"Put the file down, Victor."
My voice comes out sharper than I expect. It cuts through the study and lands between us like a solid thing. Victor stands in the doorway with the blue file tucked under his arm, breathing a little too hard for a man who should not even be standing on his own feet right now. Smoke from the boathouse drifts in behind him. The smell is getting stronger.
He looks at me first. Not Julian. Not Adrian. Me.
"We need to leave," he says. "Now."
Julian steps in front of me before I ask him to. "Give her the file."
Victor's jaw tightens. "Not in this house."
Adrian moves to the other side of the desk. His face is calm, but I can see the strain under it now. "If Richard is close enough to light the boathouse, he is close enough to search the main house next."
Victor
