is left-handed. Someone else was driving when the first impact happened.”

“The report was sealed.”

“I was an Army medic. I know how to read an injury pattern. His public defender showed me one page before the plea.”

Dominic turned toward Marcus. “Get the complete medical file.”

“The district attorney will resist.”

“Then stop asking politely.”

Evelyn folded her arms. “That approach is why people lie to you.”

Marcus looked away, hiding what might have been approval.

Dominic's attention settled on her again. “And what approach do you recommend?”

“Find out who benefits before you frighten everyone into saying the same thing.”

A crash sounded from the blue salon.

Dominic moved first.

They found one guard unconscious beside the door and the tall windows open to the terrace. Celeste was gone. Her veil hung from a rosebush in the rain.

Marcus swore under his breath.

Dominic touched the guard's neck. “Alive.”

Evelyn noticed a lipstick message on the mirror.

THE MAID IS LYING.

Beneath it, Celeste had drawn a cross.

“Subtle,” Evelyn said.

Dominic studied the open window. “She had help inside the perimeter.”

“More than one person.”

“You sound certain.”

“The cellar log used your palm. The cameras failed. Sutter diverted me. Someone opened Anna's room, and someone released Celeste. One traitor cannot be in five places.”

Dominic looked toward the corridor where his family portraits watched from gilded frames.

“No,” he said. “But a family can.”

Marcus received a call and stepped aside. His expression tightened.

“Sing Sing reports a disturbance in Daniel Cross's unit.”

Evelyn's breath stopped. “Is he hurt?”

“They will not confirm his status.”

She moved toward the door.

Dominic caught her arm. “Where are you going?”

“To the prison.”

“You will not reach the gate.”

“Let go.”

“Celeste escaped less than five minutes after naming your brother. If you leave this house, you give her the second target.”

“Daniel is alone.”

“Not anymore.” Dominic turned to Marcus. “Call the superintendent. Put two of our attorneys inside that prison and a federal observer outside his cell.”

“Federal?” Marcus asked.

“Someone used my identity to access poison. I want an agency my family does not own.”

Evelyn searched his face. “You admit your family owns people?”

“I admit enough to keep your brother breathing.”

His phone rang.

The screen showed Daniel's prison identification number.

Dominic put the call on speaker.

For several seconds, they heard only rough breathing.

Then Daniel whispered, “Evie?”

She took the phone. “I'm here.”

“Don't trust the wedding file.”

“What file?”

“Anna made two copies. One tells the truth. The other gets you killed.”

A male voice ordered him to hang up.

Daniel spoke quickly. “The shoes are not at the mansion.”

The line went dead.

Evelyn pressed the phone to her forehead. Daniel had not called her Evie since the day he accepted the plea. Hearing it now broke through the discipline she had worn like armor for four years.

“He sounded afraid,” she said.

“Fear means he still expects to live,” Dominic replied.

“Is that supposed to comfort me?”

“No. It is supposed to keep you thinking.”

Marcus received a photograph from the prison attorney. Daniel's cell had been torn apart. His mattress had been cut open and the wall behind his sink marked with the same lipstick-red cross Celeste left on the mirror.

Evelyn enlarged the image.

“That mark isn't for me,” she said.

Dominic looked closer.

Four short lines intersected the cross at uneven angles. It was not a threat. It was one of the route symbols from old longshoremen's maps.

“Red Hook,” Dominic said.

“Daniel is telling us where Anna hid the second copy.”

“Or someone is telling us where to die.”

Evelyn handed him the phone. “Then we disappoint them.”

A sharp crack split the room.

The mirror behind Evelyn exploded.

Dominic drove her to the floor as a bullet crossed the place where her head had been.

The shot buried itself in Anna's portrait.

Not in Evelyn.

Directly between Anna's painted eyes.