CHAPTER 14 #2
Same man beside her in the drawing room.
7:03.
Nell visible behind Marcus’s courtyard speech group.
7:08.
With Denton and another woman near the garden doors.
7:14.
Dining room.
7:22.
Still with the buyer.
Her alibi covered the critical period from before Sebastian entered until long after Marcus began his sponsor remarks.
Nell could have altered the room before 6:55.
But no evidence placed her there, and the setup appeared to depend on Marcus’s plate-warmer and felt arriving near the service corridor at 6:52.
Nell was already moving toward the entrance.
Romy looked at Ellis.
“You’ve checked route time?”
“Yes.”
“Could she leave Denton after 6:55 and reach the Blue Study?”
“No evidence she did.”
“Because I didn’t,” Nell said.
“For the setup as currently reconstructed, your alibi is strong,” Ellis said.
Relief crossed her face.
Then he added, “Your concealment of the report is still a problem.”
Nell closed her eyes.
“Of course.”
Romy asked, “Why take it after Sebastian died?”
“Because I thought the police would search the office.”
“They did.”
“Yes.”
“And if they found it, the sale was over.”
“A man was dead.”
“I know.”
“You removed a report because you were afraid of a buyer.”
“I know.”
Romy heard her own anger rise.
Nell heard it too.
“I know how it sounds.”
“It sounds exactly like what happened.”
Nell’s face crumpled for one moment.
“I was scared.”
Romy thought of Pattern House’s insurer.
Frozen invoice.
Postponed clients.
Malcolm’s offer.
Fear turned moral lines negotiable faster than people liked admitting.
She did not forgive Nell.
She understood her.
Different thing.
“We need the report,” Ellis said.
“You’ll have it.”
“Today.”
“Yes.”
“And all correspondence with Denton.”
Nell nodded.
Romy stood.
Nell looked at her.
“The invoice.”
“What about it?”
“I will ask the committee to release the undisputed portion.”
“Ask?”
“I cannot promise more.”
“Then don’t.”
Nell looked hurt.
Romy did not have room to carry that too.
Daniel Reeve arrived forty minutes later.
He entered already angry.
“Nell told you.”
“Sit,” Ellis said.
Daniel sat.
Romy remained.
He looked at her.
“You too?”
“Apparently.”
Daniel laughed once.
“Wonderful.”
Ellis placed a copy of the structural engineer’s appointment record on the desk.
“You knew about the rear-wing movement.”
“Yes.”
“You helped commission the report.”
“Yes.”
“You knew Nell had not disclosed it to the buyer.”
“I knew formal disclosures had not been completed.”
Romy said, “That language is contagious.”
Daniel ignored her.
“Why wasn’t the issue noted in Show House materials?” Ellis asked.
“Because it affected a non-public rear section.”
“Still part of Asterleigh.”
“Yes.”
“Still potentially expensive.”
“Yes.”
“Still relevant to the claim that restoration was complete.”
Daniel’s irritation sharpened.
“The restoration was complete for the public rooms.”
“Not the building.”
“A building like Asterleigh is never complete.”
Romy almost agreed.
A true sentence could still be used dishonestly.
“Did ticket sales depend on the event opening as planned?” Ellis asked.
“Obviously.”
“Sponsorship?”
“Yes.”
“Would disclosure of structural movement have threatened either?”
“Possibly.”
“Would the Show House have gone ahead if the engineer recommended immediate closure?”
“No.”
“Did he?”
“No.”
Important.
Romy leaned forward.
“Was the wing unsafe?”
“No.”
“Then why hide it?”
“Because nuance does not survive headlines.”
That landed harder than Romy expected.
“If we said there was localized movement requiring future repair, the headline becomes Georgian Rectory Structurally Unsound. Sponsors panic. Visitors cancel. Nell loses the sale. The project collapses over something the engineer specifically said did not require immediate evacuation.”
Romy thought of her own headline.
Room approved by Pattern House Conservation.
He was right about nuance.
That did not make concealment right.
“You still manipulated the story.”
“Yes.”
The admission surprised her.
Daniel looked tired.
“I have spent two years keeping this event alive. Every week there was another reason someone could have pulled funding.”
“So you decided which truths were safe.”
“Yes.”
No defense now.
Romy saw the machine.
Not one villain.
Not one conspiracy.
An event built from sponsors, property debt, designers, press coverage, consultants, ticket revenue, and a pending sale.
Every person encouraged to protect the version of Asterleigh that kept money moving.
Marcus polished provenance.
Nell concealed structural movement.
Daniel protected ticket sales.
Celeste protected authorship.
Sophie protected employability.
Adrian protected himself from suspicion.
Each decision made sense from inside the person making it.
Together they produced a house full of lies.
“Where were you between six fifty and seven?” Ellis asked.
“Front hall.”
“Witnesses?”
“Yes.”
“Photographs?”
“Yes.”
“Then?”
“Courtyard.”
“You never went upstairs?”
“Not after six thirty-five.”
“Service corridor?”
“No.”
“Blue Study?”
“No.”
“Did you know Marcus was taking the plate-warmer there?”
“No.”
“Did you know Sebastian expected a meeting with Fenn at six fifty-five?”
“No.”
“Did Sebastian question you about the structural report?”
Daniel hesitated.
Romy noticed.
“Thursday.”
“What did he ask?”