Chương 8
Pike said, “It keeps us from promising things we don’t know.”
That was the first thing he had said all night that I respected.
The nurse came back and announced that my blood pressure was too low for me to go anywhere.
I told her I was not planning to run a marathon.
She said, “Good, because I would tackle you.”
Noah looked at her.
“Finally, someone with a clear plan.”
She pointed at him.
“You’re not funny enough to leave either.”
After she adjusted my IV, Shaw stepped into the hallway to make a call.
Pike remained by the window.
I watched him watching the parking lot.
“You think Daniel killed Erin,” I said.
He did not turn.
“I think Daniel knows more than he has told us.”
“That isn’t the same thing.”
“No.”
“Did you believe he killed her before tonight?”
Pike looked out through the glass.
“Yesterday, I thought he might.”
“And now?”
“Now I think someone spent a lot of effort making sure we would.”
I felt my skin prickle.
“The shoes.”
“Yes.”
“The scarf.”
“Yes.”
“The storage key in my name.”
“Yes.”
“You think he was being framed.”
“I think the evidence is becoming too neat.”
Noah said, “That sounds insane.”
Pike looked at him.
“Most real framing attempts are sloppy.”
“Comforting.”
“Wasn’t meant to be.”
I asked, “What about the blood?”
“If it is blood.”
“And if it belongs to Erin?”
Pike’s mouth tightened.
“Then we ask how it got there.”
Noah said, “Maybe Dad put it there.”
Pike did not answer.
My son looked at me.
“You’re thinking it too.”
I was.
That was the worst part.
Even with photographs of Noah and messages telling Daniel to incapacitate us, there were pieces that did not fit innocence.
He had lied about Tuesday.
He had hidden evidence.
He had drugged us.
He had taken our phones.
He had planned to move us without consent.
Fear could explain many things.
It could not make those things disappear.
Shaw came back into the room.
“We have authorization to secure the storage unit.”
“Secure?”
“Prevent access until the warrant is signed.”
“When?”
“Soon.”
“That word means nothing tonight.”
He accepted the criticism without comment.
Pike’s phone buzzed.
He checked the screen.
His expression sharpened.
“What?”
Shaw asked.
Pike answered the call.
He listened without speaking for nearly twenty seconds.
Then he said, “Do not open it.”
I stood.
Pike looked at Shaw.
“They found another key card.”
“Where?”
“Erin Vale’s apartment.”
My heart began pounding.
“To Riverside?”
“Yes.”
“Same unit?”
Pike shook his head.
“Unit 315.”
Noah frowned.
“Next door.”
Shaw was already reaching for his phone.
I said, “Who rented that one?”
Pike looked at me.
“Marcus Bell.”
The pattern was too clean.
One unit in my name.
One in Marcus’s.
Daniel carrying access to mine.
Erin somehow connected to the one beside it.
“What is in them?” I asked.
“We don’t know.”
Shaw stepped into the hall again.
I watched him speak rapidly to someone I could not hear.
Pike sat in the chair near the bed.
For the first time since arriving, he looked exhausted.
Noah said, “Do cops ever eat dinner?”
Pike glanced at him.
“Sometimes.”
“What did you have?”
“A protein bar.”
“That’s depressing.”
“It was peanut butter.”
“Still depressing.”
Pike leaned back.
“My wife says the same thing.”
The word wife made me look at him.
He noticed.
“Sorry.”
“For what?”
He shrugged.
I knew what he meant anyway.
The ordinary fact of someone else’s marriage suddenly felt indecent beside the wreckage of mine.
Noah drank the rest of his water.
I watched the ice cubes collapse against the lid.
For thirty seconds, no one discussed missing people or drugged dinners or fraudulent storage units.
A machine beeped in the room next door.
Someone laughed in the hallway.
A janitor pushed a mop bucket past our open door.
Then Pike’s phone rang again.
He answered.
This time his face changed before the caller had spoken for more than a few seconds.
He stood.
“Where?”
Shaw returned at the same moment.
Pike raised one hand for silence.
“Yes.”
Another pause.
“Alive?”
Every muscle in my body locked.
Noah put down his cup.
Pike listened.
Then he closed his eyes once.
“Send medical immediately.”
He ended the call.
Shaw stepped closer.
“What happened?”
Pike looked at us.
“Security at Riverside reported movement inside unit 315.”
My mouth went dry.
“What kind of movement?”
“They heard knocking.”
Noah stared at him.
Pike continued.
“Officers forced entry because they believed someone was in immediate danger.”
Shaw said, “Who did they find?”
Pike looked directly at me.
“Erin Vale.”
The room seemed to release a breath.
“Alive?”
“Yes.”
I put one hand over my mouth.
Noah whispered, “Oh my God.”
For one second, relief rose so quickly it almost hurt.
Then Pike kept talking.
“She’s conscious, but barely.”
“What happened to her?”
“We don’t know yet.”
“Was she alone?”
Pike hesitated.
My relief vanished.
“No.”
Shaw’s expression hardened.
“Who else?”
Pike looked at him.
“Marcus Bell.”
Noah said, “Alive?”
Pike’s silence answered first.
“No.”
The room went still again.
I gripped the edge of the bed.
“Was he killed there?”
“Unknown.”
Shaw asked, “Condition?”
Pike’s voice dropped.
“Deceased long enough that responding officers are treating the unit as a homicide scene.”
I closed my eyes.
Erin alive meant Daniel had not killed her, at least not in the simple way Pike had suspected.
Marcus dead meant nothing about Daniel yet.
Then another thought arrived.
“What about unit 314?”
Shaw and Pike looked at each other.
Pike said, “They have not entered it.”
“Why not?”
“Because the warrant is still pending.”
“Erin was one door away.”
“Yes.”
“What if someone is inside mine too?”
Pike lifted his phone.
“They’re checking for any indication of immediate danger.”
Noah said, “Knocking.”
“Yes.”
“What if they can’t knock?”
No one answered him.
Shaw stepped closer to Pike.
“Tell them to use thermal.”
May you like
Pike shook his head.
“Metal units, insulation, equipment inside, it may not tell them enough.”
