But one question remained — the question that had brought him here in the first place.
“Why were you near my basement records room?”
Chapter 5: The Envelopes in the Locker
Adeline froze. And there it was — Elias saw it instantly, with the instincts of a man who had read a thousand faces across a thousand negotiations.
Fear. Not guilt. Fear.
“I got lost.”
“Twice?”
She looked away. “No.”
“Adeline.”
A long silence. Ben sat upright, sensing the shift in the room.
“Someone asked me to go there,” she said finally.
Elias became completely still. “Who?”
“I don’t know.”
“Male or female?”
“Male.”
“What did he look like?”
“I never saw him.”
“Explain,” Elias said, and it was not a request.
Adeline closed her eyes. “Someone started leaving envelopes in my locker at work.”
Ben sat bolt upright. “What envelopes?”
“Addie?”
She sighed, and the story came out in pieces. “The first one contained five hundred dollars.”
Elias’s expression hardened. “I didn’t take it,” she said quickly. “I gave it to the house manager. I swear it.”
“I know,” Elias said. “That incident was logged. I read the report myself.”
“The second contained a note.” She looked at Ben, and Elias understood before she said it. “It mentioned your brother. They knew his hospital. His doctor. His schedule.”
Ben went pale. “What?”
Elias’s voice became colder than the rainwater dripping into the bucket. “What did they want?”
“They told me to leave a basement door unlocked.” Adeline’s hands were shaking now. “I didn’t do it. I swear I didn’t.”
“Then why did cameras catch you near the records room?”
“Because I went downstairs to photograph where the notes told me to go. I thought — I thought if I could figure out who was doing it, I could stop it myself.” Her voice cracked. “I couldn’t exactly call the police and tell them someone inside a mafia boss’s mansion was blackmailing the maid.”
Ben blinked. “Mafia boss?”