Chương 13
She remembered something else.
A stupid, ordinary thing.
Three weeks earlier, Evelyn had asked Mina to stop putting folded table linens in the upstairs guest-room closet.
“There’s a box in there I don’t want crushed,” she had said.
Mina had complained that the downstairs linen cabinet was already full.
Evelyn had smiled and told her to put the Christmas napkins anywhere she wanted because nobody needed twelve embroidered reindeer in July.
Mina looked at Ruiz.
“There may be another box.”
Ruiz stopped.
“Where?”
“At the house.”
“What kind of box?”
“I don’t know.”
“Why do you think it matters?”
“Evelyn told me not to move it.”
“When?”
“Three weeks ago.”
“Where exactly?”
“Guest-room closet upstairs.”
Ruiz was already moving.
“Mina, you’re coming with us.”
Claire stood.
“I’m coming too.”
“No.”
“That’s my friend.”
“And this may be an active crime scene.”
Claire’s mouth opened.
Ruiz cut her off.
“You stay here in case Evelyn wakes up.”
That ended the argument.
Mina followed Ruiz toward the elevators.
Before the doors closed, she looked back.
Claire stood alone beside the ICU entrance, arms folded tightly around herself.
The elevator descended.
Ruiz said, “You do exactly what I tell you at the house.”
Mina nodded.
“If I say stay in the car, you stay in the car.”
“Yes.”
“If I say leave, you leave.”
“Yes.”
Ruiz glanced at her orange uniform.
“You own anything less recognizable?”
Mina looked down at herself.
“No.”
Ruiz almost smiled.
“Of course you don’t.”
They crossed the hospital garage with two uniformed officers behind them.
As Mina climbed into the rear of an unmarked SUV, her phone vibrated.
A message from Daniel.
EVELYN WROTE SOMETHING.
Mina typed back.
What?
Three dots appeared.
Then disappeared.
Then appeared again.
Finally his message came.
ON A PAD.
She stared at the screen.
Another message arrived.
ONE WORD.
Mina’s thumb hovered.
What word?
Daniel answered.
THOMAS.
Ruiz read the message over Mina’s shoulder before the SUV left the garage.
“Call him.”
Mina did.
Daniel answered on the first ring.
“What exactly happened?”
“She woke up enough to hold the pen.”
“Did anyone ask her a question?”
“No.”
“Are you sure?”
“The nurse asked if she wanted to write something.”
“And she wrote Thomas.”
“Yes.”
“Anything else?”
“She tried.”
Daniel’s voice tightened.
“Her hand shook too much.”
Ruiz took the phone.
“Mr. Mercer, Detective Ruiz.”
Daniel went quiet.
Ruiz said, “Do not question your wife about what happened.”
“I wasn’t.”
“Good.”
“If she tries to communicate again?”
“Let medical staff document it.”
“What about Thomas?”
“We’re working on that.”
Daniel exhaled hard.
“He’s not at the hospital.”
“Stay where you are.”
Ruiz ended the call before he could argue.
The SUV turned onto the street.
Mina watched buildings slide past and tried not to picture Thomas already inside the Mercer house.
Ruiz spoke into her radio, calm enough to make the fear worse.
“Possible person of interest may be at residence.”
She gave the address.
“Approach quietly.”
Mina said, “There’s a side gate by the garage.”
Ruiz looked back.
“Locked?”
“Usually.”
“Code?”
“Same as the garage.”
“Who knows it?”
“Daniel, Evelyn, Thomas, me, landscapers sometimes.”
Ruiz gave her a long look.
“That is not what I hoped you’d say.”
Mina almost apologized.
Instead she said, “There’s a camera over the driveway.”
“Cloud system?”
“I don’t know.”
“Does Daniel have access?”
“Yes.”
Ruiz called him from her own phone.
A minute later she learned the camera feed had gone offline at nearly the same time as the alarm.
That was enough to make the two officers in front sit straighter.
They reached the Mercer street without lights.
The house looked unchanged.
Gray stone.
Tall windows.
Boxwood hedges trimmed into expensive obedience.
A sprinkler clicked along the neighboring lawn.
Mina hated how normal it looked.
Ruiz told her to remain in the SUV.
Mina nodded.
Four officers moved toward the house.
One went around the side.
Ruiz approached the front door and tried it.
Unlocked.
She disappeared inside.
Mina counted her breaths.
At thirty-two, something moved behind the second-floor guest-room curtains.
She leaned forward.
For a second she thought she had imagined it.
Then the curtain shifted again.
Mina grabbed the door handle.
Ruiz had told her to stay.
She stayed.
Her whole body argued.
A burst of radio traffic came from the front seat.
“Movement upstairs.”
Another voice answered.
“Rear clear.”
Then a sharp command from inside the house.
“Police.”
Mina stopped breathing.
“Show me your hands.”
Silence followed.
Then something crashed.
Mina opened the SUV door before she thought.
The officer left with her snapped, “Stay inside.”
She froze with one foot on the pavement.
A second crash came from upstairs.
Then shouting.
Then nothing.
The front door opened.
Ruiz appeared.
“Mina.”
Her tone made the name an order.
Mina stepped out.
“Is he there?”
Ruiz nodded.
“Thomas?”
“Yes.”
“Is he hurt?”
“No.”
“What was he doing?”
Ruiz looked toward the house.
“Trying to destroy paper in the guest bathroom sink.”
Mina closed her eyes.
“The box.”
“We found it.”
“Was that what he was burning?”
“Some of it.”
Ruiz raised a hand before Mina could ask more.
“Do not go inside yet.”
Two officers brought Thomas out.
His hands were cuffed behind him.
He had lost his jacket.
His white shirt was wet at one sleeve, and soot marked the side of his face.
He saw Mina beside the SUV.
For the first time since she had known him, Thomas looked stripped of every social advantage he usually wore like another tailored layer.
No polished impatience.
No dry superiority.
No brotherly authority.
Only fury.
“You.”
Mina did not move.
Thomas laughed once.
“You really think you understand any of this?”
Ruiz said, “Don’t.”
Thomas ignored her.
“You clean rooms.”
Mina felt the insult land exactly where he intended.
For years, Thomas had addressed her politely enough to make his contempt deniable.
Now he had no reason to hide it.
May you like
He said, “You saw a drawer open and invented a crime.”
Mina looked at him.
