Chapter 2 - THE SILVER RING
“Who is it?”
Renick asked.
Belle stared at the frozen image.
The ring had a black stone surrounded by silver.
She remembered noticing it because the design looked old-fashioned.
She had seen it when a woman reached across the breakfast table to wipe jam from Brinley’s cheek.
“Marissa.”
Renick’s expression hardened.
“Marissa Cole?”
Belle nodded.
Brinley’s nanny.
Twenty-nine years old.
Polite.
Educated.
Always perfectly dressed.
She had worked for the family for almost two years.
Renick turned toward Sully.
“Find her.”
Sully was already reaching for his phone.
“Quietly?”
“Very.”
Belle caught Renick’s arm before she could think better of it.
“Wait.”
Every security guard in the room looked at her hand.
Belle immediately released him.
“What if we’re wrong?”
Renick looked down at the place she had touched.
Then back at her.
“That’s why she’s being found instead of buried.”
Belle went pale.
Renick’s expression did not change.
“Bad joke.”
Nobody laughed.
Five minutes later, Sully returned.
Marissa was gone.
Her coat remained downstairs.
Her car remained outside.
Her phone was found inside the laundry room.
But the woman herself had vanished.
Renick ordered the estate sealed.
Belle grabbed Micah.
“We’re leaving.”
Renick stepped into her path.
“No.”
“You said somebody might have tried to hurt your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“My son saw what happened.”
“Yes.”
“Which means he might be a witness.”
Renick said nothing.
Belle’s fear turned into anger.
“You brought danger near my child.”
“I didn’t bring anything near him.”
“He works here because I work here.”
“You work here because you needed a job.”
“And right now I need to take him home.”
Renick studied her for several seconds.
Then he nodded.
“I’m coming.”
Belle almost laughed.
“You absolutely are not.”
Thirty minutes later, Renick Kavanaugh was standing outside her basement apartment in Dorchester.
So were two black SUVs.
Belle turned on him.
“I said no.”
“And I ignored you.”
“I noticed.”
Micah squeezed past them.
“Mom, I have to pee.”
“Go.”
He disappeared inside.
Renick looked down the narrow concrete stairs leading to Belle’s door.
Water stains marked the brick.
One outdoor light flickered.
The railing was rusted.
His jaw tightened.
Belle noticed.
“Don’t.”
“Don’t what?”
“Look at my home like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like you’re calculating how much it costs.”
Renick’s eyes returned to hers.
“I was calculating how easy it would be to break into.”
“That’s somehow worse.”
He almost smiled again.
Then a security man called from behind them.
“Boss.”
Something in his voice changed everything.
A white envelope had been pushed beneath Belle’s door.
Her name was written across it.
BELLE ASHFORD.
Renick opened it before she could.
Inside was a single photograph.
Micah leaving his elementary school three days earlier.
On the back were seven words.
THE BOY SHOULD HAVE LET HER FALL.
Belle’s knees nearly gave out.
Renick caught her elbow.
She ripped herself away.
“No.”
“Belle.”
“No!”
Micah appeared in the doorway.
“Mom?”
Belle instantly hid the photograph against her chest.
Renick turned toward one of his men.
“Take him upstairs.”
Belle snapped around.
“Nobody takes my son anywhere.”
Micah stared between them.
“What happened?”
Belle forced herself to breathe.
“Nothing.”
Micah looked at the envelope.
“You’re lying.”
The kid was too observant.
Renick crouched.
“Somebody left something meant to scare your mother.”
“Because of Brinley?”
Belle closed her eyes.
Renick answered anyway.
“Probably.”
Micah became very quiet.
Then he asked the question Belle was afraid to hear.
“Are they going to hurt us?”
Renick looked directly at him.
“No.”
Belle almost shouted at him for making promises he couldn’t guarantee.
But Renick continued.
“Because you’re coming somewhere safe.”
Belle shook her head.
“We are not moving into your house.”
“No.”
“Good.”
“You’re moving into another one.”
Belle stared at him.
Renick pulled out his phone.
“There’s a property in Brookline.”
“I’m not taking a house from you.”
“You’re not taking it.”
“Then what?”
“You’re borrowing walls that stop bullets.”
Belle stared.
Micah raised his hand.
Renick looked at him.
“Yeah?”
“Does it have heat?”
Belle’s heart broke.
Renick’s face changed.
Just slightly.
“Yes.”
“Like all the time?”
“Yes.”
Micah looked at his mother.
Belle wanted to refuse.
She wanted her dignity.
Her independence.
Her ordinary life.
Then she looked at the photograph of her son.
Someone had followed him before he ever saved Brinley.
That meant this might have started earlier than today.
Belle slowly turned the photograph over again.
Three days earlier.
Why had somebody been watching Micah three days before the balcony?
Renick apparently reached the same conclusion.
His eyes narrowed.
“This isn’t about what happened today.”
Belle whispered, “Then what is it about?”
Renick looked toward the photograph.
“I intend to find out.”
But neither of them noticed Micah staring at the envelope.
Or the tiny red symbol printed in one corner.
May you like
A symbol he had seen before.
Inside his dead father’s old notebook.
