Chapter 9 - The Empty House
Elena was found unconscious in her kitchen.
Alive.
A sedative had been slipped into her coffee.
Leo was gone.
Security footage showed a Sterling town car arriving at 9:06 a.m.
The driver wore a company uniform.
The license plate was fake.
Victoria had disappeared from police surveillance forty minutes earlier after walking into her attorney’s underground parking garage and leaving inside a delivery van.
“She planned this.”
Sarah paced the hospital hallway.
“She planned all of it.”
Reyes was on the phone coordinating a search.
Julian stood beside Sarah.
“Victoria won’t hurt Leo.”
Sarah rounded on him.
“You don’t know that.”
“She wants control.”
“You said you knew her seven years ago too.”
That silenced him.
Sarah’s phone buzzed again.
An address.
The Sterling Majestic Theater.
Closed for twelve years.
Sarah knew the place.
Victoria’s husband had bought it when Ethan was a child.
“Give me the ledger,” Sarah said.
Reyes immediately answered.
“No.”
“She asked for me.”
“You are not walking into an abandoned building alone.”
“If she sees police, she could run with Leo.”
“We handle kidnappings for a living.”
“And Victoria has spent thirty years buying people who handle problems for a living.”
Julian stepped closer.
“Sarah.”
She looked at him.
“You want to help?”
“Yes.”
“Then stop trying to protect me from decisions I’ve earned the right to make.”
He paused.
Then nodded.
Reyes gave Sarah a tracking device.
“You go inside.”
Sarah stared at her.
Julian blinked.
“You just said—”
“I said she isn’t going alone.”
Reyes clipped a tiny microphone beneath Sarah’s collar.
“We’ll be close.”
Thirty minutes later Sarah stood outside the theater.
The marquee was broken.
Rain had begun falling.
She entered through the side door.
“Leo?”
Her voice echoed.
Nothing.
Then stage lights snapped on.
Victoria stood beneath them wearing the same silver gown from the gala.
Her makeup had smeared beneath one eye.
Leo sat in the front row.
He was unharmed.
“Mommy!”
Sarah took one step forward.
Victoria raised a hand.
“Stay there.”
Sarah stopped.
“You drugged Elena.”
“She’ll survive.”
“You kidnapped a child.”
“My grandson.”
“My son.”
Victoria’s mouth tightened.
“Did you bring the ledger?”
Sarah held up a leather folder.
“Yes.”
“Throw it onto the stage.”
“Let Leo come to me.”
“Ledger first.”
“No.”
Victoria laughed.
“Still stubborn.”
“Still his mother.”
Leo stood.
Victoria snapped.
“Sit down.”
He did.
Sarah’s fists tightened.
“You spent five years telling him I was dangerous.”
“I protected him from you.”
“You stole him from me.”
“I gave him a life.”
“He wanted me.”
“Children want candy for breakfast too.”
Sarah’s voice dropped.
“Why did Ethan have to die?”
Victoria’s face changed.
Only slightly.
Enough.
Sarah saw it.
“You know.”
Victoria looked away.
“Your husband was reckless.”
“His brake line was cut.”
Silence.
“Mercer paid the mechanic.”
More silence.
“You were in the car with Ethan less than an hour before he crashed.”
Victoria stared at her.
“I didn’t cut the brake line.”
Sarah believed that sentence.
Not because Victoria was trustworthy.
Because she sounded furious.
Not afraid.
Sarah took another step.
“Then who did?”
Victoria looked toward the dark balcony.
And Sarah realized they were not alone.
A man stepped into view above them.
Charles Mercer.
He rested both hands on the railing.
Victoria looked up.
“You weren’t supposed to come.”
Mercer smiled.
“Neither were the police listening through Sarah’s microphone.”
Sarah’s blood ran cold.
Mercer pointed directly at her collar.
“He knows,” Victoria whispered.
May you like
Then every light in the theater went out.
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