The burner phone screen flashed ‘Message Delivered’ before I turned it off.

At ten o’clock the next morning, I carried a stack of washed cotton towels down the second-floor corridor toward the main linen closet.

Christopher stood at the foot of the grand marble staircase in the foyer, dressed in a tailored gray wool suit.

Beside him stood Dr.

Wallace, his heavy black leather briefcase resting against the side of a mahogany hall table.

Two women from the kitchen staff, Mrs.