Chapter 3 - The Kitchen Exit
Nora jerked her hand free.
“Did you send that?”
Adrian read the message.
“No.”
“Then how do they have my number?”
He looked past her.
“We need to move.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“No. It’s the only thing keeping us alive right now.”
Security flashlights swept across the ballroom.
Martin called Adrian’s name.
Adrian pulled a chair into the aisle behind them, slowing the approaching guards.
Nora led him through the service doorway.
The kitchen was bright with backup lighting.
Steam rose from stockpots.
A dishwasher stood frozen with both hands in a sink.
“Nora?”
Her friend Tess stared at Adrian.
“What happened?”
“Call 911,” Nora said. “Tell them someone poisoned a drink in the ballroom.”
Tess grabbed the wall phone.
Adrian kept moving.
Nora stopped beside the walk-in refrigerator.
“You knew my last name.”
He glanced toward the swinging doors.
“Yes.”
“Because of Ben?”
A beat.
“Yes.”
Her chest tightened.
“Did you know him?”
“I did.”
“Then you’re going to tell me why his company laptop disappeared before the police searched his apartment.”
Adrian’s jaw shifted.
She had her answer.
He knew about that, too.
The kitchen doors opened behind them.
Martin stepped through.
“There you are.”
His voice was almost friendly.
Nora stood between the two men.
Martin opened his hands.
“We have medical personnel coming. Adrian’s under a lot of stress.”
“He didn’t drink it,” she said.
“No. Thanks to you.”
He took another step.
“Come with me, Nora.”
He hadn’t looked at her name tag.
It was turned backward.
Adrian saw her notice.
“Nora.”
She grabbed a metal serving cart and shoved it into Martin’s path.
Pans hit the tile like gunshots.
Tess screamed.
Adrian caught the fire door before it closed.
They ran into the loading alley.
Cold rain slapped Nora’s face.
A black SUV waited by the curb.
Adrian turned away from it.
“That’s mine. We can’t use it.”
“My car’s downstairs.”
“Anything registered to you will be watched.”
Nora stared at him.
“My mother.”
“What?”
“She’s home alone.”
Adrian pulled out his phone and dialed.
“Ruth. Emergency. Get a car to the address I’m sending. Woman named Patricia Reed. Don’t use our usual service.”
He listened.
“Because Martin’s compromised.”
Nora heard footsteps behind the fire door.
Adrian looked toward a delivery van.
“Can you drive that?”
“The keys are usually above the visor.”
“How do you know?”
“I work here.”
They climbed in.
As Nora started the engine, Adrian’s phone rang.
He answered on speaker.
A woman’s voice said, “Patricia’s apartment door is open.”
May you like
Nora forgot how to breathe.
Then the woman added, “And there’s blood on the kitchen floor.”
