Chapter 2 - THE SHADOW IN THE KITCHEN
The clock on the kitchen wall ticked with a heavy, mechanical rhythm.
It was past midnight.
The guests had finally cleared out of the ballroom.
The sound of tires crunching on the gravel driveway faded into the wet night air.
Adeline sat on a low wooden stool beside the service sink.
Her forearms throbbed beneath the clean white gauze.
She unwrapped the bandage slightly to check the antiseptic dressing.
The skin was swollen, bruised in a pattern of angry purple lines.
She didn't wince.
Pain was something she had measured and filed away long ago.
The kitchen door swung open silently.
Ambrose walked in holding a small china cup of steaming black tea.
He set it down on the zinc counter without a word.
"You shouldn't be awake, Mr. Ambrose," Adeline said quietly.
"Neither should you, child," the old butler replied, his voice raspy with age.
"Master Enzo is still in his study."
Adeline's hand paused over the tea cup.
"Why?"
"Because he doesn't like loose ends," Ambrose said, leaning back against the steel counter and crossing his arms.
"Especially not in a house where every door has a lock and every lock has a key he holds."
"I didn't break that glass on purpose," Adeline murmured, her eyes fixed on the steam rising from the cup.
"I know," Ambrose said softly.
"And Camila knows it too. That glass didn't contain wine. It contained something else."
Adeline's head snapped up.
"What do you mean?"
"Miss Ashford is careful about what she drinks when her father's associates are in the room," Ambrose noted, his eyes narrowing.
"And she was even more careful about the glass she handed to Senator Vance."
Before Adeline could ask another question, a sharp knock echoed from the back service corridor.
Three raps. Pause. Two raps.
Ambrose stiffened.
"Stay here," he ordered, walking toward the heavy service door.
He unlocked the deadbolt and pulled it open just an inch.
A man in a wet dark raincoat slipped through the gap like a ghost.
He handed a thick manila envelope directly to Ambrose before disappearing back into the rain.
Ambrose closed the door, locked it, and walked slowly over to the zinc table.
He pulled out a single sheet of heavy cardstock paper.
He looked at Adeline, then down at the paper.
"It seems," Ambrose whispered, "that Master Enzo's investigation into your background started thirty minutes before the party even began."
May you like
Adeline felt the blood drain entirely from her face.
THE END OF CHAPTER 2
