Derek turned toward Elena.
“Give me your keys.”
“What?”
“House keys.”
She removed a ring.
Derek held out his palm.
Elena dropped the keys into it.
“Phone.”
“My phone?”
“Estate phone.”
Elena reached into her purse.
Then stopped.
“I don't have it.”
Derek's expression changed.
“What do you mean?”
“I left it upstairs.”
“Where?”
“Laundry room.”
Derek stared at her.
“Wait here.”
He walked quickly toward the mansion.
Too quickly.
Jonathan noticed.
Elena noticed too.
“Why does he care about the phone?”
She looked at Jonathan.
“I don't know.”
“Is there something on it?”
“No.”
She hesitated.
Jonathan saw it.
“Elena.”
“I took a picture yesterday.”
“Of what?”
“Nothing.”
“Elena.”
She looked toward the mansion.
Then lowered her voice.
“Derek and Charles.”
Jonathan became still.
“Doing what?”
“I don't know.”
“Then why photograph them?”
“Because it looked strange.”
“How?”
Elena hesitated.
“They were behind the old carriage house after midnight.”
Jonathan knew the building.
Mostly storage.
Old furniture.
Garden equipment.
A locked records room.
“What were they doing?”
“Loading boxes.”
“Into what?”
“A van.”
“What kind of boxes?”
“Security equipment, I think.”
Jonathan's pulse quickened.
“What else?”
“One box broke.”
“And?”
Elena looked directly at him.
“Cash fell out.”
Jonathan felt the world narrow.
“How much?”
“I don't know.”
“Hundreds? Thousands?”
“I don't know.”
“Did they see you?”
“I don't think so.”
“Why take a photograph?”
“Because nobody would believe me.”
Smart.
Very smart.
“Where is the photo?”
“Estate phone.”
“In the laundry room?”
“Yes.”
The mansion door opened.
Derek came back out.
He wasn't carrying the phone.
His face was different.
“Elena.”
She stepped backward.
“What?”
“You need to come inside.”
“No.”
“Charles wants to speak to you.”
“You fired me.”
“He changed his mind.”
Jonathan watched Derek.
Every instinct he'd developed over forty years of hostile takeovers, fraud investigations and boardroom betrayals activated at once.
Derek didn't want Elena back inside because Charles had changed his mind.
He wanted her inside because of the photograph.
Jonathan stepped between them.