Victor closed his hand around the vial.

“What does Leon know?”

Clara stared at the silver cap.

“Victor, not here.”

“Especially here.”

Leon stepped between them.

“She’s frightened.

Don’t turn that into guilt.”

Lena pulled free of Dmitri’s loosened grip.

“You don’t get to defend her after planting that on me.”

Leon’s smile hardened.

“A maid accusing guests will not make her innocent.”

“I saw your hand on the bottle.”

“And three hundred people saw your fist on Victor.”

Victor raised one finger.

The ballroom doors closed, and the locks clicked beneath Dmitri’s hand.

“No one leaves,” Victor said.

“Not Leon.

Not Clara.

Not Lena.”

Clara grabbed Victor’s sleeve.

“My brother is alive.”

Leon’s jaw tightened.

Victor looked down at her hand.

“You told me Owen d!ed two years ago.”

“I was told he did.” Clara’s voice cracked.

“Last week Leon sent me a photograph.

Owen was holding that morning’s newspaper.”

“Where is he?”

“I don’t know.”

Leon spread his hands.

“This is grief speaking.

Clara never accepted what happened.”

“Then how did you know what she meant?” Lena asked.

Leon turned toward her.

“Be careful.”

“Is that advice or a threat?”

Dmitri moved beside Lena.

“Answer her.”

Leon straightened his cuffs.

“Clara came to me because she doubted Victor.

I tried to protect both of them.”

Clara’s hand came up, but she stopped before touching him.

“You said Owen would disappear forever unless I wore the blue dress and stayed at table one.”

Victor glanced at the gown.

“Why did the dress matter?”

“I don’t know.”

Lena looked toward the service corridor.

A strip of blue fabric showed beneath an abandoned linen cart.

“That server,” she whispered.

“She wore blue beneath her uniform.”

Dmitri crossed the room and pulled the cart aside.

A hotel jacket, a dark wig, and an empty catering badge lay underneath.

Leon gave a short laugh.

“A costume proves nothing.”

Lena lifted the badge by its edge.

“It has a name.”

The printed card read NADIA PRICE.

The hotel manager hurried forward.

“Nadia doesn’t work here.”

“Check your temporary staff,” Victor said.

The manager tapped his tablet, then stopped.

“She was added this afternoon.

Approved by executive authorization.”

“Whose authorization?” Clara asked.

The manager turned the screen around.

Victor Romano’s name appeared at the bottom.

Victor’s face did not move.

“I approved no one.”

Leon leaned closer.

“Then someone has access to your credentials.

Perhaps the woman who works unnoticed in every private room.”

Lena’s eyes flashed.

“I clean rooms.

I don’t forge signatures.”

“You also have debts,” Leon said.

“Your mother’s medical care costs more than you earn in a year.”

Lena went still.

“How do you know about my mother?”

“I know who comes near Victor.”

“My mother has nothing to do with this.”

“She does now.”

Victor seized Leon’s jacket and pulled him close.

“Say her name again.”

Leon did not blink.

“Margaret Hart.

Rosebridge Care Center.

Room 214.”

Lena’s phone rang inside her apron.

She answered with shaking fingers.

“Hello?”

A woman spoke quickly through the receiver.

“Miss Hart, this is Rosebridge.

Your mother’s payment guarantee was canceled ten minutes ago.”

Lena looked directly at Leon.

He smiled.

“And,” the woman continued, “a man is here to move her.”