Chapter 4 - The Fire Below
Detective Ortiz threw her shoulder against the door.
It did not move.
Smoke thickened near the ceiling.
“Back away,” she ordered.
One officer fired twice at the lock. The old metal plate shattered, but the door remained jammed by something heavy on the other side.
Evelyn lifted Sophie into her arms.
The child clung to her neck.
“Is Daddy alive?”
Evelyn could not answer.
The projector continued playing.
Daniel’s face flickered through the smoke.
“There is a tunnel beneath Saint Ormond House,” he said. “It connects to the river. If the building is compromised, use the service shaft behind the eastern wall.”
Ortiz looked toward the wall.
“Eastern side?”
Evelyn pointed.
“There.”
The detective pulled aside a rotten cabinet. Behind it was a steel panel.
One officer forced it open with a crowbar.
A narrow maintenance passage appeared.
“Move,” Ortiz said.
They entered moments before flames spread across the corridor outside.
The shaft descended sharply through darkness. Evelyn carried Sophie while Ortiz followed behind with a flashlight.
The passage ended in a basement filled with old medical equipment.
Water covered the floor to their ankles.
Somewhere above them, wood cracked and collapsed.
Sophie whispered, “The masked lady told me the fire would make you choose.”
“Choose what?”
“Me or Daddy.”
Evelyn stopped.
“What exactly did she say?”
“She said Daddy was waiting under the river. But if you found me first, they would move him again.”
Ortiz exchanged a glance with Evelyn.
“Did she say where?”
Sophie shook her head.
“She gave me this.”
From inside her dress, Sophie removed a small brass key.
A number was engraved on it.
They followed the tunnel east.
On the walls, faded arrows marked evacuation routes from the hospital’s years as a convalescent home. Some doors had been sealed with concrete. Others opened into rooms containing filing cabinets and boxes.
Marcus’s voice crackled over Ortiz’s radio.
“We lost contact. Report your position.”
Ortiz explained.
“We’re entering a tunnel beneath the east wing.”
“I’m coming down.”
“No. Secure the surface and find who started the fire.”
They reached a junction.
One passage led toward the river.
Another led beneath the city.
On the ground lay a new cigarette, still smoking.
Someone had passed through moments earlier.
Ortiz drew her weapon.
The tunnel ended at an underground platform beside the river. A small motorboat waited against the dock.
Its engine was warm.
But no one was inside.
A metal locker stood against the wall.
Number 317.
Evelyn used Sophie’s key.
The locker contained Daniel’s wedding ring.
Beneath it lay an envelope addressed to Sophie.
Evelyn opened it with trembling hands.
Inside was a photograph of Daniel standing beside an unfamiliar teenage girl. On the back, he had written:
Her name is Amelia. She is the reason they cannot let me return.
There was also a memory card.
Ortiz sealed it inside an evidence bag.
“We’ll examine it somewhere secure.”
Sophie pointed to the photograph.
“I know her.”
Evelyn looked down.
“How?”
“She came to my school.”
“When?”
“Last month.”
Evelyn’s heart pounded.
“What did she say?”
“She asked if Daddy ever gave me a red book.”
Evelyn stared at her daughter.
“What red book?”
“I told her I didn’t know.”
“Did you tell anyone?”
“She said she was Daddy’s friend. She told me not to tell you because it would make you sad.”
Evelyn’s grief turned into anger.
Someone had approached her daughter at school.
Someone had been watching them.
A gunshot echoed through the tunnel.
Ortiz turned.
A second shot struck the wall near her shoulder.
“Down!”
Evelyn pulled Sophie behind the locker.
A masked figure stood at the far end of the platform.
Ortiz returned fire.
The figure dropped something and escaped into the passage.
Police officers arrived from the opposite tunnel seconds later.
On the floor lay a dark green glove.
Inside it was a silver ring bearing the Ashford family crest.
Marcus reached them after the building above had been secured.
“The fire started in three separate locations,” he said. “Someone wanted the hospital destroyed.”
Ortiz handed him the glove.
“Recognize it?”
Marcus examined the ring.
“These were given to the original Ashford family trustees.”
“How many exist?”
“Five.”
“Who owns them?”
“Julian’s father had one. Beatrice Ashford had one. Preston had one. Daniel received one while working for the company.”
“And the fifth?”
Marcus hesitated.
“Caroline.”
Sophie pressed closer to Evelyn.
Evelyn looked toward the tunnel where the masked shooter had disappeared.
Caroline had warned her not to ask questions.
Caroline had admitted Daniel was not supposed to die.
And Caroline possessed the same ring found inside the abandoned glove.
But Evelyn could not forget Preston’s eyes in the ballroom.
He had not looked at Caroline when the security footage appeared.
He had looked beyond her.
Toward someone else.
Before they left the tunnel, Marcus’s phone rang.
He listened for several seconds.
Then his face changed.
“What happened?” Evelyn asked.
“Preston regained consciousness.”
“Did he identify the woman?”
Marcus slowly lowered the phone.
“He asked to speak to Evelyn alone.”
“Where is he?”
“Saint Matthew’s Hospital.”
May you like
Marcus paused.
“He said the woman in green is already waiting there.”
