Chapter 5 - Eight Seconds of Darkness
Darkness swallowed the villa.
Guests screamed outside.
Somebody dropped a tray. Glass shattered.
Emma heard Lauren whisper, "Don't move."
Then footsteps rushed past the study door.
Fast.
Heavy.
A man's footsteps.
Emma held out one hand and touched the wall. Her wet clothes had gone cold against her skin.
"Give me the key," she whispered.
"Why?"
"Because if someone grabs you, they get it."
"And if they grab you?"
"They already tried the pool."
Lauren almost laughed.
The emergency lights blinked on eight seconds later.
The hallway glowed red.
Emma looked down.
Lauren was gone.
"Lauren?"
No answer.
The brass key was on the carpet.
Emma picked it up.
At the far end of the hallway, a service door swung slowly shut.
Emma ran.
She pushed through into the catering kitchen and found two cooks huddled beside the refrigerator.
"Did a woman in a burgundy dress come through here?"
One cook shook his head.
The other pointed toward the loading dock.
Emma sprinted outside.
Rain had started, thin and cold.
A black SUV tore away from the side driveway.
Emma pulled out her phone and called Marcus.
"Lauren Price has been taken."
"Are you sure?"
"No. But she didn't leave her clutch. She didn't leave her shoes. She left the key."
"What key?"
"7714."
Silence.
"Emma," Marcus said, "that's not just an account number."
"What do you mean?"
"I checked the old Harrington trust records after your call. 7714 is also the number of a safe-deposit box at Pacific Crest Bank."
Emma looked at the key in her hand.
"Who owns it?"
"Your mother."
A door opened behind her.
Emma spun around.
Vivian stood under the loading-dock light.
Her royal-blue dress was dry.
Her hair was perfect.
And she was pointing a small silver pistol at Emma's chest.
"Give me the key," Vivian said.
Emma tightened her fist around it.
"You pushed me into a pool for this?"
Vivian's mouth curved.
May you like
"No, Emma. I pushed you in because I wanted to see whether you were wearing a wire."
The gun looked almost delicate in Vivian's hand. That made it worse. Nothing about her expression suggested panic. She looked like a woman finally dropping a mask she had worn for years.
