Chapter 6 - FRIDAY
Dominic canceled nothing.
That surprised everyone.
Especially Arthur.
“You are seriously planning to attend Friday’s council meeting?” Arthur asked.
Dominic sat behind his desk while Mercer adjusted the corrected brace.
“Yes.”
“You may have nerve damage.”
“I have irritation.”
“You need rest.”
“I can rest during your speeches.”
Arthur did not smile.
Mercer hid one.
Dominic watched Arthur leave.
When the office door closed, Mercer exhaled.
“You’re provoking him.”
“I’m observing him.”
“Sometimes those are the same thing.”
Dominic looked down at the brace.
“Can I walk Friday?”
“Yes.”
“Without the cane?”
Mercer hesitated.
“For appearances?”
“For me.”
“Possibly. But don’t be stupid.”
Dominic raised an eyebrow.
Mercer sighed.
“I realize that sentence has never worked on you.”
Vincent entered carrying a laptop.
“We found the brace authorization.”
Dominic motioned him forward.
The custom brace had been ordered through Mercer’s clinic two days after Dominic’s warehouse accident.
Nothing unusual there.
But a modification request had been added six hours later.
Different pressure component.
Different lower-lock configuration.
Mercer frowned.
“I didn’t authorize that.”
“It has your digital signature.”
“I still didn’t authorize it.”
Dominic studied the record.
“Who submitted the request?”
Vincent turned the screen.
“Your office.”
Dominic stared.
The request carried his internal authorization code.
Then Mercer pointed.
“Wait.”
A second security approval appeared beneath it.
Vincent read it.
His face hardened.
“That’s mine.”
Arthur was not in the room.
Dominic noticed how much easier everyone seemed to breathe without him.
“Can those codes be copied?”
Vincent nodded.
“If somebody had temporary access to our devices.”
“When?”
“Any time.”
Dominic leaned back.
He thought of dinners.
Board meetings.
Cars.
Hospitals.
Hotels.
Twenty years of people passing phones across tables and assistants handling documents.
A code was not a fingerprint.
It only felt like one.
Mercer tapped the screen.
“Whoever submitted this knew exactly which component to request.”
“Can we trace the login?”
Vincent nodded.
“Already did.”
“Where?”
Vincent looked at him.
“The request came from inside the Vale network.”
Dominic did not react.
“Which building?”
Vincent hesitated.
“This house.”
The room became quiet.
“When?”
“Two thirty-eight in the morning.”
Dominic remembered that night.
He had been heavily medicated after the warehouse accident.
Half the senior council had visited.
Arthur had stayed late.
So had Vincent.
So had Mercer.
And several employees.
“Location inside the house?”
Vincent turned the laptop.
“Council room terminal.”
Dominic stared through the glass wall toward the room where Arthur normally sat at his right hand.
Interesting.
Not proof.
But interesting.
A knock sounded.
Arthur entered.
Dominic did not hide the screen.
Arthur noticed immediately.
“What did you find?”
Dominic told him.
Arthur looked toward Vincent.
“So your credential authorized the modification.”
Vincent’s eyes hardened.
“And Dominic’s.”
Arthur shrugged.
“Neither helps us.”
Dominic watched him.
“The request came from the council room.”
Arthur’s face remained still.
“So?”
“You use that room more than anyone.”
“So do twelve council members.”
“At two thirty-eight in the morning?”
Arthur’s jaw tightened.
“You want this to be me.”
Dominic’s voice lowered.
“No.”
That was true.
He wanted it to be almost anyone else.
Arthur stepped closer.
“You think because a child saw me kneeling near your chair, I spent weeks designing some elaborate medical sabotage?”
“I think you haven’t answered why you were kneeling.”
“I told you.”
“The pen.”
“Yes.”
Dominic looked at the black fountain pen in Arthur’s pocket.
Then at Arthur.
“Show me.”
Arthur frowned.
“Show you what?”
“What happened.”
Arthur stood still.
Dominic pointed toward the chair near the window.
“Pretend I’m sitting there.”
“This is ridiculous.”
“Then it should be easy.”
Arthur stared at him for a long moment.
Then he crossed the room.
He deliberately dropped the pen.
It landed beside the chair.
Arthur crouched.
Picked it up.
Stood.
Dominic watched his hands.
Arthur never came close to where the brace would have been.
Vincent saw it too.
So did Mercer.
Arthur realized the mistake immediately.
His face changed.
Dominic’s voice became very quiet.
“If your pen landed where you say it did, Ellie would never have seen your hand near my leg.”
Arthur’s throat moved.
Nobody spoke.
Then Arthur said something unexpected.
“You’re right.”
Vincent stepped forward.
Dominic stayed still.
Arthur looked directly at him.
“I lied.”
Mercer stopped breathing for a second.
Dominic’s hand tightened around the cane.
Arthur continued.
“I did touch the brace.”
Vincent reached inside his jacket.
Dominic raised a hand.
“Why?”
Arthur’s face looked suddenly tired.
“Because the lower strap was loose.”
Dominic stared.
“I thought it had opened accidentally. I pushed it back into place.”
“Backward?”
“I didn’t know.”
Ellie’s observation returned to Dominic.
Arthur twisting the latch.
Not installing it.
Maybe simply moving it.
Maybe not.
“Why lie?”
Arthur looked at Vincent.
“Because the moment that child pointed at me, I knew exactly how this room would react.”
Dominic studied him.
Arthur lowered his voice.
“I should have told you.”
“Yes.”
“I made a mistake.”
“Maybe.”
Arthur nodded.
Then he reached inside his jacket.
Vincent’s hand moved.
Arthur slowly removed an envelope.
“I received this yesterday.”
He placed it on Dominic’s desk.
Inside was a printed email.
The sender appeared to be Dominic.
The message was short.
Effective Friday, Arthur Voss would be removed from all council authority.
Dominic read it twice.
Then looked up.
“I never wrote this.”
Arthur’s eyes were cold.
“I know that now.”
Dominic looked at the timestamp.
It had arrived three weeks earlier.
The same week his pain began.
Someone had wanted Arthur to believe Dominic planned to destroy him.
And someone had wanted Dominic to believe Arthur was trying to destroy him.
For the first time, Dominic saw the shape of something larger.
May you like
Someone was not merely attacking his body.
They were turning the people around him against one another.
