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“I want copies of both layouts,” O’Shea said.

“You can have them,” I replied. “Not the originals.”

Damien’s thumb moved once against my back.

O’Shea gave a tired exhale that sounded suspiciously close to amusement. “Copies will do.”

Before ending the call, he added, “I’m at the farm office. Clinton finally gave Rick an explanation for the financial records. I’m going through it with them now. Troy’s coming back in too.”

My stomach sank for an entirely different reason.

“Do I need to be there?”

“You need to run your event. If anything changes what you need to know, I’ll tell you.”

That was probably the first thing he’d said to me in two days that made me want to thank him.

“I’m taking you at your word.”

“I expected you would.”

The line went dead.

For a moment neither Damien nor I moved.

The staff lane outside had not paused for my criminal case. Somebody laughed near the wardrobe area. A radio called for a replacement battery. The workroom door banged lightly against its stop when the wind shifted.

I looked down at the plate I’d been eating from.

“I think my appetite just left.”

Damien pulled the chair beside mine closer and sat rather than looming over me. “Eat three more bites.”

I turned my head. “Is that a security directive?”

“No. It’s me watching you abandon dinner because O’Shea said something important.”

“That sounded suspiciously like a directive.”

“It can sound however you like while you eat.”

I should have argued.

Instead I picked up my fork.

Damien went back to the route sheet while I finished enough of the meal to stop Aunt Laurie from sensing my nutritional failure from across town.

The guest had placed Grant at Hollowfield on Thursday night, not merely near Woodbridge Falls or somewhere he could explain away later.

I swallowed another bite and looked at the old layout again.

Grant had known where the lantern used to belong. He had known the old figure orientation. So had other people, which was why those facts alone hadn’t been enough.

Now he had also lied about being on the property.

That combination did not make him Justin’s killer.

It made him the first person on our list whose explanation had cracked in a way that touched both Thursday night and the later tampering.