Chương 7
“I’m checking it.”
The beam swept beneath.
Elena pressed herself against the carved back panel, but Raphael’s shoes extended beyond the shadow.
The guard bent.
From the hallway, Ms. Chen said loudly, “There you are.”
The flashlight jerked away.
The guard straightened. “Ma’am, return to the study.”
“My phone is in here.”
“It isn’t.”
“I’m looking at it.”
The guard turned. Elena could see only his shoes.
Ms. Chen continued, “Mr. Vale has asked me to prepare a legal filing while armed men search the house. Unless one of you recently passed the Illinois bar, I need my phone.”
“Take it and go.”
Her heels crossed the room.
Something slid under the desk and touched Elena’s hand.
A steel key marked 4B.
Elena closed her fingers around it.
Ms. Chen said, “Found it.”
She left.
The guard remained for another second, then followed her.
Elena breathed again.
The key had been removed from the hidden drawer before she arrived. Ms. Chen had either found it in the study or taken it from someone. She had known what it opened. There was no time to understand why.
Elena retrieved the gold ring from beneath the bookcase, left the library through the inner hall, and reached the music room as voices spread through the mansion.
She climbed into the dumbwaiter shaft.
Halfway down, her right shoe slipped free.
It fell two stories and struck the cellar floor with a crash.
Pike caught it.
Elena descended the last rungs.
Raphael was no longer on the crate.
He stood beside the workbench, one hand braced against it, Pike’s pistol in the other.
Elena stepped off the rungs and crossed the room.
“I told you to stay where you were.”
“I moved six feet.”
“You can barely focus.”
“I focus better with a weapon.”
“Give it to Pike.”
Pike said, “I’ve tried.”
Raphael surrendered the pistol to Elena instead. She passed it to Pike.
The phone, wrapped in the handkerchief, vibrated inside her textbook.
She removed the drive and envelope from the jacket. Raphael checked the seal. His hand shook so badly that the paper rattled.
“You got it.”
“I also got this.” She showed him the key. “The drawer was empty.”
Raphael looked at Pike.
Pike shook his head. “Not me.”
“Ms. Chen had it,” Elena said. “She helped me.”
“Rachel Chen?” Raphael asked.
“You have another Ms. Chen hiding in the music room?”
“She works for Sorrell and Tate. Dominic’s firm.”
“She refused to sign the statement.”
Raphael leaned against the bench. “Her father was my attorney.”
“The dead one?” Elena asked.
“Yes.”
“You said the person you trusted was dead.”
“He was.”
Pike took the drive. “Can we save the family history for a location without armed men above us?”
Elena looked at Raphael’s face and stopped thinking about anything but his condition. His lips had begun to lose color. He swayed when he stood still.
She pressed her fingers to his wrist.
“Call an ambulance.”
Pike said, “The city dispatch lines may be monitored through the estate’s security center, but they can’t stop a 911 response without creating a record.”
“They can meet it at the gate,” Raphael said.
“Then we don’t call from here.”
“The nearest property line is half a mile through the ravine,” Pike said. “The service tunnel reaches the old pump house near the lake. From there we can get to Sheridan Road.”
“How long?” Elena asked.
“Ten minutes if he can walk.”
“He can’t.”
“I can,” Raphael said.
He could not.
They made it through the first section by placing his arms over their shoulders. Pike took most of his weight. Elena carried the textbook and phone beneath her robe. The service tunnel sloped downward through limestone, then narrowed near an iron drainage gate.
Behind them, a door slammed open in the wine cellar.
Voices.
Vale had found the passage.
Pike released Raphael long enough to unlock the drainage gate. The old padlock resisted. He pulled harder.
“Rust,” he said.
“Shoot it,” Raphael murmured.
“That works better in movies than on steel near your face.”
Elena set down the textbook and found the gold signet ring in her pocket. The broad edge fit inside the lock’s broken keyway. She twisted. The ring dug into her thumb. Nothing moved.
Footsteps entered the tunnel behind them.
Pike drew his pistol.
Elena tried again. The ring slipped, tearing skin from her knuckle.
Raphael reached around her. His hand covered hers.
“Counterclockwise,” he said.
“It is a padlock.”
“My grandfather replaced it.”
“You people make everything difficult.”
“Tradition.”
Together they turned the ring left.
The lock released.
Pike pushed the gate open, shoved Raphael through, then fired once down the tunnel. The gunshot became enormous between the stone walls.
A man shouted.
Pike slammed the gate behind them and locked it from the lake side.
“They’ll cut through,” he said.
Cold rain struck Elena’s face as they emerged from the pump house. The lake was black beyond the bluff, waves breaking white against the rocks. Wind pulled her robe open around Pike’s jacket.
A flashlight beam appeared through the trees above.
Pike pointed south. “Road.”
They moved through wet grass.
Raphael made it twenty yards before collapsing.
Elena dropped beside him. “Raphael.”
His eyes opened, unfocused.
“We’re calling now.”
He caught her wrist. “Drive.”
“Pike has it.”
“Not safe.”
Pike looked back at the pump house.
“What do you suggest?” he asked.
Raphael’s grip weakened. “Upload.”
“To whom?” Elena said.
“My attorney’s dead.”
“Rachel Chen,” Pike said.
“We don’t have her number.”
Elena looked at Raphael’s phone. It remained locked except for incoming calls and messages.
“Open it.”
His thumb failed twice against the screen. The third time, facial recognition rejected him because of the blood and swelling.
“Code?” Elena asked.
He hesitated.
“This is not a good time to protect your privacy.”
“One-zero-seven-one.”
The phone opened.
She found Rachel Chen in the contacts under R.C. There were no recent calls between them.
May you like
Elena dialed.
Rachel answered on the first ring.
