Chapter 7 - BENEATH THE BED
Laura did not sleep.
Reeves wanted to place her in protective custody, but she refused. The police department had employed Arthur Lane, a man who possessed at least two false identities. Until they understood how deeply the Registry had entered law enforcement, a guarded location might be more dangerous than her apartment.
Reeves installed a temporary camera above the entrance and parked across the street.
At seven the next morning, Laura prepared to leave for work.
She never reached the door.
A key entered the apartment lock.
Laura froze in the hallway.
Reeves had the only spare key.
The door opened.
A woman stepped inside carrying a red handbag.
Dr. Celia Ward had changed her hair and removed the glasses she normally wore at the hospital, but Laura recognized her immediately.
Celia locked the door behind her.
Laura retreated silently into the bedroom.
There was no time to reach the window.
She slid beneath the bed as Celia entered the hallway.
Celia searched the apartment methodically.
When she reached the bedroom, she placed her phone on the nightstand and called Mark.
“Does Laura suspect I’m still alive?” Mark asked.
Laura’s heart seemed to stop.
“Worse,” Celia said. “She never went to work today.”
Laura’s phone illuminated beneath the bed.
Stay silent. She isn’t working for me.
Celia noticed the glow.
She lowered herself onto one knee and reached beneath the hanging bedsheet.
Mark shouted through the speaker.
“Laura, get out now. She’s the woman who identified my body.”
Laura did not wait.
She kicked the red handbag toward Celia’s face and rolled from the opposite side of the bed.
Celia stumbled backward.
Laura ran for the bedroom door.
“Wait,” Celia said.
Laura reached the hallway, but two men entered through the apartment door.
The men from Bellweather.
Laura turned toward the kitchen.
Celia seized her wrist.
“Not that way.”
“Let me go.”
“They’re not with me.”
Celia pulled Laura into the bathroom and locked the door. The men crossed the bedroom behind them.
“Fire escape,” Celia whispered.
“There is no fire escape.”
“There is a maintenance ledge beneath the window.”
“You expect me to trust you?”
“No. I expect you to prefer me to them.”
The bathroom door shook under a heavy impact.
Celia opened the window.
Laura climbed onto the narrow ledge four floors above the alley. Celia followed and closed the window behind them.
They moved sideways toward the neighboring apartment.
The bathroom door broke open inside Laura’s home.
One of the men appeared at the window.
Reeves’s voice sounded from the alley.
“Police. Step away from the window.”
The man disappeared.
Celia reached the next apartment’s balcony and pulled Laura across.
Reeves met them inside the building’s stairwell.
He pointed his weapon at Celia.
“Hands where I can see them.”
Celia slowly raised them.
Laura held up Celia’s phone.
“Mark was talking to her.”
“Mark believes I identified his body,” Celia said. “He is wrong.”
“You signed the report,” Laura replied.
“I signed a report after the identification had already been entered under my credentials.”
“Who entered it?”
Celia looked at Reeves.
“Someone with police access.”
Reeves’s face became unreadable.
Celia continued.
“The body in Mark’s car belonged to Detective Simon Reeves.”
Laura stepped away from him.
Reeves stared at Celia.
May you like
“I’m standing here.”
“That is the problem,” Celia said. “The real Simon Reeves has been dead for six years.”
