Chapter 10 - The Man in the Balcony
“Leo!”
Sarah ran blindly toward the front row.
A child screamed.
Something heavy crashed onto the stage.
Then emergency lights flickered red along the walls.
Sarah found Leo between two seats.
She grabbed him.
“I’ve got you.”
“Mommy!”
“I’m here.”
A gunshot cracked somewhere above them.
Sarah threw herself over Leo.
“Stay down.”
Outside, police shouted.
A second shot hit a light fixture.
Glass rained onto the aisle.
Victoria screamed from the stage.
“Charles!”
Mercer’s voice came through the darkness.
“You should’ve burned the ledger seven years ago.”
Victoria shouted back.
“You said Ethan would only be scared!”
Sarah froze.
The microphone was still active.
Reyes was hearing everything.
Mercer laughed.
“He was going to destroy all of us.”
“You cut the line?”
“You paid me to solve a problem.”
“I paid you to stop him from releasing the files!”
“And I stopped him.”
Victoria went silent.
Sarah held Leo tighter.
There it was.
Not innocence.
Not quite murder either.
Something uglier.
Victoria had created the situation.
Mercer had finished it.
Sarah shouted,
“You framed me too.”
Mercer answered from the balcony.
“That was Victoria’s idea.”
Victoria snapped.
“Shut up.”
Mercer continued.
“She needed Leo.”
“You forged my signature.”
“Victoria’s attorney handled that.”
Sarah looked toward Victoria.
Even in the red emergency glow, she saw the answer in her face.
“You took my son because Ethan gave him control of the company.”
Victoria’s voice cracked.
“He was a child.”
“He was my child.”
“I was protecting what my husband built.”
“You stole fourteen million dollars from his trust.”
“For the company.”
“You used a children’s charity like your private bank account.”
“You know nothing about running a corporation.”
Sarah laughed once.
“No. I know how to scrub your floors.”
Victoria flinched.
Sarah rose slightly.
“And apparently I did that with more dignity than you ever ran your company.”
Footsteps pounded behind the stage.
Mercer fired again.
Police returned commands.
“Drop the weapon!”
Leo whimpered.
Sarah whispered,
“Cover your ears.”
Suddenly Julian appeared through a side aisle.
Sarah’s eyes widened.
“What are you doing here?”
“Getting you out.”
“Reyes told you to stay outside.”
“She tells me a lot of things.”
Even now, Sarah nearly laughed.
Julian took Leo.
“Come on, buddy.”
Leo grabbed Sarah’s sleeve.
“No. Mommy too.”
“I’m coming.”
Then Victoria rushed down from the stage.
She held the ledger.
The real ledger.
Sarah looked at the folder she had carried in.
A copy.
Victoria must have taken the original from police evidence.
“How did you get that?”
Victoria smiled wildly.
“You still don’t understand how many people owe me favors.”
She ran toward a backstage door.
Sarah started after her.
Julian caught her arm.
“Let police handle it.”
“No.”
“That book can destroy her.”
“That book can give me my son back.”
“You already have him.”
“No.”
Sarah looked at Leo.
“Until a judge changes that custody order, Victoria can still drag me back into court.”
Julian released her.
Sarah followed Victoria backstage.
She entered a narrow service hallway.
At the far end, a furnace door stood open.
Victoria was tearing pages from the ledger.
Sarah ran.
“Don’t!”
Victoria threw the first handful toward the flames.
Sarah tackled her arm.
The ledger fell.
Victoria slapped Sarah across the face.
“You should have stayed a maid!”
Sarah stared at her.
Then pushed her away.
“And you should have stayed away from my son.”
Someone stepped from the shadows.
Charles Mercer.
The gun in his hand pointed directly at Sarah.
He smiled.
“Actually, Sarah…”
He raised the weapon.
May you like
“You were supposed to die that night too.”
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