Chapter 3 - The Security Chief
Adrian locked the tablet screen before Daniel came back in.
“What are you hiding?” Daniel asked.
“Pain.”
Daniel gave him a look.
“You’re terrible at being injured.”
“Apparently I’m worse at dying.”
Daniel almost smiled.
Almost.
Adrian watched the mud on his shoe.
“Where were you at two this morning?”
Daniel’s shoulders tightened.
“Searching for you.”
“Where?”
“South branch roads. River access. Tow yards.”
“The bridge?”
“Yes.”
Ernesto looked up.
Daniel noticed.
Adrian said, “What time?”
“Maybe three.”
Ernesto’s fingers stopped around his paper cup.
Adrian saw it.
“What?”
The boy shook his head.
Daniel turned.
“What did you see?”
Ernesto looked at Adrian.
Adrian nodded.
“He was there before three,” Ernesto said.
Daniel’s face stayed neutral.
“Kids guess time badly.”
“I heard the church bell.”
Adrian frowned.
“What bell?”
“St. Vincent’s. It rings one time at one.”
Daniel looked at him.
The boy added:
“The black car came before the bell.”
Midnight to one.
Daniel had said three.
“Maybe another vehicle,” Daniel said.
Ernesto looked at the mud on his shoe.
Then at him.
Daniel followed the boy’s eyes.
He shifted his foot under the chair.
Adrian filed that away.
A nurse entered.
“Mr. Cole, scans show two cracked ribs, shoulder strain, concussion. We’d like to keep you overnight.”
“No.”
Daniel said, “Yes.”
Adrian looked at him.
Daniel shrugged.
“Concussion outranks billionaire.”
It sounded normal.
That was the problem.
Daniel had been normal for fifteen years.
Adrian needed proof before he moved.
He changed the subject.
“Ernesto’s mother is missing.”
Daniel looked at the boy.
“Name?”
“Sofia Reyes.”
Daniel’s face did something tiny.
A blink too slow.
Adrian saw it.
“You know her.”
“No.”
“Then why did the name bother you?”
“It didn’t.”
Adrian stared.
Daniel looked away first.
That was enough.
Adrian waited until Daniel stepped out to take a call.
Then he called his chief financial officer from the hospital phone.
“Find Sofia Reyes.”
“Who?”
“Ridgeway Facilities.”
“I’ll call HR.”
“No internal calls. Search backups.”
A pause.
“Adrian, what happened?”
“Do it.”
Ten minutes later, an encrypted email arrived.
SOFIA REYES — EMPLOYEE RECORD REMOVED.
Adrian frowned.
The CFO attached a server audit.
Deletion time:
4:12 a.m.
Two hours after the crash.
Requested by:
INTERNAL RISK OFFICE.
Daniel had supervisory authority over that office.
Ernesto came closer.
“That my mom?”
Adrian locked the screen.
“Maybe.”
“Don’t lie to me.”
The sentence hit.
Adrian looked at the boy.
“Her file was deleted.”
Ernesto’s face went still.
“Why?”
“I don’t know yet.”
“You said rich people know things.”
“I never said that.”
“You look like someone who thinks it.”
Adrian almost laughed.
Then Ernesto pulled something from his sock.
A folded piece of paper.
“My mom told me if something happened, don’t show this to police.”
Adrian unfolded it.
One address.
One instruction.
FLOORBOARD UNDER THE BLUE CABINET.
He looked at Ernesto.
The boy whispered:
May you like
“She said somebody at your company would come looking.”
CUT.
