Chapter 2 - The Woman at the Window

The woman disappeared before Mara could stand.

“Daniel. Who was that?”

“Stay here,” he said, handing Victor over to two patrol officers. “You need an ambulance.”

“I need an answer.”

Victor laughed while an officer searched his pockets. “She's got her father's temper. No patience for consequences.”

Mara went cold. She had never told Victor about her father.

Daniel saw the change in her face. “What did he say to you before I got here?”

“That he could erase the last eleven months. Then he tried to erase my phone.”

Across the patio, Daniel's new captain, Malcolm Price, spoke quietly into his own cell. At the word “phone,” Price glanced toward Mara and turned away.

The house belonged to Victor's sister, an art dealer who hosted judges, lawyers, and police brass. Mara had worked there on the catering staff three times. Tonight she came as a guest—invited by an anonymous text that included a photograph of Evan's crushed sedan and a note: THE ANSWER WILL BE AT DANIEL'S PARTY.

A young server approached with a clean napkin. “There’s someone in the laundry room who wants you.”

“Who?”

“She said to ask for the blue coat.”

Mara remembered the woman at the window wore a navy raincoat. She slipped through the French doors while Daniel argued with Price. In the laundry room, behind a humming dryer, stood a Black woman in her forties with close-cropped hair and terrified eyes.

“My name is Nia Foster,” she said. “I used to work in the department's evidence unit.”

“Did you send the text?”

“Yes. Your brother came to me before he died.”

Mara grabbed the shelf. “With what?”

“A copy of a property voucher that never should've existed. Somebody was moving seized cash, then moving the paper to make it disappear.”

“Victor?”

“Victor signed the approvals. Price buried the complaints. But Evan had proof that reached higher.”

The washer clicked to silence. From the hall came a man's voice: “Check every room.”

Nia shoved a key into Mara's hand. “Locker 214, Grand Central. Don't use your own phone. And don't go home.”

The door handle turned.

Nia stepped in front of it, making herself visible. “Run.”

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Mara ducked through the utility door into the dark garage. Behind her, a heavy bang shook the laundry-room wall.

Then Nia screamed