Chapter 11 - Everyone Has a Secret
Nora pushed away from the table. "Tell me why you're in that picture."
Vale put his gun on the table and moved away from it. "You can leave me here," he told Nora. "I won't stop you." That was at least different from the demands she had heard all night. She wanted to call him a monster, but monsters were easy. Vale had done harm and then saved a life. Frank had loved June and betrayed her. Eli had come back from the dead and still had trouble with honesty. None of them fit the clean categories she'd once used to understand the world. Nora didn't trust Vale. She also knew she could use the truth he carried. She hated both facts.
Vale didn't reach for his gun. "I worked security at a Whitmore charity event. Before the academy. Grant was a kid."
"You left that part out."
"I left out plenty," Vale said. "None of it changes who wants you dead."
Eli moved between them. "Marcus, start telling the entire story."
Vale's jaw tightened. His younger brother, Owen, had been caught in Whitmore's debt scheme. To keep Owen out of prison, Vale had carried sealed envelopes and looked away from dirty deals. When June died, he had been the first officer at the scene. He'd helped bury the investigation.
"So you didn't save my mother," Nora said.
"No. I failed her. When Eli uncovered the same people, I decided not to fail twice."
"You don't get redemption just because you're tired of guilt."
"I know."
A sharp knock sounded. Daniel moved toward the door, but Nora caught his arm. Outside, a woman's voice called, "Mr. Wells? It's your morning medication."
Daniel frowned. "She doesn't come until nine."
A metal cylinder rolled through the mail slot. Eli recognized it first. "Down!"
Smoke poured across the floor. Nora dragged Daniel toward a back window while Tessa kicked it open. Vale pulled a gun and disappeared into the haze. They fell into wet grass as men crashed through the front door.
Nora counted heads: Tessa, Daniel, Eli. No Vale.
May you like
Then her phone rang from a blocked number. She answered, and Grant said softly, "I told you not to trust the detective."
Behind his voice, she heard Vale scream.
