Chapter 7 - THE EMPTY POLICE VAN
Nathaniel called the transport team.
No one answered.
He ordered officers to locate the van.
The vehicle was found beneath an abandoned railway bridge.
The rear doors were open.
Both police officers were alive but unconscious.
Eleanor was gone.
A black mask lay on the ground.
Evelyn stared at the live feed still playing on the television.
“Is it real?”
Nathaniel paused the image.
“Look at the wall behind her.”
A faded theater poster hung beside Eleanor.
Evelyn recognized the building.
The old Ashford Theater had been closed for fifteen years.
Her father had worked there before his death.
“He was the maintenance manager,” Evelyn said.
Nathaniel looked at her.
“Your father?”
“Yes.”
“He was fired two days before the accident.”
“By Eleanor?”
“By her husband.”
Lily gripped Evelyn’s sleeve.
“Mommy, don’t go.”
Evelyn held her face gently.
“I won’t leave you.”
Nathaniel shook his head.
“The message specifically demanded that you come alone.”
“That means they need me alive long enough to open something.”
“The key has already been opened.”
“They may not know that.”
Nathaniel removed a blank memory card from the technician’s equipment.
“We give them this.”
Evelyn looked at him.
“And the real chip?”
“I send it to a federal lab.”
A shadow moved beneath the hotel room door.
Nathaniel drew his weapon.
The door exploded inward.
A man in a black mask fired twice.
Nathaniel pushed Evelyn behind the couch.
The bullets struck the wall.
Lily screamed.
The officer returned fire.
The masked man disappeared into the hallway.
Nathaniel chased him.
Evelyn crawled toward Lily.
“Are you hurt?”
Lily shook her head.
A faint smell lingered in the room.
Cedarwood.
Evelyn knew that scent.
Julian wore it every day.
She looked beneath the couch.
A hospital identification band lay on the carpet.
Julian Ashford.
Nathaniel returned.
“He got away.”
“It was Julian.”
Nathaniel saw the wristband.
“Then he staged his own shooting.”
Evelyn thought back to the corridor.
Only Julian had claimed the masked attacker shot him.
The wound may have been arranged.
The confession may have been part of the plan.
“He wanted Eleanor arrested,” Evelyn said.
“Why?”
“Because he wants the chip for himself.”
Nathaniel’s phone rang.
He listened without speaking.
His expression changed.
“What is it?” Evelyn asked.
“The federal lab received the evidence envelope.”
“And?”
“It was empty.”
Nathaniel slowly turned toward the officer who had carried it.
The officer was gone.
A message appeared on Evelyn’s phone.
It came from her dead mother’s number.
The rose remembers.
May you like
Come to the theater before midnight.
Bring Lily.
