Chapter 10 - THE JUDGE BEHIND THE DOOR
Judge Marcus Holloway had signed Tanner’s emergency guardianship order.
He had also approved the clinic transfer.
Now his office had ordered Tanner removed from police protection.
Officer Ruiz turned the car around.
“No,” I said.
“The children in that building need help.”
“The fire department is coming.”
“My son is being taken again.”
Ruiz gripped the wheel.
“We cannot split ourselves in half.”
A firefighter ran toward the clinic entrance.
Behind him, a locked window shattered.
Children began screaming from the third floor.
I looked at the burning building.
Then at the road leading back to town.
It was the choice Meredith expected me to make.
Save my own child.
Or save the evidence and the others.
Tanner had already risked himself to record her confession.
I could not abandon twenty-three children.
“Call every unit you have,” I said.
“Send them after Tanner.”
Ruiz looked at me.
“And you?”
“I’m going inside.”
She grabbed my arm.
“You are not trained.”
“I know the building layout.”
“How?”
“Meredith made me tour it before she asked me to sign the papers.”
I ran toward the clinic.
Smoke filled the lobby.
The electronic locks had failed in the closed position.
Staff members pounded at control panels.
Dr. Vale shouted from the police car behind us.
“There is a manual release in the basement.”
Ruiz pulled him out.
“You are coming.”
Vale resisted.
“The basement is beneath the administrative wing.”
“Then you had better move quickly.”
We entered through a side door.
Heat rolled across the corridor.
Vale guided us down a service staircase.
At the basement landing, he stopped.
A man stood beside the manual release panel.
Gray hair.
Glasses.
A gold ring.
Gerald Voss.
He should have been in custody.
Officer Ruiz raised her weapon.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Gerald smiled.
“You should ask who signed my release.”
“Judge Holloway?”
“Judge Holloway understands the difference between accusation and evidence.”
I stepped closer.
“You forged my signature.”
“You signed more papers than you remember.”
“I remember every paper involving my son.”
Gerald glanced toward Vale.
“Did you tell them about Olivia?”
Vale said nothing.
Gerald’s smile widened.
“Then I will.”
He looked at me.
“Your wife was not killed because she discovered our operation.”
“She was killed because she helped build it.”
I stopped breathing.
“That is a lie.”
Gerald opened a cabinet beside the control panel.
Inside were old files.
He removed one bearing Olivia’s name.
“She designed the original trust model.”
“She found wealthy families with vulnerable heirs.”
“She only grew a conscience after Tanner was born.”
I wanted to hit him.
Instead, I looked at the file.
Olivia’s signature appeared on dozens of forms.
Ruiz kept her weapon aimed at Gerald.
“Open the doors.”
“Not until I have immunity.”
Children screamed above us.
Gerald looked at me.
“You want the truth about your wife?”
“Protect me.”
“And I will give you everything.”
Vale stepped toward the panel.
Gerald pulled a small remote from his pocket.
“Another step and the manual release burns out.”
Ruiz’s voice became cold.
“Drop it.”
Gerald pressed one button.
A loud mechanical alarm sounded.
Vale went pale.
“What did you do?”
Gerald looked toward the ceiling.
“Locked the fire doors permanently.”
Smoke began pouring down the staircase.
Then a child’s voice came through the basement intercom.
“Dad?”
It was Tanner.
May you like
Gerald smiled.
“He is in the judge’s chambers.”
