Chapter 10 - The Chase Through Union Station

"That's him!"

Ethan pointed.

Detective Ruiz spun toward the exit.

Victor Hale shoved through a family carrying wrapped presents and disappeared behind a column.

"Stay here!" Ruiz ordered.

She and the uniformed officer ran.

Ethan lasted four seconds.

Then he followed.

"Ethan!" Margaret shouted.

He ducked between travelers, his wet sneakers slipping on polished tile. Victor was fast for a man in his fifties, but panic made him careless. He knocked over a suitcase, cursed, and headed toward the parking structure.

Ethan saw him drop something.

A phone.

Victor did not stop.

Ethan grabbed it from the floor.

The screen was unlocked.

A message glowed at the top.

PIKE: THE BOY OPENED 318. WE HAVE A BIGGER PROBLEM NOW.

Ethan's blood ran cold.

Another message appeared.

PIKE: GET THE RED BOOK BEFORE RUIZ READS PAGE 47.

"Ethan!"

Margaret caught up, breathless.

He showed her the phone.

"Page forty-seven."

They hurried back to the locker area.

Ruiz returned two minutes later without Victor.

"He got into a car before we reached the structure. Patrol units are looking for him."

Ethan handed her the phone.

Ruiz read the messages.

Then she opened Sarah's notebook to page forty-seven.

The page contained one paragraph.

December 8. Met with nurse Elena Brooks. She remembers Victor visiting Daniel after the crash. Daniel was sedated. Victor took his wallet and phone. Elena heard Victor say, "By the time you wake up, your family will think you ran."

Ruiz looked up sharply.

"Crash?"

Ethan nodded. "Dad disappeared after a car wreck. Mom said police told her he left the hospital."

Ruiz turned pages.

Sarah had included Elena's address.

Margaret whispered, "Why would Victor do this?"

Thomas, reached by phone, gave the answer.

"Because Dad's will made Daniel co-trustee if Sarah married him. Victor couldn't control Sarah's trust without Daniel out of the way."

Ruiz's expression hardened.

"Now we have motive."

Her phone buzzed again.

This time, she did not speak immediately.

"What?" Ethan asked.

Ruiz looked at him.

"Victor's car was found abandoned two blocks away."

"So where is he?"

"We don't know."

Margaret clutched the red notebook tighter.

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Ruiz looked toward the station doors.

"But if he knows what's on page forty-seven, he also knows where the witness lives."