Arthur could not believe what he had just heard.
He stood in the entrance hall and looked up at the investigator on the balcony and felt the floor shift slightly under everything he had been certain of for the past week.
He cleared his throat.
"What... are you talking about?" he said, trying to twist his words. "Of course, Noel is not there. He was never there."
The team leader turned and looked at him.
"You sounded shocked," he said.
"I sounded like a man who was just accused of something," Arthur said. "Again. At five in the morning."
The team leader studied his face.
Arthur held the look.
The team leader looked away first and clapped his hands.
"Continue," he said to his team. "We'll go through every floor."
Arthur raised his voice.
"You found nothing. He is not here. Should I not be compensated for this? You broke my gate, you woke my household, you have gone through every room without a proper warrant, and now you want to continue?"
