Chapter 15 - Darkness Under the Chandeliers

Nora moved toward the scream, feeling the crowd surge around her. Somebody stumbled into a chair. A glass shattered. Emergency lights painted the gold walls a cold red.

"Lena!" Nora shouted.

"Right here. Stay low."

The scream came again. On the balcony, a trustee named Helen Price clung to the railing while a man in a dark coat gripped her arm. He was trying to drag her toward a service door.

"She has the emails!" Celeste yelled.

Adrian pushed through the crowd and reached the stairs first. Lena followed, calling for the hired security team to block the exits. Nora ran toward the service hall, thinking of the floor plan her father had once drawn for her on a napkin.

There was a narrow back staircase. She could get above the man before he reached the roof.

She took the steps two at a time, heart slamming against her ribs. At the landing she found Helen struggling to breathe, her silver necklace snapped. The attacker held a hand over her mouth.

"Let her go," Nora said.

He spun. In his free hand was a small knife.

Nora froze for a breath. Then she threw the heavy document folder straight at his face. Papers exploded across the landing. Helen twisted away. Adrian barreled through the door and knocked the man into the wall.

Lena arrived seconds later and secured his wrists. In the confusion, the knife skittered across the tile.

Helen doubled over, coughing. "He wanted my phone."

"Do you still have it?" Nora asked.

Helen reached inside her jacket and produced a scratched black phone. "I kept every message Grant sent me. I was about to tell the board."

Downstairs the lights returned. Grant stood by the podium, arms spread in theatrical concern.

"What happened?" he called.

"Your plan failed," Celeste said from the foot of the stairs.

For the first time, Grant looked directly at his wife without a smile. "You have no idea what you've started."

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Helen's phone rang. A live video call opened by itself, showing a dim room and a woman seated in a chair. Her hair was streaked with silver. Her eyes, tired but familiar, looked toward the camera.

"Nora?" Evelyn Vale whispered.