Chapter 9 - The Second Key
Claire collapsed.
“No!”
Marcus caught her before she hit the ground.
Davis grabbed Evelyn’s phone.
“Get me a trace!”
Evelyn stood with her hands raised.
For the first time, she looked shaken.
“That wasn’t supposed to happen.”
Claire launched herself at her.
“You knew!”
Officers restrained Claire.
“Where is my daughter?”
Evelyn shouted back, “I don’t know!”
Claire stopped.
“What?”
“Julian stopped telling me everything.”
Marcus stared.
“Your own son?”
Evelyn laughed bitterly.
“You think he trusts me?”
Davis stepped closer.
“You’re going to tell us everything.”
“I’ll talk with an attorney.”
Marcus pointed toward the phone.
“A little girl may have just been shot.”
Evelyn’s face changed.
She looked older suddenly.
“He told me no one would be hurt.”
Claire nearly screamed.
“He locked me in a basement!”
Evelyn looked away.
“I didn’t know he would go that far.”
“You came downstairs!”
“I thought he was frightening you.”
Claire stared at her.
“That is your defense?”
Davis’s radio crackled.
“We traced the video.”
Everyone went still.
“Location?”
“Parking structure on Grant Avenue.”
Marcus and Claire looked at each other.
“Go,” Davis ordered.
Police vehicles tore through downtown.
Claire rode in the back.
Marcus beside her.
She didn’t speak.
Her hands were clasped so tightly her knuckles were white.
“Lily’s alive,” Marcus said.
Claire stared forward.
“You don’t know that.”
“No.”
He swallowed.
“But Julian needs leverage.”
“What if the gunshot was real?”
Marcus had no answer.
They reached the parking garage.
Officers spread out.
“Vehicle located!”
Claire ran before anyone could stop her.
“Claire!”
She reached a silver sedan.
The back door was open.
Blood marked the seat.
Claire screamed.
Then a tiny voice came from beneath the car beside it.
“Mommy?”
Claire dropped to the concrete.
Lily crawled out.
Claire pulled her into her arms.
“Oh my God.”
Lily sobbed against her neck.
“He shot the man.”
Marcus looked around.
“What man?”
Officers found him behind a pillar.
Alive.
A bullet had hit his shoulder.
Officer Grant.
Claire stared.
“You?”
Grant grimaced.
“Julian forced me to bring Lily.”
Davis arrived.
His face went cold.
“Explain.”
Grant looked ashamed.
“He had my son.”
Everyone froze.
Grant continued.
“He knew where my family lived. He sent me pictures.”
Claire held Lily tighter.
“He blackmailed you.”
Grant nodded.
“I was supposed to move Lily from the hospital. Then meet him here.”
“What happened?” Davis asked.
“He took Lily. I tried to stop him.”
Grant touched his shoulder.
“He shot me and left.”
“Where did he go?”
“I don’t know.”
Lily pulled away from Claire.
“I do.”
Everyone looked at her.
Julian had spoken on the phone while driving.
Lily had heard him.
“He said, ‘Mom can’t open it without me.’”
Marcus frowned.
“Open what?”
Lily reached into her pocket.
“I took this from Daddy.”
She held out a silver key.
Different from Claire’s brass one.
Number 17 engraved on it.
Marcus stared.
“Two keys.”
Claire looked at her daughter.
One key to the locker.
One key to the truth.
Lily whispered, “Daddy got really mad when he saw I had it.”
Marcus took the silver key.
Then he understood.
Julian didn’t have both keys.
Which meant locker seventeen was still unopened.
May you like
And whatever Samuel Reed had hidden inside...
Julian was willing to kidnap his own daughter to get it.
