Chapter 11 - The Hallway Without Lights
“Stay here,” Lorenzo told Elena.
She was already moving toward the sitting room.
“Mia’s with your mother.”
Rocco spoke into his radio.
“Close the east gate. Identify every vehicle inside the grounds.”
The lights went out before anyone answered.
A second later, emergency lamps glowed along the floor.
Elena ran.
Lorenzo reached the sitting room beside her.
Empty.
The blanket lay on the couch.
Mia’s rabbit lay beneath it.
For one terrible moment, Elena made no sound.
Then she called her daughter’s name.
Not loudly.
Like she was afraid a scream would make the answer worse.
“Mia?”
A nurse appeared at the far end of the hall.
“Your mother asked to go back to her room.”
“Where are they?”
“The new security man said he’d help with the chair.”
Lorenzo turned toward Rocco.
Rocco was already sprinting.
They reached the service corridor as a man in a household security jacket pushed the wheelchair toward the side entrance.
Mia sat on Lorenzo’s mother’s lap.
“Stop.”
The man looked back.
His hand went to the door.
Rocco caught the wheelchair handles first.
Lorenzo stepped between the man and the exit.
“Take your hands off her.”
“It’s an evacuation,” the man said.
“Then why didn’t you notify the nurse?”
The man tried to slip past.
Rocco blocked him.
Elena reached Mia and lifted her into her arms.
The child clung to her neck.
“Grandma said don’t get down.”
Lorenzo looked at his mother.
Her left arm had been locked across Mia’s waist.
She was breathing hard.
But she had not let go.
Outside, an engine idled.
A dark van sat beside the service steps.
Its driver saw Rocco and reversed so abruptly the tires struck the curb.
The gate team blocked the drive before it reached the exit.
Lorenzo faced the man in the security jacket.
“Who hired you?”
“I was told the old woman needed moving. I don’t know anything else.”
“By whom?”
The man looked over Lorenzo’s shoulder.
Vivien stood beneath an emergency light.
Her silk robe hung open over her evening dress.
“This is ridiculous,” she said. “I called them because your mother needs help.”
Then Mia lifted her head.
“That’s the man from the garden.”
Elena went rigid.
“What man?”
May you like
Mia pointed.
“The one who said Mommy was going away.”
