CHAPTER 9 — THE FALL
Grant dropped toward the branch.
He caught it with both hands.
The tree bent under his weight.
Victoria screamed his name.
Ruiz pulled her away from the cliff.
“Grant, don’t move!”
Grant ignored him.
He reached for the bracelet tangled among the leaves.
The branch cracked.
Emily crawled toward the edge.
“Grant, leave it!”
He looked up at her.
“You think this is about jewelry?”
“It’s over.”
“It’s never over when people like us still own the city.”
The branch snapped.
Grant fell.
He struck the rocky slope and disappeared into the darkness.
Victoria made a broken sound Emily would never forget.
Officers descended with rescue ropes.
Emily ran to Marcus.
He lay on his back, one hand pressed against his chest.
Blood covered his shirt.
She dropped beside him.
“Stay awake.”
Marcus tried to smile.
“I finally heard you call me something other than Mr. Reed.”
“I didn’t call you Dad.”
“You were thinking it.”
“Don’t make jokes.”
“Bossy. Just like your mother.”
Emily pressed harder against the wound.
“You don’t get to tell me about her and then die.”
Paramedics rushed over.
As they lifted Marcus onto a stretcher, he grabbed Emily’s wrist.
“The bracelet has one more secret.”
“What?”
“Anna didn’t trust the microfilm. She made a full copy.”
“Where?”
Marcus coughed.
“Inside the empty jewelry box.”
Emily stared.
“The box the police collected?”
He nodded.
“The velvet lining hides a data key.”
Officer Ruiz heard him.
“The box is in evidence.”
Lauren laughed from beside the police car.
“Not anymore.”
Everyone turned.
The evidence vehicle’s rear door stood open.
The jewelry box was gone.
Ruiz grabbed Lauren.
“Who took it?”
She smiled through split lips.
“You really think Grant came alone?”
A gunshot rang out from the woods.
One of the portable lights exploded.
Darkness covered the road.
An engine started nearby.
Emily saw a motorcycle race away between the trees.
Marcus lifted his head from the stretcher.
“Follow it.”
“You need surgery.”
“The box contains every name. Every payment. Every murder.”
Ruiz ordered two officers to pursue.
Emily looked at Lauren.
“Who’s on the motorcycle?”
Lauren’s smile disappeared.
“Richard Hayes.”
Victoria turned slowly.
“My husband is dead.”
Lauren shook her head.
“No. The body in his coffin belonged to someone else.”
Victoria stumbled backward.
Emily stared down the road.
For seven years, the world had believed Richard Hayes was buried in a private cemetery.
May you like
But the architect of the entire criminal network was alive.
And he had just taken the only evidence that could destroy him.
