Chapter 11 - THE MAN WHO KEPT THE RECORDS
Reed carried a metal case.
Graham looked at him.
“You’re late.”
“Police are everywhere.”
Elaine asked:
“What’s in the case?”
“Insurance.”
Reed opened it.
Files.
Hard drives.
Cash.
Passports.
Lila stared.
“You were going to run.”
Reed smiled.
“You pay attention.”
“You’re a terrible principal.”
His smile vanished.
Graham laughed.
“Claire used to do that.”
Lila looked at him.
“Do what?”
“Make people angry by saying one accurate thing.”
Reed closed the case.
“We need to leave.”
“Not until she tells us where the recording is.”
Graham replied.
Reed looked at Lila.
“She doesn’t know.”
“Yes, she does.”
“No.”
“She remembers something.”
Lila stayed silent.
Reed crouched in front of her.
“Listen carefully.”
“You think your father is coming.”
“He is.”
“Probably.”
Reed smiled.
“But if he arrives before Graham gets what he wants, people get desperate.”
Lila’s stomach turned.
“Are you threatening me?”
“I’m explaining reality.”
“No.”
“You’re threatening a twelve-year-old because adults are coming to arrest you.”
Reed’s face twitched.
Again.
Good.
Lila had discovered the easiest way to control men like this.
Tell them what they really were.
“You think your dad can save you from everything.”
“No.”
“Then why are you so calm?”
“I’m not.”
Lila’s voice shook.
“I’m terrified.”
That surprised him.
She continued.
“But I was terrified in the bathroom too.”
“I was terrified when Peyton took my food.”
“I was terrified every morning before school.”
“And I still came back.”
Reed stared.
“You taught me how to be scared and keep going.”
Silence.
Outside, a faint sound.
Helicopter?
Reed heard it too.
“We move now.”
Graham grabbed Lila’s arm.
She pulled away.
“Don’t touch me.”
He tightened his grip.
Then Lila remembered the chapel.
Something everyone sees.
Colored glass.
Piano.
Claire had played one song.
Always the same one.
Moon River.
Why?
Lila suddenly knew.
“Okay.”
Everyone froze.
“I know where it is.”
Graham leaned closer.
“Where?”
“The chapel.”
“What part?”
“The piano.”
Graham looked at Reed.
Reed shook his head.
“We can’t go back to campus.”
“The school is surrounded.”
“It isn’t at night.”
Elaine said.
Lila almost smiled.
They were taking her exactly where Elliot expected them to go.
Because the moment Graham mentioned Claire’s recording, Elliot had already searched every location linked to Claire.
Including the chapel.
He was there when the FBI found a hidden cavity beneath the old piano bench.
Inside was a small recorder.
And a note.
IF GRAHAM EVER COMES LOOKING FOR THIS, HE IS MORE DESPERATE THAN I THOUGHT.
Elliot read it.
Then heard an agent.
“We have movement.”
A black SUV was approaching Ashbury’s rear service entrance.
Elliot’s heart pounded.
“Lila.”
The FBI tactical lead grabbed his arm.
“You stay here.”
“That’s my daughter.”
“And we’re getting her out.”
“I’m coming.”
“No.”
Elliot stared at him.
Then Claire’s words returned again.
Lila needs a father more than she needs a weapon.
He stopped.
The hardest thing Elliot Mercer had ever done was nothing.
He watched cameras.
The SUV entered.
Graham.
Elaine.
Reed.
Lila.
She walked between them.
No restraints.
But Graham held her arm.
They entered the old chapel.
Inside, Lila looked toward the piano.
“Under the bench.”
Graham rushed forward.
Empty.
His face changed.
“No.”
Reed looked around.
“Someone was here.”
Lila smiled.
“My dad.”
Graham turned toward her.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing.”
“You told him.”
“I didn’t.”
“How?”
“Because unlike you, he knew my mom.”
Graham lunged toward her.
Then the chapel doors exploded open.
“FBI!”
Everyone froze.
Reed reached inside his jacket.
A gunshot cracked.
Lila screamed.
Elliot watched through the camera feed as chaos swallowed the chapel.
Then Lila disappeared behind a pew.
For three seconds, nobody could see her.
Three seconds became the longest three seconds of Elliot’s life.
Then an agent shouted:
“Child secure!”
Elliot ran.
Nobody stopped him this time.
He found Lila sitting on the chapel floor.
Blood marked her white blouse.
His entire body went cold.
“Lila.”
She looked up.
“Dad.”
He dropped beside her.
“Where are you hit?”
“I’m not.”
“What?”
She pointed.
Reed lay nearby.
An agent had shot him in the shoulder after he drew a weapon.
The blood on Lila belonged to him.
Elliot grabbed her and held her so tightly she laughed and cried at the same time.
“You’re crushing me.”
“I don’t care.”
“Dad.”
“I’m not letting go.”
“Okay.”
She held him back.
Then whispered:
“I remembered the piano.”
“I know.”
“You found it?”
“Yes.”
“What’s on it?”
Elliot looked toward Graham.
Agents handcuffed him.
Graham’s eyes remained fixed on the recorder in Rachel’s hand.
Elliot understood.
May you like
Whatever Claire recorded was the thing Graham feared more than prison.
And now they were finally going to hear it.
