Chapter 7
The fire changed everything.
The police could no longer call the messages harassment.
Someone had tried to kill us.
Dad moved us out of the Beacon Hill house that night.
He refused to tell me where we were going until the SUV entered an underground garage beneath one of Carter Global's office towers.
There was a private apartment on the top floor.
Bulletproof windows.
Private elevators.
Enough security to protect a president.
Madison came with us.
That part surprised everyone.
Including Madison.
Her mother had checked herself into a private clinic after Richard disappeared.
The police considered the Blake house unsafe.
And Madison refused protective custody.
So Dad made a decision.
"She stays with us."
Madison stared at him.
"Why would you do that?"
Dad looked at her.
"Because somebody tried to burn you alive beside my daughter."
She had no answer.
Neither did I.
The first night was strange.
Madison sat across from me at a kitchen island bigger than most restaurant counters.
Neither of us ate.
Finally she said, "I really am sorry."
I looked at her.
"For the fire?"
"For everything before it."
I waited.
She swallowed.
"I treated you like garbage because I thought you couldn't hurt me."
"That's supposed to make it better?"
"No."
She shook her head.
"It's supposed to be the truth."
I respected that more than another excuse.
"So why me?"
"Because you were new."
"That's it?"
"And because Principal Harris told my dad you were receiving financial assistance."
I stared at her.
"What?"
"He said your records were unusual. Tuition paid through some foundation."
Dad had hidden my identity by routing tuition through a family charity.
Madison continued.
"My dad laughed about it at dinner."
My anger shifted.
"Your father discussed a student's financial records with you?"
"He discussed everybody."
That explained more than I wanted it to.
"Who had parents divorcing. Who was behind on tuition. Who donated. Who complained."
"And Harris gave him that information?"
"Sometimes."
I thought about all the students Madison had mocked.
Maybe she hadn't guessed their weak spots.
Maybe she'd been handed them.
"Why?"
Madison gave a bitter laugh.
"Because my family donated two million dollars for the science wing."
I looked away.
She whispered, "I know how disgusting that sounds."
"Good."
She almost smiled.
Then the elevator opened.
Lauren entered carrying a laptop and three folders.
Dad followed her.
"We found something."
Madison straightened.
"About my dad?"
"Possibly."
Lauren placed the laptop on the counter.
"The threatening number was masked through several internet services, but the photograph from the fire contained metadata."
I leaned forward.
"You traced it?"
"To a device registered to Mercer Financial Group."
Madison's face changed.
"Chloe's dad."
Jonathan Mercer.
The man whose fingerprint had allegedly been found near Dad's sabotaged brake line.
Lauren continued.
"Police searched his office an hour ago."
"And?"
"Empty."
"He's gone too?"
Dad nodded.
Madison stood.
"My dad and Jonathan disappeared at the same time?"
"Within twenty-four hours."
"Then they're together."
"Maybe."
I remembered something.
"Chloe."
Everyone looked at me.
"She was the one who told me to go to the theater."
Dad's expression hardened.
"You didn't mention that."
"I didn't know the fire would happen."
"Emily."
"I know."
He was furious.
I deserved it.
Lauren asked, "What exactly did Chloe say?"
I explained.
Dad pulled out his phone.
"Police need to find her."
Madison shook her head.
"She's not involved."
"You don't know that."
"I've known Chloe since kindergarten."
"And you thought you knew your father."
That shut her up.
Police arrived at Chloe's house twenty minutes later.
She was gone.
Her mother said she had left that morning for school and never returned.
Another missing person.
By midnight, we had three.
Richard Blake.
Jonathan Mercer.
Chloe Mercer.
I couldn't sleep.
At 1:17 a.m., I found Madison sitting beside the apartment windows.
Boston glittered far below.
"Can't sleep?"
She shook her head.
I sat across from her.
After a minute, she said, "My dad used to take me to breakfast every Sunday."
I didn't know what to say.
"He knew the waitress's name. Tipped forty percent. Remembered everyone's birthdays."
Her voice cracked.
"How can someone like that also be the person on your mother's tape?"
"People aren't one thing."
"I don't want him to be guilty."
"I know."
"Do you want him to be?"
I thought about Mom.
About the video.
About Richard standing beside Detective Price after Victoria died.
"No."
Madison looked surprised.
"I want the truth."
She stared at the city.
"What if the truth destroys everything?"
I whispered, "Then maybe everything was already broken."
At 2:03 a.m., the emergency phone in the apartment rang.
Not my cell.
A secure line.
Dad answered in his office.
I heard his voice through the hall.
"Who is this?"
Silence.
Then:
"Where?"
Another pause.
"I'm coming."
I left my room.
Dad was already putting on his coat.
"What's happening?"
He looked at me.
"Police found Chloe."
Madison appeared behind me.
"Where?"
"Massachusetts General."
Her face went white.
"Is she hurt?"
Dad hesitated.
"Yes."
We arrived at the hospital under heavy security.
Chloe was conscious.
Barely.
Someone had left her near the emergency entrance.
She had bruises around her wrists and a cut near her temple.
But she was alive.
When she saw Madison, she started crying.
Madison rushed toward the bed.
"Oh my God."
Chloe grabbed her hand.
"I'm sorry."
"For what?"
"The theater."
Madison froze.
Chloe looked at me.
"I sent you there."
"I know."
"I didn't know about the fire."
"Who told you to send me?"
She started shaking.
A detective stepped closer.
"Chloe, you're safe. Tell us."
"My dad."
The room went silent.
Jonathan Mercer.
"He called me Friday after school. He said Richard Blake was trying to frame him for murder."
Madison whispered, "Where is your dad?"
"I don't know."
"He made you bring Emily downstairs?"
Chloe nodded.
"He said Madison needed to show her evidence privately. He said if security saw Madison, police would take her away."
Madison's face twisted.
"He used us."
Chloe cried harder.
"He told me to leave after I sent the message. I did."
"What happened next?"
"My dad picked me up."
"Where?"
"Two blocks from school."
"Then?"
"He took my phone. He drove me to an old motel."
Lauren leaned forward.
"Which motel?"
"I don't know. Somewhere north."
"What happened there?"
Chloe looked terrified.
"Richard Blake was there."
Madison stopped breathing.
"My dad?"
Chloe nodded.
"He and my father were fighting."
"About what?"
Chloe's eyes moved to me.
"Your mother."
I felt cold.
"What did they say?"
"Richard kept saying he never agreed to kill Evelyn."
Dad stepped closer.
Madison's face crumpled.
"No."
Chloe continued.
"My dad told him it didn't matter anymore."
Dad's hands clenched.
"And then?"
"They realized I was listening."
She started crying again.
"My dad locked me in the bathroom."
Madison squeezed her hand.
"How did you get away?"
"Richard let me out."
Everyone froze.
"What?" Madison whispered.
"Your dad waited until mine left the room. He opened the door."
Chloe looked at Madison.
"He told me to run."
Madison covered her mouth.
Chloe continued.
"He gave me money. He said not to trust anybody."
"Did he say where he was going?"
"No."
"Did he say anything else?"
Chloe nodded slowly.
"He said there was one person who could prove he didn't kill Victoria."
Dad stepped forward.
"Who?"
Chloe looked directly at him.
"Samuel Price."
My father frowned.
"Price already accused Richard."
"No."
Chloe shook her head.
"He said Price was lying."
The room went quiet.
"Why would Price lie?"
Chloe swallowed.
"Because Jonathan Mercer has been paying him for twenty-five years."
Dad looked at Lauren.
The bank records.
Madison's folder.
Payments to S. Price.
Suddenly the injured detective wasn't only a witness.
He was a suspect.
A police officer stepped outside to make a call.
Then Chloe grabbed my wrist.
"Emily."
Her fingers were ice cold.
"What?"
"There's something else."
Her voice fell to a whisper.
"Before my father realized I was listening, he said they made one mistake all those years ago."
"What mistake?"
She looked terrified.
"They thought your mother died before she could give the evidence to someone."
My heart started pounding.
"Who?"
"I don't know."
Then the hospital lights went out.
Everything vanished into darkness.
Madison screamed.
Security officers shouted.
May you like
Emergency lights flashed red.
And from somewhere down the corridor came two sharp gunshots.
