Chương 10
At ten, Nolan Pierce called Alexander directly.
The number was blocked.
Alexander was in Miriam’s temporary office. She saw his expression and signaled him not to answer until investigators could be alerted. He answered anyway.
“Nolan.”
“Turn off speakerphone.”
“It isn’t on.”
This was technically true. Miriam had already activated a recording application on her own device.
Nolan sighed. “You always were poor at patience.”
“Where is Claire?”
“Safe enough.”
Alexander gripped the edge of the desk.
“Let me speak to her.”
“You are allowing frightened people to turn a complicated internal matter into theater.”
“You abducted an employee.”
“I prevented a reckless woman from releasing private records belonging to thousands of employees.”
“By restraining her?”
“I did not touch her.”
“Grant did?”
A pause.
“Grant has become difficult,” Nolan said. “That is why we should resolve this while I still can.”
“What do you want?”
“The original drive Claire copied.”
“I don’t have it.”
“She intended to give it to you.”
“She didn’t.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Then ask her.”
“She claims she lost it.”
Alexander looked at Miriam. She wrote a question on a legal pad.
Where did she last have it?
“Where did she lose it?”
“At your hotel.”
The cup, Alexander thought. The badge. The drive could still be somewhere inside the Meridian.
“What happens if I find it?”
“You exchange it for Claire.”
“Where?”
“I’ll call again.”
“Let me hear her.”
Nolan was silent.
“If she’s already dead,” Alexander said, “you have nothing to trade.”
A muffled sound came through the phone. Then breathing.
“Mr. Reed?”
Claire’s voice was hoarse.
Alexander closed his eyes.
“I’m here.”
“My daughter?”
“She’s safe.”
“Don’t bring her anywhere.”
“I won’t.”
“Don’t give him—”
Her voice cut off.
Nolan returned. “Now you know.”
“Claire, are you hurt?”
“She cannot answer.”
“What did Grant do?”
“Find the drive.”
“You have until when?”
“Six tonight.”
The call ended.
Federal agents traced it to a disposable phone near Poughkeepsie. By the time local police reached the tower area, the device was in a trash can outside a grocery store.
Alexander replayed Claire’s three words.
Don’t give him—
The drive mattered beyond her own safety. It likely contained the records Nolan needed destroyed. Claire did not trust an exchange. She might have believed Nolan would kill her afterward.
Investigators searched the Meridian again.
They examined Claire’s locker, desk, carts, assigned storage closets, and the path between payroll and the service entrance. Her locker had already been emptied after suspension. Paul admitted he packed the contents under Grant’s instruction, but claimed he placed the box in human resources.
The box was missing.
Lily’s cracked badge contained no storage device. The paper cup had been disassembled. Claire’s work phone and laptop were gone.
At noon, Lily called.
“Did you talk to Mom?”
Alexander’s eyes went to the agents around the room.
News had not been released. Elena could not have known.
“How did you hear that?”
“A police lady told Miss Elena.”
He was grateful someone had prepared her, and angry that it had not been him.
“Yes.”
“What did she say?”
“She asked whether you were safe.”
“What else?”
“She told me not to bring you anywhere.”
“Are you going somewhere?”
“No.”
It was the first lie he told Lily.
He intended to go wherever Nolan demanded for the exchange. Police wanted him involved because Nolan insisted on dealing with him, though they had not yet agreed on the operation. Alexander had already decided.
Lily was quiet.
“You made your lying voice,” she said.
Alexander’s body went cold.
“What is my lying voice?”
“The one where you answer too fast.”
He looked around the room. No one met his eyes.
“I may have to meet Nolan,” he said.
“You said no.”
“Yes.”
“You lied.”
“Yes.”
Her breathing changed.
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I thought telling you would frighten you.”
“I’m already frightened.”
“I know.”
“No, you don’t.”
The call ended.
Miriam watched him set down the phone.
“You did lie.”
“I corrected it.”
“That is not the same as not lying.”
He stood. “I don’t need a lecture.”
“No. You need practice. You have spent your adult life treating late disclosure as honesty.”
The words struck something too familiar. Alexander turned away.
His father had called it timing. Bad numbers were disclosed after refinancing. Employee injuries were discussed after insurance renewals. His illness had been announced to the family after surgery was scheduled. By then, everyone’s choices had been reduced to reaction.
Alexander had hated it.
He had reproduced it in less than a day.
At one fifteen, an employee named Jamal Price asked to speak with investigators. He worked in banquets and had seen Claire on the afternoon she disappeared. She entered a service elevator carrying a small paper cup and asked whether Alexander had arrived.
“He wasn’t due until Thursday,” Jamal said. “I told her that. She looked upset.”
“Was anyone with her?” Sergeant Holloway asked.
“No.”
“Did you see where she went?”
“Executive floor.”
Alexander frowned. “Her badge wouldn’t access that floor.”
“She used the freight elevator. It was in service mode.”
“Who placed it in service mode?”
“Engineering.”
Engineering records showed Paul had requested the elevator for furniture removal. No furniture had been moved.
A camera in the executive corridor had been disabled, but door-access logs recorded Claire entering Alexander’s private conference suite at 3:18.
She left at 3:27.
At 3:29, Nolan’s credential entered the same suite.
At 3:34, Grant’s credential opened the freight elevator.
Claire had reached Alexander’s office. She had tried to deliver the drive.
The suite had been searched twice, but it contained built-in cabinets, a wet bar, a bathroom, and a long conference table with concealed electrical ports. Alexander joined the third search.
May you like
He stood where Claire might have stood and tried to imagine what she would do with nine minutes.
She expected him to arrive Thursday. She had discovered he would not be there until the following day. She knew Nolan or Grant might be following. She needed to leave evidence somewhere connected specifically to Alexander, somewhere routine cleaners or executives would not find it.
