Chapter 10 - What Lucy Saw
Ortiz shoved us into the hidden room and pulled the steel door almost shut.
Footsteps crossed the floor above.
More than one person.
Mara held both hands over her mouth.
I whispered, “Tell me now.”
She shook her head toward the ceiling.
“Now.”
Her eyes filled.
“Rachel survived the hit.”
My body went cold.
“For how long?”
“Long enough.”
“That means nothing.”
“It means she was conscious in the ambulance.”
I stared at her.
“I saw the hospital record. She arrived pulseless.”
“That’s the record they wrote.”
Mara leaned closer.
“She was picked up at 9:14. The nearest trauma center was eight minutes away. She did not arrive here until 10:09.”
Forty-seven missing minutes.
My mind rejected the number.
“Where was she?”
“Reed redirected the ambulance.”
“How do you know?”
“Video.”
A step landed directly outside the hidden door.
Ortiz raised her weapon.
Nobody breathed.
The step moved on.
Mara continued in a whisper.
“I found a backup file. Rachel had mounted a tiny camera in her work bag because she knew someone was following her.”
“Lucy saw it?”
“She found the clip on my laptop.”
“What’s on it?”
“Reed entering the ambulance. Rachel alive. Eleanor with him.”
My teeth clenched.
“Where is the video?”
“Not on the card.”
“Where?”
“Lucy knows.”
A flashlight beam crossed the crack in the door.
Ortiz motioned us deeper.
Then a phone began ringing.
Mine.
I killed it on the first vibration.
The footsteps outside stopped.
Silence.
Then moved away.
I looked at the screen.
REED.
I answered without speaking.
Lucy was crying in the background.
Quietly.
Reed said, “You found Mara.”
“You’re done.”
“I’ve been told that before.”
“Let Lucy go.”
“Bring me the card.”
“No.”
“And Mara.”
“No.”
Reed’s breathing stayed calm.
“You always were bad at triage when it was personal.”
I pressed the phone harder to my ear.
He continued.
“Card and Mara. St. Catherine’s. One hour.”
A metallic click sounded near Lucy.
I knew the sound.
Slide racking on a handgun.
Then Reed said:
“Or I’ll finish what Rachel started.”
The line went dead.
Mara looked at me.
“What did he mean?”
I did not answer.
Because I did not know.
And because a worse thought had just arrived.
Reed wanted the trade at the hospital.
His hospital.
May you like
Where he controlled the locks, cameras, records, and half the people wearing badges.
