There was a silence on the line that Chadworth understood perfectly.

Barnaby Reyes was a careful man who had spent two decades in this work and had watched more than one wealthy client use a security apparatus to do something ugly to somebody in their own household.

“Can I ask what the incident is?” Barnaby said.

“I’ve been told my housekeeper is stealing from me and manipulating my children.”

“Told by who?”

Chadworth did not answer that, and the silence that followed told Barnaby everything he needed and nothing he wanted.