Chapter 5 – The Man Inside the Hospital
We left through the hospital’s underground service entrance.
Two unmarked police vehicles escorted us.
I sat between Rachel and Emma.
Every passing car looked dangerous.
Every red light felt too long.
At the secure apartment, Hale took my phone.
“No calls.”
“I need it.”
“You need to stay alive.”
I almost argued.
Then Emma wrapped her tiny fingers around mine.
I handed him the phone.
Thomas arrived thirty minutes later carrying a box.
“What’s that?”
“Your father’s personal effects.”
“From his house?”
“Yes.”
“He kept everything.”
“Daniel was sentimental.”
“No.”
I opened the box.
“He was paranoid.”
Receipts.
Photographs.
Old keys.
A pocketknife.
A train ticket.
Then I found a small black notebook.
Rachel leaned closer.
“Is that the ledger?”
“No.”
Most pages contained ordinary notes.
Meeting times.
Phone numbers.
Reminders.
Then I reached the final page.
Three words were written there.
CLAIRE KNOWS WHERE.
I stared at them.
“Where what?”
Rachel shrugged.
Thomas suddenly leaned forward.
“Did your father ever hide things when you were young?”
I laughed despite everything.
“Constantly.”
“Where?”
Then I remembered.
A summer afternoon.
I was nine years old.
Dad had bought an old wooden chess set at a flea market.
He taught me how to play.
Whenever he won, he would tap the white queen and say the same thing.
The queen remembers what the king forgets.
I stood so quickly my chair nearly fell over.
“I know.”
Hale blocked me.
“You’re not going anywhere.”
“My father’s chess set.”
“Where?”
“At his house.”
“The house that was broken into this morning?”
“Yes.”
“Absolutely not.”
“We need that ledger.”
“We need you alive.”
Thomas stepped in.
“The police can retrieve it.”
I shook my head.
“You won’t know where to look.”
“Tell us.”
“I don’t know exactly.”
Hale stared at me.
Then his radio crackled.
A voice spoke.
He answered.
I watched his expression change.
“What happened?”
He ignored me.
“Hale.”
He finally lowered the radio.
“One of the officers outside was found unconscious.”
Rachel stood.
“What?”
A crash came from the hallway.
Hale drew his weapon.
“Get behind me.”
The lights went out.
Emma began crying.
Someone screamed downstairs.
Then came three sharp knocks on the apartment door.
Not random.
A pattern.
Three.
Pause.
Two.
Pause.
Three.
I knew that pattern.
Adrian used it whenever he came home without his keys.
Rachel whispered, “Who is that?”
My heart hammered.
A voice came through the door.
“Claire.”
Adrian.
But Adrian was supposed to be in custody.
“Don’t open it!”
Hale shouted.
Adrian spoke again.
“They’re coming for Emma.”
Hale raised his weapon.
“Step away from the door!”
“I escaped because someone inside the department is working for my mother!”
My stomach dropped.
Adrian pounded once.
“Claire, listen to me!”
Gunfire exploded downstairs.
Hale turned toward the stairwell.
May you like
Adrian shouted through the door.
“If you want our daughter alive, you have ten seconds to decide whether you still hate me more than you trust them!”
