CHAPTER 1 — TAKE YOUR HAND OFF HER

The tall man crossed the marble lobby without hurrying.

That made him more frightening.

His polished shoes struck the floor with slow, measured steps.

Click.

Click.

Click.

Every employee watched him approach.

Briggs still had one hand wrapped around Evelyn’s arm, but his grip had begun to loosen.

The man stopped three feet away.

“Take your hand off her.”

His voice was quiet.

Not angry.

Not loud.

Yet it carried through the entire lobby.

Briggs turned fully toward him.

“And who exactly are you?”

The stranger’s gray eyes moved to Briggs’s hand.

“I won’t repeat myself.”

Briggs hesitated.

For the first time that morning, doubt crossed his face.

Then pride took over.

“This is a restricted corporate facility,” Briggs said. “I’m the director of building security. This woman refused to identify herself and disrupted my staff.”

Evelyn finally spoke.

“I asked where the executive elevators were.”

“You refused to follow procedure,” Briggs snapped.

“No,” Evelyn replied. “You decided I didn’t deserve courtesy.”

A few employees shifted uncomfortably.

Briggs released her arm and straightened his suit.

“There. Happy?”

The stranger stepped between them.

He gently inspected Evelyn’s sleeve, then the red marks forming beneath the cuff.

His expression hardened.

“Did he hurt you?”

“I’ve survived worse men than Mr. Briggs.”

That answer created a ripple through the watching crowd.

Briggs scoffed.

“This performance is over. Both of you need to leave.”

The stranger slowly turned.

“Do you know who owns this building?”

Briggs frowned.

“Davenport Meridian Group.”

“And who founded Davenport Meridian?”

“Arthur Davenport.”

The stranger looked at Evelyn.

Evelyn removed one black glove.

On her finger was a simple gold ring bearing the company’s original crest.

The same crest carved into the marble wall behind the reception desk.

Briggs stared at it.

His face lost a shade of color.

Evelyn spoke calmly.

“Arthur Davenport was my husband.”

Silence swallowed the lobby.

The receptionist covered her mouth.

One of the engineers whispered, “Oh my God.”

Briggs looked from the ring to Evelyn.

“That doesn’t prove anything.”

“No,” said the stranger. “But this might.”

He reached inside his overcoat and removed a leather identification wallet.

He opened it.

DANIEL DAVENPORT
INTERIM CHAIRMAN
DAVENPORT MERIDIAN GROUP

Briggs’s lips parted.

Daniel slipped the identification back into his coat.

“This is Evelyn Davenport,” he said. “Founder, majority shareholder, and my mother.”

The color drained completely from Briggs’s face.

But Evelyn wasn’t looking at him anymore.

She was studying the employees.

Their lowered eyes.

Their fearful expressions.

Their silence.

Then she said something that frightened Briggs far more than Daniel’s identity.

“I didn’t come here to visit.”

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She picked up her handbag.

“I came here to investigate.”