CHAPTER 17 #2
Review.
Not lift.
Still.
Progress.
A named underwriter requested a call the next morning.
Leo read her face.
“Good?”
“Potentially.”
“Potentially is better than catastrophic.”
“Low standard.”
“We’ve had a difficult week.”
Nina stood.
“Then there you are.”
“Where?”
“Out.”
Romy frowned.
Nina gathered the empty plates.
“You wanted the business back.”
“Yes.”
“You are getting a route back.”
“Maybe.”
“Take it.”
“What if the case against Celeste is wrong?”
Nina stopped.
“That is a different question.”
“Not really.”
“Yes, really. You do not have to believe Celeste killed Sebastian to accept that Pattern House did not.”
Romy said nothing.
“You are allowed to save your company while police keep investigating.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Romy hated that everyone had started asking her questions she would have used on somebody else.
Nina continued.
“Accepting the truth about your work does not obligate you to stop looking at everything else.”
“That is not what the committee wants.”
“Then disappoint them later.”
Leo smiled.
“You both enjoy this too much.”
“Very much,” Nina said.
She left with the plates.
The office became quiet.
Leo returned to the media archive.
Romy opened the committee draft when it arrived.
The first paragraph expressed sorrow.
The second thanked police.
The third clarified Pattern House’s documented conservation role.
The fourth stated that post-inspection interference appeared to have altered the room.
The fifth promised full cooperation.
No accusation against Celeste.
No declaration that the murder was solved.
Romy hated less of it than expected.
She changed three phrases.
Deleted contained.
Replaced regrettable incident with fatal incident.
Added that the Blue Study had been photographed in correct conservation condition shortly before the preview.
Enough.
She could sign off on truth.
Not implication.
Romy sent the edits to Nell.
Leo looked up.
“You did it.”
“Yes.”
“How does it feel?”
“Administrative.”
“That bad?”
“Worse.”
He smiled.
Romy returned to the whiteboard.
The problem remained.
Celeste’s known visit.
6:44 in.
Approximately 6:47 out.
At 6:48 Adrian entered the service corridor.
At 6:52 Marcus brought the warmer and felt.
If Celeste prepared the vent during her known visit, the obstruction existed by 6:47.
The reflected image at 6:56 suggested the panel profile might already have changed, but Romy had refused to certify it.
The strongest definite image remained 6:31.
Too early to eliminate Celeste.
Romy opened the 6:31 photograph.
The spacer line sat exactly where it should.
Six millimetres.
She zoomed.
Unzoomed.
6:34 official image.
Too distant.
6:36 volunteer photo.
Wrong angle.
6:39 selfie.
No view.
6:42 dining-room shot.
No Blue Study.
6:44 Celeste entering.
No usable edge.
6:46 Celeste outside.
Door closed.
6:48 Adrian.
Service side.
6:52 Marcus.
Wrong corridor angle.
6:56 reflected image.
Uncertain.
Romy rubbed her eyes.
Leo said, “You are doing the same search again.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because the timing is wrong.”
“For Celeste?”
“Maybe.”
“You just said she could have changed the vent at 6:44.”
“She could.”
“So what is wrong?”
“Everything is resting on that visit.”
Leo considered.
“She had the charcoal.”
“Yes.”
“Wanted the gap closed.”
“Yes.”
“Was angry.”
“Yes.”
“Had access.”
“Yes.”
“And she could have packed the vent.”
“Yes.”
“So.”
“The plate-warmer wasn’t there.”
“She could return.”
“No evidence.”
“Could have arranged for someone else.”
“No evidence.”
“Could put charcoal in later.”
“No evidence.”
Leo leaned back.
“You’re back to Marcus.”
“No. I am back to sequence.”
He waited.
“If Celeste packed the vent at 6:44, that part of the setup is complete before Marcus arrives.”
“Yes.”
“If she did not pack it then, she needs another unseen visit.”
“Yes.”
“If the vent was still open after 6:47, her known visit stops explaining the obstruction.”
“Then someone else has to do it.”
“Or Celeste returns.”
“Still.”
“Yes.”
Romy stared at the archive list.
“What is the last definite image showing the gap open?”
“6:31.”
“Exactly.”
“That’s why the case works.”
Romy looked at him.
“That is why the case against Celeste works.”
Leo frowned.
“Same thing?”
“No.”
He understood.
“The whole case depends on treating my 6:31 photo as the final confirmed condition before Celeste enters.”
“Because if there’s a later one.”
“Then the setup window moves.”
“Past Celeste.”
“Potentially.”
Leo turned back to his screen.
The office went quiet.
Romy reopened the insurer email.
Then the committee statement.
Then the bank account.
She should stop.
That was the rational choice.
Not stop caring about the murder.
Stop acting as though Pattern House had to solve it personally.
Police had arrested someone.
Her insurer was reconsidering.
Nell was releasing money.
The committee was correcting the record.
This was the exit.
The exact exit Romy had spent days begging reality to provide.
She could take it.
Return to work.
Protect Leo’s placement.
Pay subcontractors.
Call postponed clients.
Let Ellis handle Celeste.
Let Anika handle material comparisons.
Let Vivian handle Sebastian’s research.
Let the murder belong to the people whose actual job it was.
Romy closed the evidence folder.
“There.”
Leo looked up.
“What?”
“I’m done.”
“With what?”
“This.”
“You mean tonight?”
“I mean interfering.”
Leo blinked.
“You?”
“Yes.”
“Voluntarily?”
“Do not make it dramatic.”
“I’m trying to process.”
Romy stood.
“Police have a suspect. Pattern House is being cleared. I am not entitled to keep interrogating every inconsistency because I enjoy not sleeping.”
Leo looked at the whiteboard.
“What about the 6:55 Fenn note?”
“Police know.”
“False provenance?”
“Police know.”
“Burgundy felt?”
“Police know.”
“Plate-warmer?”
“Police know.”
“Marcus?”
“Still under investigation.”
“The timing?”
Romy stopped.
“They know.”
Leo studied her.
“You don’t believe this.”
“I believe I am not the detective.”
“That is not what I meant.”
“I know.”
She began clearing cups from the desk.
Leo watched.
Romy took them to the sink.
Washed them.
Dried them.
Put them away.
A small domestic ceremony of surrender.
Not defeat.
Boundary.
She had spent days demanding that other people respect professional limits.
Perhaps it was time she respected one.
When she returned, Leo was still at the computer.
“Go home.”
He did not move.
“Leo.”
“I found something.”
Romy stopped.
“No.”
His eyebrows rose.
“No?”
“I just made a mature decision.”
“That sounds terrible.”
“Do not ruin it.”
“I’m not trying to.”
“Then close the archive.”
He looked at her.
“I think you need to see this.”
Of course.
Romy remained standing.
“What?”
Leo turned the monitor toward her.
An image filled the screen.
The Blue Study.
Not a full room photograph.
A casual event shot.
Someone had photographed a pair of sponsors standing in the upper hall with the Blue Study doorway behind them.
The door stood open.
The silk panel was visible beyond.
Romy moved closer.
“Where did that come from?”
“Show House social archive.”
“We searched that.”
“We searched the exported archive.”
“And?”
“This came from a volunteer’s late upload. It was added this afternoon.”
Romy looked at the timestamp.
6:51:27.
One minute before Marcus approached the service corridor with the plate-warmer and folded felt.
Four minutes after Celeste had been seen leaving angry.
Three minutes after Adrian’s key access.
Romy stared at the panel.
The angle was not perfect.
Better than the 6:56 reflection.
Much better.
She enlarged the image.
There.
The side edge.
A narrow dark line.
Not collapsed.
Not flush.
Present.
“Original file?”
“Yes.”
“Metadata intact?”
“Yes.”
“Any editing?”
“Standard phone processing. No manual edit recorded.”
“Can we compare scale?”
“I already started.”
Leo opened Romy’s 6:31 photograph beside it.
Different camera.
Different distance.
Different angle.
But the spacer line was visible in both.
Romy measured against the known gilt-frame width.
Adjusted perspective.
Again.
The difference fell within what she would expect from viewpoint distortion.
Not enough to certify an exact six-millimetre measurement.
Enough to say the panel still stood away from the wall.
At 6:51.
After Celeste’s known visit.
Romy sat slowly.
Leo said nothing.
Celeste entered at 6:44.
Left by approximately 6:47.
At 6:51, the ventilation gap was still open.
Which meant she had not packed the visible spacer during the visit everyone had used to anchor her opportunity.
The murder setup moved later.
6:51 to whenever the room was sealed.
Marcus entered the service corridor at 6:52 carrying the brass plate-warmer later found with fresh charcoal residue and the same type of burgundy felt later packed into the vent.
Sebastian expected Fenn at 6:55.
Entered at 6:57.
The easy room had just become difficult again.
Romy looked at Leo.
“Have you sent this to Ellis?”
“Not yet.”
“Why not?”
“I wanted you to confirm the conservation detail before I called it relevant.”
Training.
Properly applied.
Romy felt absurdly proud.
Then furious.
Then frightened.
Pattern House had just been offered its life back.
This photograph might reopen everything.
Leo enlarged the timestamp.
6:51:27.
He looked at Romy.
“I have another photograph of the Blue Study.”
He paused.
“Taken at 6:51.”