Chapter 10 - Midnight Isn't Mercy

"Ellie's asthma," Claire said. "They took her rescue inhaler."

Ethan leaned forward. "She had a new one in her school backpack."

"The backpack is outside that door, remember?"

He swore under his breath. Lena hid beside a loading dock and killed the headlights. The pursuing SUV rushed past.

"We have fifty minutes," Lena said. "Maybe less."

Claire called Margaret again. This time the older woman answered on the first ring.

"I will give you the memory card," Claire said. "Not a copy. The original. But I want Ellie and her inhaler first."

"You can't trust Damon."

"I don't. I called you."

A long silence stretched between them.

"I never wanted the girl hurt," Margaret finally said.

"You put her in his hands."

"I thought he would frighten you into handing over the files. I didn't know he would take her to North Pier."

"Your excuses don't keep her breathing."

Margaret made a sound that might have been a sob. Claire couldn't care. Grief without action was just another luxury rich people could afford.

"Damon wants me there too," Margaret said. "He has copies of the orders I signed. If the files become public, he'll pin everything on me."

"You signed them."

"And he killed people. Both things can be true."

For a moment, Claire saw the whole rotten structure: money, fear, and people who had spent nine years deciding that a dead child was less expensive than an honest answer.

"Bring the inhaler," Claire said. "I'll be at the pier before midnight."

She ended the call and looked at Ethan. "You stay here."

"Claire—"

"Ellie warned me about you. I don't know why. Until I do, you're not coming close to her."

Ethan took the blow. Then he removed his wedding ring and slipped it into his shirt pocket.

"I spent nine years choosing the easiest lie," he said. "I won't make you trust me tonight. I'll earn whatever I can, if I live long enough."

Claire got out with the memory card and Ruth's phone. Nina, still connected through an earpiece, promised to send the recording to a state investigator once Ellie was safe.

At the pier gate, a floodlight snapped on.

Pike stood beneath it, holding a child's blue inhaler.

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