Chapter 10 - The Policeman at the Mausoleum
Captain Reeves wore no uniform.
He carried a suppressed pistol and a coil of plastic restraints.
Owen moved in front of Chloe.
“You’re a police officer.”
Reeves smiled.
“Not today.”
Chloe gripped the back of Owen’s shirt.
Reeves pointed toward the tunnel.
“Return to Briarwood.”
“No.”
“The girl needs medical attention.”
“She needs protection from you.”
Reeves’s smile disappeared.
“I don’t want to kill you in front of her.”
Owen looked toward the mausoleum entrance.
Twenty yards.
Too far.
Reeves followed his gaze.
“You won’t reach it.”
A sound came from above.
A small stone struck the floor near Reeves’s feet.
He looked up.
Lily stood on the narrow maintenance balcony beneath the ceiling.
She held another stone.
“Leave my dad alone.”
Reeves raised the gun.
Owen charged.
The pistol fired.
The sound was little more than a cough.
Pain tore through Owen’s shoulder, but his momentum carried him into Reeves. They crashed against the stone wall.
Chloe screamed.
Lily climbed down the maintenance ladder.
Reeves struck Owen across the face with the pistol and shoved him away.
Before he could aim again, Lily threw herself onto his back.
Reeves cursed and reached for her.
Chloe seized a brass candleholder and struck his knee.
He fell.
Owen grabbed the pistol.
The two men fought across the floor.
Another voice thundered through the vault.
“Police! Drop the weapon!”
Daniel Cross stood in the entrance with Arthur and two estate security officers.
Reeves froze.
Owen tore the pistol from his hand.
Daniel crossed the room and forced Reeves facedown.
“Where is Eleanor?” Chloe cried.
Arthur rushed to her.
“She’s safe.”
Chloe collapsed against him.
Owen reached for Lily.
“You were supposed to stay at the house.”
“I heard them say you were here.”
“You could have been killed.”
“So could you.”
She hugged him carefully around his injured shoulder.
Daniel handcuffed Reeves.
“You’re finished.”
Reeves laughed against the stone.
“You think Victoria is the one running this?”
Daniel pulled him upright.
“Who is the Chairman?”
Reeves’s expression closed.
“You have no idea what you’ve stepped into.”
A telephone rang inside his coat.
Daniel removed it.
The screen displayed no number.
He answered on speaker.
Victoria’s voice came through.
“Captain, do you have the child?”
Daniel looked toward Chloe.
“Yes,” he said, imitating Reeves’s rough cadence.
“Bring her back. Eleanor’s people may arrive early.”
Daniel glanced at Owen.
“What about Mercer?”
“Kill him.”
“And Reeves?” Daniel asked in his own voice.
Silence.
Then Victoria laughed softly.
“Daniel Cross.”
“The federal government has Sophie’s files.”
“Some of them.”
“All of them.”
“No. Sophie divided the evidence.”
Eleanor entered the mausoleum behind him.
Chloe ran into her arms.
Eleanor dropped to her knees and held her granddaughter.
Victoria heard Chloe crying through the telephone.
“So,” she said. “The little corpse escaped.”
Eleanor took the phone.
“It is over.”
“For you, perhaps.”
“You no longer have Chloe. Reeves is in custody. Keller will testify to save himself.”
“Keller has never saved anyone but Keller.”
Eleanor held Chloe closer.
“You tried to bury a living child.”
“And tomorrow, the entire world will still believe she is dead.”
Eleanor looked at Daniel.
Victoria continued.
“The trust transfer has already been initiated. Julian signed the declaration this morning.”
“The burial has not occurred.”
“The attorneys do not know that.”
“They will.”
“Will they believe a frightened child and a disgraced funeral worker? Or will they believe the medical records, death certificate, and photographs?”
Eleanor looked toward Chloe’s pale face.
“We have Sophie’s video.”
“You have one video.”
“What does that mean?”
“Sophie created three.”
The line went dead.
Daniel attempted to trace the call.
The phone erased itself remotely.
Eleanor examined Chloe.
“Did they hurt you?”
Chloe touched the injection marks on her arm.
“They kept asking about Mommy’s bluebird.”
Eleanor looked at the necklace.
“Did your mother give you that?”
Chloe nodded.
“She said never take it off.”
Eleanor opened the small bluebird pendant.
Inside was a tiny rolled strip of paper.
Four words were written on it.
THE SECOND BIRD FLIES EAST.
Daniel read the message.
“Sophie divided the evidence.”
Claire entered the vault, breathless from running.
“East could mean the hospital’s east wing.”
Eleanor looked toward Chloe.
“Did your mother ever take you there?”
Chloe’s eyes widened.
“The room with no windows.”
“What room?”
“Mommy said if she got sick, I should remember the room with no windows.”
Daniel stood.
“Saint Catherine’s.”
Owen pressed a cloth against his bleeding shoulder.
“The funeral begins in less than an hour. If Chloe appears publicly now, Victoria will run.”
Eleanor understood.
“We continue the funeral.”
Arthur stared at her.
“Mrs. Whitmore, Chloe is safe. Why risk bringing her back?”
“Because Victoria believes we do not have the second video.”
Daniel nodded.
“And she will stay to complete the trust transfer.”
Chloe held Eleanor’s hand.
“I don’t want to go back in the box.”
Eleanor knelt before her.
“You will never enter that casket again.”
“Then how will we trick them?”
Eleanor looked toward the white funeral dress Chloe still wore.
“We do not need you inside it.”
One hour later, the funeral hall filled with mourners.
The closed white casket stood at the front.
Julian and Victoria waited beside it.
Neither knew that the casket contained nothing but sandbags, a recording device, and a federal tracking transmitter.
Neither knew Chloe was hidden in the choir room with Eleanor.
And neither knew that beneath the satin lining, Daniel had found Victoria’s sealed silver box.
May you like
Inside it was not medical equipment.
It was a second child’s hospital bracelet.
