Chapter 3 - THE WOMAN IN THE PHOTOGRAPH
Ivy was halfway through getting her shoulder bandaged when Ronan entered the library.
Dr. Mercer looked at him.
“You’re interrupting.”
“I need two minutes.”
“You get one.”
Ronan looked at Ivy.
“We have a problem.”
She glanced at Emily.
“Does it involve her?”
“No.”
“Then she stays.”
Ronan nodded.
Emily stayed.
Ronan placed the photograph on the table.
Ivy stared at it.
It showed her helping her mother into a taxi outside St. Anne’s Hospital.
Her face hardened.
“Where did you get this?”
“From a man who tried to enter my property carrying a gun.”
Emily gasped.
Ivy did not.
She went still.
Too still.
Ronan noticed.
“You know him?”
“No.”
“You recognize the name Darren Pike?”
“No.”
“Has anyone threatened you?”
“No.”
“Are you always this difficult?”
“Yes.”
Emily covered a smile.
Ronan almost smiled again.
Then Ivy said, “My mother got a phone call last week.”
His expression changed.
“What kind of call?”
“A man asked if I still worked here.”
“And?”
“She hung up.”
“Anything else?”
Ivy hesitated.
Ronan noticed that too.
“Tell me.”
“I found my apartment door unlocked three nights ago.”
Emily stared at her.
“You didn’t tell me that.”
“I didn’t want to scare you.”
Ronan’s voice dropped.
“Was anything taken?”
“No.”
“Moved?”
Ivy thought about it.
“My father’s box.”
“What box?”
“Old papers. Photographs. Stuff from before he died.”
“Was it missing?”
“No.”
“It had been opened.”
Ronan’s face became unreadable.
“When did your father die?”
“Twelve years ago.”
“Name?”
Ivy frowned.
“Why?”
“Because someone connected to my fiancée is following you with a gun.”
She met his eyes.
“Daniel Lancaster.”
Ronan stopped breathing.
It lasted less than a second.
But Ivy saw it.
“You knew him.”
Ronan looked toward Marcus.
Marcus had gone rigid.
Ivy stood.
The doctor cursed.
“Sit down.”
“No.”
She faced Ronan.
“You knew my father.”
Ronan said nothing.
“Answer me.”
“Yes.”
The word landed like a brick.
Ivy stared at him.
“How?”
Ronan looked toward Emily.
“Take her upstairs.”
Ivy stepped between them.
“She stays.”
“This isn’t a conversation for her.”
“It’s my conversation.”
Ronan’s jaw tightened.
“Your father worked for mine.”
Ivy laughed once.
“No.”
“He did.”
“My father fixed elevators.”
“That was his legitimate job.”
The room seemed to shrink.
Ivy felt suddenly cold.
“What are you saying?”
Ronan’s expression held no pride.
“My father ran the Blackwood organization. Your father kept his financial records.”
Emily whispered, “Jesus.”
Ivy’s eyes burned.
“My father hated criminals.”
“So did mine.”
“That doesn’t even make sense.”
“It does when you know what happened.”
Ivy took one step closer.
“What happened?”
Ronan looked at the bandage on her shoulder.
Then he said the sentence that changed everything.
“Your father didn’t die in a car accident.”
Ivy stopped.
Ronan continued.
“He was murdered.”
The library door opened.
Marcus appeared.
“Ronan.”
“What now?”
“We searched Pike’s car.”
“And?”
Marcus held up a plastic evidence bag.
Inside it was an old brass key.
Ivy’s knees nearly gave out.
May you like
She knew that key.
It had belonged to her father.
