Page 71 of His Assistant

Sofia moves down the hallway, takes the side stairs to the second floor, then slips behind the pantry.

“How does she know about the service elevator?” I ask.

Chiara closes her eyes.

I don’t need the answer after that.

My jaw tightens, but I say nothing. I cannot waste anger on the wrong person.

“Service level,” I tell Luca.

The feed changes. My hand closes around the back of his chair.

“Why is there no feed?”

Luca types fast enough that the keys sound like rain.

“Camera three went down.”

“When?”

He pulls the log. Rafe leans in. The timestamp appears. Three minutes before Sofia reaches the elevator. The room goes very quiet.

“Someone killed the camera,” Rafe says.

“Yes.”

“She found the exit herself,” Chiara says softly. “But someone made sure she could use it.”

I look at the blank feed. The timing is so precise. Someone was watching her the whole time, guiding her.

“Pull service door exterior,” I say.

That feed works just fine, like whoever messed with the feed wanted to make sure we could see this.

Sofia steps into the alley behind the building. She hesitates beneath the security light, looking back once toward the door. For one second, I think she might come back. Then a car appears at the end of the alley. Sofia’s phone lights up in her hand. She looks at it, then at the car. The back door opens.

Rafe curses under his breath.

Sofia walks toward it. The car pulls away.

“Find the car,” I say.

Luca starts typing.

“No,” I correct, voice low. “Find the person who killed that camera.”

Rafe’s phone buzzes. He looks at it, then at me. His expression changes.

“What?” I ask.

He hesitates.

That is unlike him.

“What?” I repeat.

He looks at Chiara first. “You should go upstairs.”