Back THE PERFECT SECRET
Chapters (40)
  1. Title page
  2. PROLOGUE
  3. CHAPTER ONE
  4. CHAPTER TWO
  5. CHAPTER THREE
  6. CHAPTER FOUR
  7. CHAPTER FIVE
  8. CHAPTER SIX
  9. CHAPTER SEVEN
  10. CHAPTER EIGHT
  11. CHAPTER NINE
  12. CHAPTER TEN
  13. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  14. CHAPTER TWELVE
  15. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  16. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  17. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  18. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  19. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  20. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  21. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  22. CHAPTER TWENTY
  23. CHAPTER TWENTY ONE
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY TWO
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY SEVEN
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY NINE
  32. CHAPTER THIRTY
  33. CHAPTER THIRTY ONE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY TWO
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY THREE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY FOUR
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY SIX
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY SEVEN
  40. EPILOGUE

Right, so I found the corresponding text from after the caterer incident, at five forty-six a.m. She told one of her staffers that she wanted to look into a new catering company because the current one was incompetent. So we know the text matches her expected location. She sent multiple other texts throughout the night, all very demanding, most unpleasant. I wont depress you with the details. But there were two in particular I wanted to draw your attention to.

He punched up a new screen that included the texts with their timestamp and what appeared to be locations on the estate.

So, he continued, other than these two texts its basically impossible to verify Salters location at the time they were sent. Despite their vitriol, they either werent specific enough or nowhere near a camera. But these are different.

He enlarged one text. It read: Busters wreaking havoc. Getting complaints. Dont need a lawsuit. Kick him out. The timestamp was 2:57 a.m.

Now look, he said.

He played a video time stamped 3:04 a.m. from the South House main entrance. It showed the door open and a portly, balding man being escorted forcefully to an area to the west of the roundabout, where several taxis were waiting. He was placed in one, which pulled out seconds later.

What did I just see? Jessie asked.

That was Buster Catalano, the comedian.

The guy who does impressions of people no one cares about, Karen added.

Right, Jamil said. Hes also notorious for being grabby. Hes been sued for sexual harassment twice. It appears that he was up to his old tricks and Salter wasnt happy about it. In fact, she was so unhappy that she personally supervised his removal from the estate.

He recentered the image and magnified it to show a figure standing in the doorway, watching Buster being taken away. The face was cut off because of the camera angle but the business suit and doily scarf were visible. Jamil looked over at Jessie proudly.

We couldnt mark her location with facial recognition earlier because there was no face to recognize.

Thats good, Jamil, she said, really good. Whats the other text?

Jamil pulled that one up. It read: Be there in 2 min. It was from 3:13 a.m.

So I checked to see what she was replying to, Jamil said. And it was this.

He pulled up a text from someone named Mary Proul. It read: Grease fire extinguished in the kitchen. Ugly mess. Smoky. Please advise.

This is what we see a few minutes after that, he said, zooming in on a small open space between the junctions of the South House and East House. According to the house plans, thats the side door of the service kitchen.