Chương 4
Pike’s face went pale.
The officer’s hand moved closer to his radio.
“I didn’t.”
“You came directly to this floor,” Vincent said.
“The elevator stops here.”
“Only if you press three.”
Pike looked toward the elevator panel as if it had betrayed him personally.
Mara heard the distant scrape of a tow truck chain.
Someone beyond the police tape shouted about needing to pick up his daughter.
The ordinary world kept insisting on itself.
The officer asked Pike to turn around.
Pike obeyed this time.
Mara’s phone began vibrating in her coat.
She almost ignored it.
Then she saw MOM across the screen.
Of course.
She answered.
“Hi.”
“Why is there a video of you sitting beside a police car with a dog?”
Mara closed her eyes.
“Because people are terrible.”
“What happened?”
“I’m fine.”
“That is not an answer.”
“It’s the only one I have right now.”
“Are you with that Vale man?”
Mara opened her eyes and found Adrian watching Pike being questioned.
“How do you even know who he is?”
“I have the internet, Mara.”
“Apparently everybody does.”
“Come home.”
“I can’t yet.”
“Why?”
“Police.”
There was a silence.
Her mother’s voice changed.
“Mara.”
“I’m not hurt.”
“Were you arrested?”
“No.”
“Then why are the police keeping you?”
“Someone fired a gun.”
Her mother stopped breathing loudly enough for Mara to hear it.
Mara regretted the sentence immediately.
“Mom.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
“I am already putting on shoes.”
“You live forty minutes away.”
“Thirty-two.”
“You drive like a fugitive.”
“Then twenty-seven.”
“Mom, please stay home.”
Another silence followed.
Her mother said, very quietly, “Call me when you can leave.”
Mara ended the call and discovered her hand was shaking harder than before.
Vale was beside her now.
She had not heard him approach.
“Your mother?”
“Don’t.”
“I wasn’t criticizing her.”
“Everybody criticizes her eventually.”
A faint crease appeared beside his mouth.
“My mother once called a federal prosecutor’s office seventeen times because they kept me past dinner.”
Mara looked at him.
“You’re lying.”
“Sixteen times.”
Despite everything, a laugh escaped her.
It sounded wrong in the garage.
She covered her mouth.
Vale’s expression softened for half a second.
Then Vincent said his name.
The softness disappeared.
Vincent was holding a phone.
“Security pulled the west entrance footage.”
Vale took it.
Mara watched his thumb move across the screen.
His jaw tightened.
“What?”
He handed the phone to Vincent instead of answering.
Vincent looked once and swore.
Mara stepped toward them.
“You don’t get to do that.”
“Do what?”
“Look at something about the man who tried to kill me and then decide I shouldn’t see it.”
Vale’s eyes settled on her.
“You’re right.”
Vincent looked surprised.
Mara was almost as surprised.
Vale held out his hand for the phone.
Vincent gave it back reluctantly.
The video showed a loading entrance beneath a flickering fluorescent tube.
A man in a dark jacket crossed the frame at 9:06.
His face was visible for less than two seconds.
Mara had never seen him before.
Vale froze the image.
“Eli Mercer.”
“You know him.”
“He worked security for one of my warehouses.”
“Worked?”
“Until tonight.”
Mara looked at him.
“That sounds convenient.”
“It does.”
“What did he want with me?”
“I don’t know.”
Pike’s voice rose behind them.
“I said I want an attorney.”
Mara turned.
The officer was no longer merely questioning him.
Pike had been moved against the side of the cruiser while another officer examined his phone.
His face was wet with sweat.
“Can they do that?” Mara asked.
“Depends what he consented to,” Vale said.
Pike suddenly looked directly at her.
“Mara, don’t give them the drive.”
The garage went still again.
The officer beside him said, “Mr. Pike.”
“You don’t understand what’s on it.”
Mara took one step forward.
“Then tell me.”
Pike shook his head.
“Not here.”
“You came here.”
“I was trying to stop this.”
“Stop what?”
His eyes moved toward Vale.
Something close to hatred entered them.
“You think he saved you?”
Vale’s face gave nothing back.
Pike laughed once.
“He’s the reason any of this exists.”
Vincent started toward him.
Vale lifted one hand.
Vincent stopped.
Mara looked from Pike to Vale.
“Explain.”
Pike said, “Ask him about Harbor East.”
Vale’s gaze remained on Pike.
“Which part?”
“The invoices.”
That changed him.
Mara saw it clearly.
Not fear.
Recognition.
She remembered the municipal redevelopment account open on her monitor that afternoon.
Harbor East Renewal Phase Three.
Nine vendors.
Seventeen payments.
Three companies sharing the same mailing address.
One of those companies had received four hundred eighty-six thousand dollars in eleven weeks for consulting work described only as site coordination.
She had opened the vendor ownership file at 4:12.
At 4:19, her screen had gone black.
IT had told her the server reset.
At 4:23, the third anonymous email arrived.
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
Mara looked at Pike.
“You knew what I found.”
His eyes closed.
That was answer enough.
The officer beside him reached for his handcuffs.
Pike panicked.
“Wait.”
His voice cracked.
“I didn’t send Mercer.”
Vale took a step toward him.
“Who did?”
“I don’t know.”
“You expect me to believe that?”
“I know who paid him.”
Vincent went completely still.
Pike stared at Mara now.
“Your department flagged the payments six months ago.”
“No, it didn’t.”
“Yes, it did.”
“I run the exception reports.”
“You run the reports they let you see.”
Mara felt the words land slowly.
Pike’s breathing was ragged.
“I buried the first review.”
“Why?”
“Because they told me to.”
“Who?”
Pike looked toward the officer.
“I want protection.”
The officer said, “Then start being useful.”
Pike laughed bitterly.
“You have no idea who useful gets killed around here.”
Vale’s voice became almost gentle.
“Warren.”
Pike looked at him.
“Who paid Mercer?”
Pike’s mouth opened.
A car alarm erupted two rows away.
Bruno lunged before anyone else reacted.
His shoulder slammed Mara backward into Vale.
Vincent shouted.
The garage lights went out.
May you like
Darkness swallowed everything.
Mara heard three sounds almost together.
