CHAPTER 20 #2
“I have a physical chain that may matter. Ellis has warrants. Anika has material evidence. Marcus has a solicitor. Me turning up at Fenn Found because I want to see his face would not improve anything.”
Nina sat back.
“That was extremely mature.”
“Do not make me regret it.”
“I’m impressed.”
“That is worse.”
Leo smiled.
“If Marcus killed Sebastian, I do not need him to confess to me,” Romy said.
“You want him to,” Nina replied.
“Obviously.”
“Good.”
“But wanting an admission and needing one are different.”
Nina nodded.
The first time murder entered her professional life, Romy had behaved as though solving it required proximity. This time she had Leo beside her, a business at stake, people depending on her judgment, and evidence worth more than drama.
“I’m giving everything to Ellis.”
“You already have.”
“Then I will continue.”
The reset held.
They argued about lemon cake.
Leo believed the end piece was larger.
Nina said geometry did not apply to cake.
Romy said geometry applied everywhere.
For ten minutes, murder stopped owning the room.
Then Anika called.
“Come to the lab.”
Romy closed her eyes.
Nina said, “Go.”
“You just fed me.”
“That was the point.”
The county laboratory had arranged the burgundy felt pieces on a clean work surface under controlled light.
The original roll sat separately.
Ellis was already there.
So was a fibre analyst.
Romy stopped at the marked line on the floor.
No touching.
No need to be told.
Anika looked pleased.
“Growth.”
“Everyone has become funny.”
Anika pointed to the screens.
“We have the comparison.”
The first image showed fibre cross-sections.
Same wool type.
Same dye profile.
Same thread density.
The next showed the gold selvedge under magnification.
Same weave structure.
Same narrow two-colour binding arrangement.
The next showed widths.
The recovered obstruction piece and the main roll matched.
Romy said nothing.
Anika moved to the final screen.
Torn edges.
One from the roll.
One from the recovered grille material.
Magnified.
The irregular peaks and gaps looked almost like coastlines.
Anika overlaid the edge patterns digitally.
They aligned.
Not broadly.
Physically.
Individual pulled yarn groups corresponded.
Missing tufts on one side fitted remaining fibre clusters on the other.
The ragged boundary interlocked.
Romy felt the answer settle in her chest.
“That piece came from this roll.”
Anika nodded.
“Yes.”
No caution.
No potentially.
No class-level language.
“Yes?”
“Yes. The torn boundary physically corresponds. Combined with weave, dye, width, selvedge, and fibre characteristics, the recovered obstruction felt was torn from this roll.”
Ellis exhaled slowly.
Leo was not present.
Romy wished he were.
He deserved to hear the certainty.
“What about when?” Ellis asked.
Anika pointed to the torn fibres.
“Recent relative to the older worn edges. The exposed fibres show little handling grime. I cannot give you an hour.”
“Could it have been torn earlier in the week?”
“Possible.”
“Months ago?”
“Less consistent.”
Romy looked at the roll.
The same material Marcus carried toward the service corridor at 6:52.
A minute after the final intact-vent photograph.
Pieces from that roll were later recovered packed into the fatal airflow gap.
Physical.
Not interpretation.
“Charcoal?” Ellis asked.
Anika opened another report.
“The warming cartridges in the van contain natural beech charcoal from the specialist supplier indicated by the residue chemistry.”
“Can you say the burned charcoal came from one of these exact packets?”
“No.”
“Packets unopened.”
“Yes.”
“So there may have been another opened packet.”
“Possibly.”
“Did police find one?” Romy asked.
“Not yet,” Ellis said.
“Any loose fuel?”
“No.”
“Then the packets establish access, not direct transfer.”
“Yes.”
“And Marcus’s statement remains false because fuel was brought to Asterleigh in his van.”
“Assuming the van was there with those packets during preview.”
Ellis’s phone rang before Romy could answer.
He listened.
His expression tightened.
Then he said, “Send it.”
He ended the call.
“What?”
“Vehicle system report.”
Romy waited.
“Marcus’s van records lock and unlock events through its fleet app.”
“Of course it does.”
“Last unlock before preview: 5:37 p.m.”
“By whom?”
“Marcus’s phone credential.”
“Then?”
“Locked 5:49.”
“Next unlock?”
“7:58.”
Romy stared.
“After Sebastian was found.”
“Yes.”
“Any staff credential?”
“No.”
“Mechanical key?”
“Possible in principle, but no alarm interruption or door event logged.”
“So no one opened the van during the setup window.”
“That is what the records indicate.”
“Where was Marcus’s phone?”
“On him. Witnesses and device activity support that.”
Romy looked back at the felt.
The van remained locked under Marcus’s control.
His staff could not simply wander in and take the roll or fuel during the preview.
“But the felt was already outside the van by 6:52.”
“Yes.”
“Marcus had it.”
“Yes.”
“What about staff access earlier?”
“Possible before 5:49. We are checking.”
“Could a staff member have torn the piece before then?”
“Yes.”
“Could they have put it somewhere Marcus later carried unknowingly?”
“In theory.”
Romy heard every careful answer.
“But.”
Ellis looked at her.
“But Marcus personally carried the roll toward the service corridor after the last confirmed intact-vent image.”
There.
The chain.
Marcus knew the panel history was defective.
Sebastian threatened publication.
Fenn Found faced dangerous financial consequences.
Marcus carried the plate-warmer and the exact felt roll toward the Blue Study service corridor at 6:52.
The vent was still open at 6:51.
Sebastian expected Fenn at 6:55.
Pieces torn from that roll were used to block the vent.
Marcus had access to natural beech charcoal of the specialist type involved in his historic warming demonstrations.
He falsely told police no fuel had been brought to Asterleigh.