Chapter 6 - The Friend Who Arrived Too Late
Detective Sloan signaled for the station technician to trace the call.
Rowan forced himself to remain calm.
“Where is Mara?”
“You’re assuming I know.”
“You knew about the suitcase.”
“Your father told me.”
Gideon had remained at the mansion.
Rowan did not believe he had contacted Julian, but he could no longer treat belief as evidence.
“Why did you visit Calder Street?”
Silence followed.
Then Julian sighed.
“Mara asked me to meet her there.”
“The recording shows you with Celia.”
“Celia told me Mara was in danger.”
“What is her real name?”
“I don’t know.”
“Stop lying.”
“You think the first explanation is always the truth because you’ve spent your life surrounded by people too frightened to challenge you.”
“You locked my children in that house.”
“No.”
The answer came quickly.
Not defensively.
Almost angrily.
“I never agreed to that.”
Rowan caught the wording.
“Agreed to what?”
Julian went silent.
Detective Sloan wrote a message on her notebook and held it up.
Keep him talking.
Rowan stared through the security office window at the crowded station.
“What did you agree to, Julian?”
“To get Mara away from the children for one night.”
“Why?”
“She had something Atlas needed.”
“The records?”
“No.”
“What?”
Julian’s breathing changed.
“A seal.”
Rowan looked at the blue suitcase.
“What kind of seal?”
“The original Hale Trust seal. It authenticates amendments made before the company became public. Without it, certain documents are worthless.”
“Where is Mara?”
“I left her at the Westbridge Hotel.”
“With whom?”
“I can’t tell you.”
“You can.”
“No, Rowan. I can’t.”
The call trace continued across the technician’s screen.
Julian was moving through the city.
“Celia said you arrived late enough to appear innocent.”
“She enjoys sounding clever.”
“Did you pay her?”
“I transferred money to an account she provided. She was supposed to watch the children until Mara returned.”
“She left them without food.”
“I didn’t know.”
“You knew enough to keep me in that meeting.”
Julian’s voice hardened.
“The Northstar vote mattered.”
“More than my children?”
“That is not what I said.”
“That is exactly what you proved.”
The trace locked onto a location near the riverfront.
Detective Sloan motioned toward two officers.
Julian seemed to hear something on his end.
“You’re tracing me.”
“Yes.”
“You always were a terrible liar.”
“Stay where you are.”
“I’m trying to keep Mara alive.”
“Then tell me where she is.”
“I need the seal first.”
Rowan looked at the suitcase again.
“We don’t have it.”
“Yes, you do.”
“Where?”
Julian’s answer made Rowan turn toward the hospital in his mind.
“The bear.”
The call ended.
Detective Sloan was already moving.
“Contact the hospital. No one goes near those children.”
Rowan followed her into the corridor.
“How would Mara hide a seal inside Elsie’s bear?”
“She may not have.”
“What does that mean?”
“It means Julian could be sending us away from the real location.”
Rowan’s phone vibrated.
A photograph appeared from an unknown number.
It showed Elsie’s hospital room.
The picture had been taken through the small window in the door.
May you like
Beneath it was a message.
You have ten minutes to bring Teddy downstairs.
