Chapter 10 - One Hour and Twelve Minutes

"We call the police," Adrian said.

Eli gave him a hard look. "Which ones? The detectives waiting upstairs?"

"Not every cop is crooked."

"True. But we don't have time to find out who isn't."

Jo pulled out a cable and connected her laptop to the conference-room screen. "We can stop a wire if we prove fraud to the bank's emergency desk. We need the original certificate audit log."

"Nora keeps a mirrored copy," Adrian said. "In her office."

"The office currently occupied by people who want you arrested?" Jo asked. "Wonderful."

We entered through a maintenance stairwell. Adrian knew the floor plan; I knew how to move without drawing eyes. A catering cart was parked on level fourteen for a staff breakfast. I borrowed a jacket and pushed the cart while Adrian and Jo followed carrying boxes.

The reception area held Vanessa, her lawyer, and two detectives. Vanessa saw me first.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding," she said. "Did nobody teach you when to quit?"

"A family trait," I said. "My dad was terrible at quitting."

She moved toward me. Adrian stepped between us. "Where's Nora?"

"On leave," Vanessa said.

"She called me twelve minutes ago."

"Then she shouldn't have."

Jo nudged the cart forward, accidentally on purpose bumping into Vanessa's lawyer. Coffee splashed onto his shoes. He howled. The detectives turned. I slipped down the corridor and found Nora's office unlocked.

Her monitor was smashed. Her purse still sat under the desk. I found the audit drive hidden in a hollowed-out dictionary, exactly where Adrian said she'd keep it.

Then I noticed blood on the carpet beside the filing cabinet.

A voice came from the doorway. "Put the drive down, Mara."

Conrad Sterling stood there with both hands in his pockets.

"You could have told me the truth seventeen years ago," I said.

"And you could have stayed a child. I made mistakes, but I kept you alive."

"Where's Nora?"

"Where she can't interfere."

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