Chapter 6 - When the Lights Went Out
Elara grabbed Maisie and dropped behind the heavy nursery bed. Julian shoved the guard toward the corridor and slammed the door just as someone hit it from the other side.
"Julian!" Elara whispered. "We need another way out."
He pulled the wardrobe aside again. The narrow passage was dark, but the air moved through it. He took the phone from his pocket, switched on the flashlight, and held out his free hand.
"Stay behind me. Don't let go of Maisie."
"I can walk by myself," Maisie said, frightened but offended.
"I know you can," Julian replied. "Tonight, we walk together."
They hurried through the passage as guards pounded the door behind them, emerging into the old conservatory.
Elara had barely reached the garden when a man stepped out from behind the hedges. Julian recognized him as Graham Pike's driver. The man lifted his hands, pretending he wanted to help.
"Mr. Vale, your mother asked me to take the child somewhere safe."
"Then you won't mind stepping away from her," Julian said.
The driver lunged. Julian shoved Elara and Maisie behind a stone planter, drove the man into the hedge, and fought off a wild swing before pinning him until he stopped struggling.
"Go!" Julian shouted.
They ran to the service garage. A housekeeper named Mrs. Alvarez, one of the few people Julian trusted, had left the side gate unlatched and a gray sedan running beside the laundry entrance.
"I didn't see anything," she told them, eyes bright with tears. "But I hope you find what you're looking for."
"You fought a man for us," she said at last.
"I should have done more six years ago."
"You didn't know."
"I knew something was wrong. I chose to believe the paperwork because it was easier than believing my own family could destroy you."
Elara looked away. "That is the part I can't forgive yet."
"I know."
They reached a small hotel under an old company name. Julian paid cash for two rooms and called Detective Renee Torres, a former prosecutor he trusted.
Renee answered on the second ring.
"If this is about your mother," she said, "don't say anything on the phone."
Julian stared at the handset.
"How did you know?"
"Because someone just offered my captain a promotion if I stopped asking questions about the Vale Foundation. Meet me at the twenty-four-hour diner on Mercer. Come alone."
May you like
She hung up.
Outside, across the street, a black SUV rolled slowly past the hotel entrance. It made one turn around the block, then stopped with its headlights pointed at their window.
