The security room was in the basement.
Not the basement the guests knew about, the one with the spa and the heated pool and the ambient lighting designed to make rich people feel like they were relaxing inside a pearl. This was the other basement. The one behind the unmarked door past the laundry processing center, down a corridor with no artwork and no carpet and lights that buzzed the way lights buzz in police stations and government offices and other places where comfort is considered a distraction from purpose.
Liam led her there at noon exactly. He walked two steps ahead, which Julie understood was not about courtesy but positioning. You don't walk beside a person you're escorting to an interrogation. You walk ahead so they follow, so the dynamic is established before anyone sits do
