Chapter 7 - The Stairwell
The stairwell door slammed behind us.
I carried Lucy two flights before she started hitting my shoulder.
“What?”
She pointed down.
“We’re going up.”
She shook her head violently.
Down.
Tessa pressed her ear to the door above us.
Voices flooded the hall.
“Fine,” I said. “Down.”
We moved one level.
Lucy stiffened.
Footsteps came from below.
Slow.
Measured.
Not running toward an emergency.
Climbing toward us.
Tessa whispered, “Back up.”
Lucy started tapping the rail.
Three quick.
Two slow.
Again.
Three quick.
Two slow.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
Her face folded.
Danger.
I understood without the word.
The footsteps stopped one landing below.
Someone breathed hard.
A woman appeared around the turn.
Melissa Voss.
Her North Face jacket was torn from shoulder to pocket.
Blood had dried along her cheek.
Tessa grabbed a wall-mounted extinguisher.
Melissa raised both hands.
“I’m not here for her.”
I moved Lucy behind me.
“You brought her in.”
“I know.”
“You lied.”
“I know.”
“Where’s Dean?”
Her eyes moved toward Lucy.
“Dead.”
The word hit the concrete and stayed there.
Melissa swallowed.
“They killed him in the car because he kept a copy.”
“Of what?”
“Assignments.”
Footsteps pounded above us.
Melissa looked up.
“We can’t stay here.”
“Start talking.”
She pressed herself against the wall.
“Dean and I did retrieval work. Private custody enforcement. We were told Lucy’s mother abducted her during a placement dispute.”
Lucy made a sound like a cough.
Melissa flinched.
“The papers looked real.”
“They were fake.”
“I know that now.”
“When?”
“After the fourth kid disappeared.”
Tessa lowered the extinguisher slightly.
Melissa continued.
“Dean started copying intake packets. Some children went to Northbridge. Some went somewhere else.”
“Where?”
“We never got addresses. Only transfer IDs.”
“Who paid you?”
“A broker.”
“Name.”
“Initials only. M.R.”
My throat tightened.
“Malcolm Reed?”
“I never met him.”
“Then why bring Lucy here?”
Melissa looked directly at me.
“Because the order changed.”
“What order?”
“The original job was to take her to Northbridge.”
She wiped blood from her mouth.
“Then somebody called Dean and said the girl had to go through your ER first.”
I stared at her.
“Why?”
“He didn’t say.”
A fire alarm exploded through the stairwell.
Red strobes began flashing.
The doors on every landing unlocked automatically.
Tessa cursed.
Melissa grabbed my sleeve.
“That’s how they move people. During alarms.”
The door above us flew open.
Hospital staff poured into the stairs.
For one second bodies filled everything.
I turned to keep Lucy against me.
My arm closed on air.
“Lucy?”
Tessa spun.
“Lucy!”
The little girl was gone.
May you like
Only one pink sock lay on the concrete step.
