Chapter 3 - A Woman in Green
I shoved a stack of folded tablecloths against the door and caught Theo before he cried.
"Mr. Mercer?" a voice called. "Your father needs you upstairs."
"Tell him I'm changing the baby."
"Open the door, sir."
Nora showed me a second exit behind the rolling shelves. We squeezed through it into a stairwell as the first lock gave way.
"Who are you?" I demanded on the landing.
"I worked nights at Briar Glen Recovery until last Tuesday. I tried calling your office six times. Your assistant said you refused to discuss your wife."
"I never got those calls."
"I believe you. That's why I took a job here."
She had been waiting for tonight's gala, when a man who ignored unknown numbers would have nowhere to hide from her.
We reached the ground floor. Vivian stood beyond the glass doors, talking to my father. He was seventy, tall, silver-haired, and still capable of making a room rearrange itself around him.
Vivian saw Theo first. Her eyes landed on the pendant in his fist.
"Evan," she said, coming toward us. "You're upsetting the donors."
"Is Briar Glen one of our facilities?"
Her step faltered.
"Why?"
"A simple question."
"We fund several recovery programs. Your father handles that portfolio."
Arthur approached, holding his champagne as though he'd stepped out of a portrait.
"Son, the foundation's name is on every banner in that ballroom. Whatever this is, handle it discreetly."
I held out Mara's note.
He read the first line, and the color left his face. It returned almost instantly.
"Where did you get this nonsense?"
"You know her handwriting."
"Grief plays tricks. And there are people who know exactly how much you'd pay to see her again."
Nora took a step toward him.
"Tell him about the ambulance, Mr. Mercer. Tell him why its route changed."
Vivian gripped Nora's elbow so hard the fabric bunched.
"You're fired."
"You can't fire a witness," I said.
Arthur looked from the pendant to Theo, then to me.
"Give me my grandson, Evan. You're not thinking clearly."
For the first time in my life, I held my child farther away from my father.
May you like
His voice dropped.
"If you walk out with that woman, I will have to do something you're going to hate."
