Chapter 7 - THE LOCKED DOOR
Naomi called Eli's name through the kitchen.
Nothing.
“Cole asked him to help with a delivery.”
Naomi handed Ruth the letter. “Call Ethan. Tell him where we're going.”
Below the kitchen, the corridor smelled of detergent and warm pipes. At the end, a storage-room door was closed.
Someone inside said, “I already told you.”
Eli.
Naomi tried the handle. Locked.
“Open the door, Cole.”
A chair scraped.
“Staff matter,” he called.
“Then Ruth should be here.”
The lock clicked. Cole stepped out, filling the doorway.
“Go polish something.”
Naomi looked past him. Eli sat at a folding table. His phone lay beside a second resignation letter.
“Eli, do you want to leave this room?”
“Yes.”
Cole caught Naomi's wrist as she moved.
Her body answered before her fear could. She turned toward his thumb, freed her hand, and stepped aside. His next reach met empty air.
“Don't touch me again.”
He looked at her differently now.
From the stairs, Ethan said, “Back away from them.”
Ruth was beside him, speaking to the emergency dispatcher.
Cole lifted both hands. “He was being questioned about missing property.”
“He asked to leave,” Ethan said. “I heard him.”
Eli walked out with Naomi. Halfway upstairs, his legs gave out. She sat beside him until he could breathe.
“He said my mother would lose her apartment,” he whispered.
“Tell the officers exactly that.”
“I need this job.”
“You still have it,” Ethan said.
Cole was escorted off the property after the interviews. Ethan revoked his access and hired an outside security firm. The officers took Eli's statement; they did not promise an instant arrest.
Later, Eli told Naomi what he had left out in the hallway.
“Vanessa went into your room before they searched it. I saw her come out.”
“Why didn't you say so?”
He looked ashamed.
“Because I was scared.”
Naomi sat beside him.
“You told the truth while you were scared. That counts.”
That evening, Ethan took the copied authorization to his mother.
Audrey Whitmore studied it beneath the library lamp.
“Where did you find this?”
“Why?”
May you like
She removed her glasses with both hands.
“Because I approved the first payment.”
