Chapter 2
The man’s name was Caleb Moss.
He installed suspended exhibits for the museum.
He was not Mafia.
That mattered.
He looked terrified by the time my guards brought him downstairs.
“I thought it was a stunt.”
I stared at him.
“What stunt?”
He pointed at Vera.
“She said Mr. Marcelli wanted a family demonstration before the unveiling.”
Vera said nothing.
Caleb continued.
“I was supposed to release the second line after the first one dropped.”
“Onto my mother.”
“No.”
His voice broke.
“It was supposed to stop.”
I looked toward Grace’s sculpture.
It had.
Then toward the wreckage around Nina’s chair.
That one had not.
Caleb saw the difference.
His face went white.
“They removed the safety.”
Harlan turned away.
Good.
“Who?”
Caleb shook his head.
“I checked both this afternoon.”
“You’re certain?”
“Yes.”
“Both had secondary catches?”
“Yes.”
I walked toward Harlan.
He looked up.
“Why did you ask why it missed?”
His eyes narrowed.
“What?”
“You grabbed my wrist, then asked why the first sculpture missed Nina.”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“It’s exactly what you said.”
Vera interrupted.
“He meant why the timing failed.”
I turned toward her.
She had defended him too quickly.
Again.
I looked back at Caleb.
“What were your instructions?”
His voice was shaking.
“Release Grace’s sculpture eight seconds after Vera pulled Nina’s.”
“Why eight?”
“I don’t know.”
I did.
Eight seconds was long enough for a father to reach one chair.
Not both.
The safety catches were supposed to create terror without impact.
At least according to Caleb.
But someone had removed Nina’s.
That meant the public “choice” had been designed by one person.
The lethal version had been altered by another.
I looked at Vera.
“Did you remove the catch?”
Her outrage looked real.
“No.”
I believed her.
That was worse.
May you like
Because now Vera had built a cruel spectacle around my daughter and mother—
and somebody inside her own plan had quietly made one side deadly.
