Chapter 3 - No One Leaves
Ethan hit the guard before he could fire. The gun cracked against the stair rail, went off, and punched a hole in the plaster ceiling. People dropped screaming beneath the chandeliers.
Mara dragged Lily flat. Ethan wrestled the weapon from the guard and slammed him into the wall.
"Who sent you?"
The guard spat blood. "You don't understand."
"Then explain it."
The guard's eyes tracked past Ethan to Charles. "I did what you paid me to do."
Charles made no move. "Take him outside," he said to a second guard. "He's unstable."
"Nobody takes him anywhere," Ethan said. But the second guard swung a baton into Ethan's ribs. White pain folded him sideways. Mara kicked the attacker's knee, stole his radio, and pulled Ethan through a service door with Lily between them.
They stumbled into a pantry smelling of coffee and expensive chocolate. Mara locked the door. Her ponytail had come loose; her sleeve was torn. Ethan leaned against a shelf, trying to breathe.
"Start talking," he said.
"I worked for Vale at the St. Agnes research clinic," she answered. "Six months ago my sister died there. The report said an allergic reaction. The report was a lie."
"What does that have to do with Olivia?"
"Your wife found the files. She asked me to help her get them out tonight."
"Why didn't she tell me?"
Mara looked at him for a long beat. "She was trying to figure out which Whitmore she could trust."
Ethan hated that the question could exist. His family owned hospitals, laboratories, half the waterfront. Charles called it public service. Ethan had always called it money.
Lily crawled beneath the pantry table and pulled something from her shoe: a tiny brass key tied to pink ribbon.
"Olivia said this was only for a good grown-up," she said. "She told me if the music stopped, I should hide."
Ethan crouched. "Do you know what it opens?"
"A blue door. She said the proof was there."
The pantry handle rattled. An unfamiliar voice spoke from the hall.
"Mr. Whitmore? Your wife is dead. Open the door."
May you like
Ethan looked at Mara. She shook her head. The ambulance had left less than five minutes ago. Nobody had called him.
Then Lily whispered, "That's the man who pushed my mommy into the river.
