Chapter 12 - The Mother Who Stole Her
Lily froze. “You're not my mother.”
Dr. Price flinched. “I raised you.”
“You kept me.”
“Because your real family couldn't protect you.”
Mara moved down one step. “Let the detective go.”
Price pressed the syringe harder. Ruiz gritted her teeth but kept her weapon lowered.
Adrian shifted beside Mara. “Helen, my father is abandoning you. You know that.”
“He promised to keep Nina safe.”
“He promised my mother she'd be safe, too.”
Price's eyes flicked toward him. The hesitation was tiny. Ruiz used it. She stamped on Price's foot and drove her elbow into the doctor's ribs. The syringe clattered down the stairs.
Mara kicked it away. Adrian pinned Price against the railing.
“Where's the server?” he demanded.
Price laughed through her tears. “Meridian. But you won't get near it. Graham's hosting the election commission there tonight.”
“Access codes,” Ruiz said.
“I don't have them.”
Lily approached. “You made me memorize them when I was fourteen.”
Price went rigid.
“You told me they were medicine inventories,” Lily continued. “You made me practice until I could recite them in my sleep.”
Mara looked at her sister. “You remember?”
“Every number.”
Footsteps thundered below. Ruiz cuffed Price to the banister, and the others raced through a linen corridor to June's waiting van.
They were six blocks away before anyone spoke. Then Lily pulled a notebook from her pocket and began writing rows of numbers. She stopped halfway through.
“What?” Mara asked.
“There's a problem. The server requires two credentials. I know one. The second belongs to the person who authorized Nightglass.”
“Graham,” Adrian said.
“No.” Lily looked up. “His wife.”
Mara felt her stomach drop. Evelyn Cross had warned them about the server. She had also held the only second key.
May you like
June tapped the steering wheel. “So the dead lady who just came back to life is the person who can open the crime scene.”
Lily shook her head. “Worse. According to the records, she's the person who ordered it sealed.”
