Chương 15
Then a hospital alarm sounded.
Not loud.
A short electronic pulse followed by a voice calling for security on the fourth floor.
Toby jumped.
I picked him up.
“Mommy?”
“She’s okay.”
I had no idea if that was true.
Daniel looked at me but said nothing.
The hallway stretched ahead of us.
Room 417 was hidden around a bend.
I could see only the edge of a supply cart and the blue shoulder of an officer.
Then someone shouted.
A crash followed.
Toby buried his face against my neck.
I took one step forward.
The officer assigned to us blocked me.
“Sir.”
“That’s my daughter.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
Daniel grabbed my arm.
“Thomas.”
I stopped.
There are moments when doing nothing feels like cowardice even when it is the only responsible choice.
I stood there holding Toby and hated every second of it.
Thirty seconds passed.
Maybe forty.
Then Ortiz appeared around the corner.
“He’s in custody.”
My knees nearly gave out.
“Genevieve?”
“Safe.”
“Was he in her room?”
“Yes.”
“What did he do?”
“Trying to take her phone.”
I stared at her.
“He had the blue bag.”
Toby lifted his head.
Ortiz looked at him.
“The bag is secured.”
“Can I see my daughter?”
“In a minute.”
She looked at Daniel.
“We recovered two phones, documents, and a small external drive from Kensington.”
Daniel nodded.
“What did he say?”
“That he was returning Genevieve’s property.”
Ortiz’s expression suggested what she thought of that.
“After walking into her hospital room without permission.”
“Correct.”
“What about Michael Shaw?”
“Not here.”
My stomach tightened again.
“Where is he?”
“Unknown.”
Ortiz held up a hand before I could speak.
“We’re looking.”
The officer beside us got a radio call and stepped away.
Ortiz lowered her voice.
“Arthur did not come quietly.”
“Did he hurt anyone?”
“One security officer has a cut hand.”
“Genevieve?”
“No new injuries.”
I closed my eyes for a second.
Toby whispered, “Mommy now?”
“Yes.”
Ortiz nodded toward the room.
“One at a time.”
“He comes with me.”
She looked at Toby, then at me.
“All right.”
Daniel stayed behind.
I carried Toby around the corner.
Arthur was being led toward the opposite elevators with his wrists cuffed behind him.
His jacket was torn at one shoulder.
His silver hair had fallen across his forehead.
He saw me.
For the first time since I had known him, he looked old.
“Thomas.”
I kept walking.
“Thomas, this is a misunderstanding.”
I stopped.
Ortiz said, “Mr. Vance.”
I looked at Arthur.
Five years of my life crowded into the space between us.
Margaret’s last autumn.
Leonard’s silence.
Evelyn’s first smile.
Genevieve’s anger.
The wedding downstairs.
Every part of me wanted one sentence that would destroy him.
Nothing came.
So I gave him the thing he had spent years trying to prevent.
Nothing.
I turned away.
Genevieve was propped against white pillows with a bruise along her jaw and another purple shadow disappearing beneath the neck of her hospital gown.
Her left wrist was wrapped.
She looked smaller than she had the last time I saw her.
Toby squirmed out of my arms.
“Mommy.”
She opened both arms.
He climbed carefully onto the bed.
I had expected tears.
Instead, Genevieve laughed.
“You look ridiculous.”
Toby looked down at his crooked bow tie.
“Grandpa wedding.”
“Not anymore.”
He nodded solemnly.
“Evie bad.”
Genevieve glanced at me.
I sat beside the bed.
“Things are more complicated than that.”
Her eyebrows lifted.
“That sounds like you.”
“I’ve been told.”
For a while, we watched Toby investigate the controls on the hospital bed.
He raised Genevieve’s feet.
She lowered them.
He raised them again.
Neither of us stopped him.
Finally, she said, “You believe me now.”
It was not triumphant.
That made it worse.
“Yes.”
She looked toward the window.
“I wish you had sooner.”
“I know.”
“I was awful about Evelyn.”
“Sometimes.”
“I wanted to be right.”
“You were.”
“That’s not what I mean.”
I waited.
She picked at the hospital blanket.
“When I started finding things, part of me was scared for you.”
She swallowed.
“And part of me was relieved.”
“Relieved?”
“That I finally had proof she was wrong for you.”
I looked at her.
Genevieve’s mouth twisted.
“Ugly, right?”
“Human.”
She gave me a tired look.
“Don’t get philosophical because you almost got married.”
“I’m trying something new.”
She almost smiled.
Then her face tightened.
“I shouldn’t have taken Toby there.”
“No.”
“I know.”
“I’m still angry.”
“You should be.”
“I probably will be for a while.”
She nodded.
“Okay.”
That was different between us too.
No quick forgiveness.
No dramatic reconciliation.
Just room for anger without abandonment.
Daniel came in ten minutes later carrying terrible vending machine coffee.
He handed me one.
“You look like you need to be punished.”
I drank it.
He was right.
Ortiz followed him.
“We have more.”
Genevieve straightened.
“Michael?”
“Found.”
“Where?”
“Parking structure across the street.”
“With what?”
“Nothing illegal in his possession.”
Daniel asked, “Then what connects him?”
Ortiz looked at Genevieve.
“Your work phone.”
Genevieve went still.
“What about it?”
“Michael sent you eleven messages in the last two months.”
“Yes.”
“You never mentioned him.”
Genevieve looked at me.
“I was going to.”
“That phrase is popular today.”
She winced.
Ortiz said, “What was he giving you?”
“Information.”
“About Arthur?”
“And Kestrel.”
“Why?”
“Because he wanted out.”
“Of Kestrel?”
“Of his father’s mess.”
Ortiz nodded.
“Michael says Arthur had been paying his father Leonard for years.”
My jaw tightened.
“Leonard said it happened once.”
“Michael says otherwise.”
Daniel sighed.
“Of course he does.”
Ortiz continued.
“He also says the initials G.V. in Arthur’s ledger were not Genevieve Vance.”
I looked at Evelyn’s earlier warning echoing in my mind.
“Who?”
“Grant Vale.”
Daniel frowned.
“The zoning consultant?”
“Yes.”
I knew the name.
Grant had worked with half the development firms in northern Illinois.
“What about M.R.?”
“Monica Reyes.”
“Who is she?”
“A former employee at Halpern Advisory.”
May you like
Daniel looked at me.
“So the ledger may be a payment list.”
