Chapter 16 - The Empty Apartment
Marcus's phone went straight to voicemail. His apartment above the river was unlocked, the lights burning, a cup of coffee cooling on the counter. His laptop was gone.
I wanted to believe he'd fled. That would have been easier than imagining him hurt.
Darius checked the hallway cameras with the building manager's permission. The footage showed Marcus leaving alone with a document box at 2:14 a.m. He wore a coat and drove his own car. No one followed him out.
“He's not missing,” I said. “He's hiding something.”
Grace asked us not to make that conclusion yet. “People panic. Let us find out where he went.”
At eleven, Marcus called me from a roadside pay phone outside the city.
“I found the original contracts,” he said. “The ones my mother said had been destroyed in the flood.”
“Where are you?”
“An archive unit Victor rented under a false company name. I remembered the invoice.”
“Have you called the investigators?”
“I'm doing that now. I didn't want Celia's people to find out first.”
I leaned against the wall. “You could have told us.”
“I know. I keep making choices alone because that's how I learned to hide mistakes.”
“What do the contracts show?”
He hesitated. “They show the foundation paid Harbor Point for housing services in buildings that Victor's firm didn't own. The real owners never heard of the program.”
I closed my eyes. All those mothers. All those photographs. All those promises.
“Bring them to Grace,” I said.
“I will. Nia?”
“Yes?”
“I don't expect you to come back. I'm going to stop asking.”
The call ended.
Hours later, Grace confirmed Marcus had delivered the contracts to investigators and given a recorded statement with his own attorney present. The board meeting would proceed, but the documents had already changed the terms of the fight.
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Then Evelyn's secretary called. Celia had circulated a video from the gala edited to make it appear that I had threatened Evelyn and stolen the folder.
By evening, the clip had a million views.
