Chapter 7
Dad’s expression didn’t change.
But his hand tightened around the phone.
“Where is Sophie?”
Elaine laughed softly.
“Straight to business. That’s why I always respected you.”
“Where is she?”
“Safe.”
“If she’s harmed—”
“Daniel, please. Threats are useless now.”
I stepped toward the phone.
“Elaine.”
Silence.
Then her voice softened.
“Emily.”
I felt sick hearing affection in it.
“I’m sorry you got pulled into this.”
“You kidnapped my friend.”
“I didn’t want you involved.”
“You had someone threaten me.”
“I was trying to make you understand the stakes.”
“By taking Sophie?”
“Things escalated.”
I almost screamed.
“That’s what criminals say when they don’t want to admit what they did.”
Dad looked at me, warning me not to provoke her.
I didn’t care.
Elaine sighed.
“You sound exactly like Margaret.”
My entire body went rigid.
“You don’t get to say her name.”
“Your mother was brilliant.”
“Did you kill her?”
The room went completely silent.
Even Martin stopped moving.
Elaine didn’t answer immediately.
“No.”
“Do you know who did?”
“Yes.”
Dad grabbed the edge of the table.
“Who?”
Elaine ignored him.
“Emily, bring the acquisition documents to West 33rd. Come alone. No police.”
“You know we traced the location.”
“Yes.”
“Then why would I come?”
“Because Sophie leaves alive if you do.”
“How do I know?”
“You don’t.”
I closed my eyes.
Elaine continued.
“And bring Martin’s archive.”
Martin shouted, “Absolutely not.”
Elaine laughed.
“There you are.”
Martin stared at the phone.
“You should have disappeared when you had the chance.”
“You should have died with Margaret.”
The words sucked the air out of the room.
Martin went pale.
I whispered, “What did you say?”
Elaine paused.
Then she realized her mistake.
Dad’s voice dropped.
“You knew Martin was with Margaret.”
“Daniel—”
“No. You just said he should have died with her.”
No answer.
Dad stepped closer to the phone as if Elaine were physically standing there.
“You knew what happened that night.”
Elaine ended the call.
Everyone stared at the screen.
Dad immediately looked at police.
“You heard her.”
The lead detective nodded.
“We did.”
“Get my daughter’s friend.”
“We’re moving.”
“No. Move faster.”
The detective didn’t argue.
A tactical team was already being assembled.
Dad turned to me.
“You stay here.”
I laughed.
“No.”
“Emily.”
“She asked for me.”
“Which is exactly why you don’t go.”
“If police storm the building, Sophie could be killed.”
“We are not sending you into a kidnapping.”
“You may not have a choice.”
Dad’s eyes flashed.
“I always have a choice when it comes to my daughter.”
“That’s the problem!”
The words came out harder than I intended.
Dad stared at me.
I continued.
“You keep making choices for everyone because you think protecting people means controlling them.”
“This is not the time.”
“When is the time?”
“After your friend is safe.”
“Then listen to me.”
I stepped closer.
“Elaine expects me. We can use that.”
“No.”
“Police can wire me.”
“No.”
“Track me.”
“No.”
“Dad!”
“I watched your mother leave the house one night and never come back.”
His voice cracked.
Everyone went quiet.
He looked at me.
“I will not knowingly send you into danger.”
My anger vanished.
For a moment I saw what he carried.
Thirteen years of it.
I lowered my voice.
“You wouldn’t be sending me.”
“Yes, I would.”
“I’m choosing.”
His eyes filled.
“So did she.”
That stopped me.
Mom had chosen to take his car.
Chosen to go to the meeting.
Chosen to keep investigating.
Dad had spent half my life blaming himself for not stopping her.
I touched his hand.
“I’m not Mom.”
“I know.”
“And you can’t save me by making every decision.”
He looked away.
The detective stepped in.
“We may have a controlled option.”
Dad turned.
“What?”
“We send no real documents. Ms. Bennett wears a transmitter. We place teams around the facility. She does not enter unless we have visual confirmation of the hostage.”
“No.”
“Daniel,” Laura said.
“No.”
The detective remained calm.
“If Elaine believes she has no reason to negotiate, she may move Sophie. We lose location certainty.”
Dad looked at the floor.
I knew he understood.
He just hated it.
Twenty-five minutes later, I sat inside an unmarked police vehicle two blocks from the old laundry facility.
My hands were shaking.
A detective attached a small transmitter beneath my blouse.
Another placed a tracker inside my shoe.
Dad stood outside the vehicle.
He hadn’t spoken since we left the hotel.
Finally I got out.
“Dad.”
He looked at me.
“If anything feels wrong, you walk away.”
“Okay.”
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
“You say the word ‘bluebird,’ we move.”
Despite everything, my throat tightened.
“Mom would hate that you made her nickname the emergency signal.”
For the first time all night, he almost smiled.
“She’d probably yell at me.”
“She yelled at you a lot.”
“She did.”
I hugged him.
He held on too tightly.
“Bring yourself back,” he whispered.
“I will.”
I carried a leather briefcase toward the building.
Inside were fake acquisition documents and a blank encrypted drive.
The old facility looked abandoned.
Broken upper windows.
Brick walls.
A steel loading door.
One light glowing above a side entrance.
My phone buzzed.
ENTER.
I opened the door.
Dark hallway.
The smell of dust and old chemicals.
“Elaine?”
No answer.
I walked forward.
My heart hammered.
Every sound seemed enormous.
My shoes.
My breathing.
The distant hum of machinery that should not have been running.
Then a light came on.
Sophie sat in a chair in the center of the main floor.
Alive.
Hands tied.
Tape over her mouth.
I nearly ran to her.
A man stepped from behind a pillar.
Gun visible at his waist.
“Stop.”
I froze.
Another man appeared behind Sophie.
Then Elaine.
She wore a long camel coat over a black suit.
Perfect hair.
Pearl earrings.
The same Elaine who used to send me bookstore gift cards every Christmas.
“Emily.”
“Let her go.”
Elaine looked at Sophie.
“In a moment.”
“No. Now.”
“You always were impatient.”
“Stop talking to me like you know me.”
Her smile faded.
“I changed your diapers.”
“And now you kidnap my friends.”
“That was not my plan.”
“Whose plan was it?”
She looked at the briefcase.
“The documents.”
I set it on the floor.
“The drive too?”
I held it up.
“Let Sophie walk.”
Elaine nodded to the man beside her.
He removed the tape.
Sophie gasped.
“Emily, don’t give them anything.”
The man slapped the back of her chair.
“Quiet.”
I stepped forward.
“Touch her again and you get nothing.”
Elaine raised her hand.
The man stopped.
“Untie her.”
He hesitated.
“Elaine?”
“Do it.”
He cut Sophie’s wrists free.
She stood shakily.
“Walk toward me.”
Sophie moved.
One step.
Two.
Then Elaine said, “Stop.”
She was halfway between us.
“Drive first.”
“No.”
“Emily.”
“Sophie reaches me first.”
Elaine stared at me.
Then she smiled.
“Margaret really did raise you.”
My anger burned.
“You knew my mother.”
“Better than you ever had the chance to.”
Sophie took another step.
The gunman grabbed her shoulder.
I shouted.
Elaine sighed.
“Fine. Let her go.”
He released Sophie.
She ran toward me.
I caught her.
She was trembling violently.
“Are you hurt?”
“I’m okay.”
“Go.”
“No.”
“Sophie, go!”
She shook her head.
“I’m not leaving you.”
Elaine laughed.
“How touching.”
I looked at Sophie.
“Police are outside.”
Elaine’s smile disappeared.
One gunman reached for his weapon.
I screamed, “Bluebird!”
Everything happened at once.
Floodlights exploded through the broken windows.
“POLICE!”
The gunman drew.
Sophie and I dropped.
Gunshots cracked.
Glass shattered.
Elaine ran.
One officer came through the side entrance.
Another through the loading door.
The man nearest Sophie fired once toward police and was immediately tackled behind machinery.
The second dropped his weapon and raised his hands.
I looked up.
Elaine was gone.
“Where is she?”
An officer pulled me behind cover.
“Stay down!”
“She ran!”
Dad burst through the entrance behind the tactical team.
“Emily!”
He reached me.
I had never seen him run that fast.
He grabbed my face.
“Are you hit?”
“No.”
“Sophie?”
“I’m okay,” she cried.
Dad wrapped both of us in his arms.
Then a detective shouted.
“Movement upstairs!”
Officers raced toward a metal staircase.
Dad tried to pull me outside.
I looked toward the upper level.
Elaine appeared on the catwalk.
She had a gun.
“Everyone stop!”
Officers aimed.
“Drop the weapon!”
Elaine grabbed someone and pulled him in front of her.
I stared.
“Uncle Tommy?”
Thomas looked barely conscious.
His hospital gown was visible beneath a coat.
Blood had soaked through the bandage on his shoulder.
Dad went white.
“How did she get him?”
Elaine pressed the gun to Thomas’s neck.
“Everyone back.”
“Elaine,” Dad said.
“Back!”
Police held position.
Thomas lifted his head.
“Daniel…”
“What happened?”
“She took me from the ambulance transfer.”
Elaine dug the gun harder into him.
“Quiet.”
I stared at her.
“You shot him.”
“No.”
“What?”
Elaine laughed bitterly.
“I did many things. That wasn’t one of them.”
“Then who did?”
Thomas whispered, “Richard.”
Dad’s eyes narrowed.
Elaine shook her head.
“Thomas still doesn’t understand.”
“Understand what?” I shouted.
Elaine looked down at me.
“Richard Caldwell is not the person behind this.”
The entire room seemed to freeze.
Dad stared.
“Then who is?”
Elaine smiled sadly.
“The man Richard has spent thirty years being afraid of.”
Dad’s face changed.
I looked at him.
“Who?”
He didn’t answer.
Elaine did.
“Arthur Bennett.”
My grandfather.
I shook my head.
“He’s dead.”
Elaine tightened her grip on Thomas.
“No, Emily.”
She looked directly into my eyes.
May you like
“Arthur Bennett’s death certificate is.”
Then the lights went out.
