Chapter 5 - The Fire in the AlleyThe explosion lifted Daniel off his feet.
Every newspaper obituary had said so.
Every physician had said so.
Every member of the Harrington family had stood beneath the vaulted ceiling of Saint Matthew’s Cathedral while a polished mahogany coffin rested beneath white roses.
Grace had cried beside Malcolm.
Robert had delivered the eulogy.
Victor Dane had stood at the rear of the church like a silent shadow.
Now Elliot Mercer sat bleeding in Rebecca Shaw’s cramped office and told Grace none of them knew the whole truth.
“My father was poisoned?”
Elliot shook his head weakly.
“I said he believed he was being poisoned.”
“That’s not the kind of distinction you make right now.”
Rebecca brought a first-aid kit.
“Mr. Mercer, were you assaulted?”
“Two men followed me from my house.”
“Do you recognize them?”
“No.”
“Can you describe them?”
“Later.”
Grace ignored everything except him.
“Tell me about my father.”
Elliot looked exhausted.
“About six months before he died, Arthur came to me privately. He said his medical results weren’t matching what his personal doctor had told him.”
“What results?”
“Bloodwork. Toxicology.”
Grace sat frozen.
“He ordered independent tests under another name.”
“And?”
“Arsenic.”
Daniel whispered, “Jesus.”
Grace’s eyes filled.
“He knew?”
“He suspected.”
“Why didn’t he go to the police?”
“He didn’t know who he could trust.”
“My father owned half the city.”
“That was the problem.”
Elliot gave a bitter smile.
“He had employees in police departments, hospitals, government offices, banks. Anyone he approached might report back.”
“To whom?”
“He never told me.”
Grace stood abruptly and began pacing.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because Arthur ordered me not to.”
“He was dying.”
“He was trying to keep you alive.”
Grace stopped.
Elliot looked at her.
“Your father believed whoever wanted him dead would come after the person who inherited control.”
“That would be me.”
“Yes.”
Daniel watched the color leave Grace’s face.
Rebecca finished wrapping Elliot’s arm.
“What did Arthur do?”
“He restructured ownership through a chain of trusts.”
Grace frowned.
“I know the trusts.”
“No. You know the public ones.”
Elliot reached into the lining of his jacket.
His fingers found a slit sewn inside.
He removed a tiny brass key.
Grace stared.
“What is that?”
“Locker 418.”
“Where?”
“Union Station.”
Daniel let out a disbelieving laugh.
“You’re telling me a billionaire hid the answer in a train station locker?”
Elliot looked at him.
“Rich men become surprisingly old-fashioned when they stop trusting computers.”
Fair enough.
Grace took the key.
“What’s inside?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you’ve had the key?”
“For three years.”
“Why?”
“Arthur gave me instructions. If you ever came to me saying you believed the company records were false, I was to give you that key.”
Grace closed her fist around it.
“You could have done that four months ago.”
“I didn’t believe you.”
The words hurt.
Grace’s expression changed.
Elliot lowered his eyes.
“I thought grief had consumed you. Malcolm kept saying you were obsessed.”
“So you helped him?”
“I agreed to the intervention.”
Grace staggered backward as if struck.
Daniel instinctively stepped closer.
Elliot’s eyes filled.
“I thought we were helping you.”
“You helped them imprison me.”
“I know.”
“You watched them call me insane.”
“I know.”
“You signed the letter to the board.”
Elliot said nothing.
Grace’s voice broke.
“You signed it.”
“I did.”
She slapped him.
The sound cracked through the room.
Emma gasped.
Grace immediately looked ashamed.
Elliot didn’t move.
“I deserved that.”
Grace turned away.
Daniel took Emma into the hallway.
He crouched in front of her.
“Everything okay?”
“No.”
“Yeah. Me neither.”
“Is Miss Grace rich?”
“Apparently.”
“Then why is everybody mean to her?”
Daniel thought.
“Money doesn’t stop people being mean.”
Emma considered this.
“Does it stop rent?”
Despite himself, Daniel laughed.
“Yes. Usually.”
Inside the office, Rebecca returned to practical matters.
“We have five hours before the stay expires.”
Grace wiped her face.
“Then we get the locker.”
Daniel shook his head.
“No.”
Grace turned.
“No?”
“Black SUVs are downstairs.”
“That key may be the only proof I have.”
“And walking into a train station full of cameras sounds exactly like what they expect.”
Rebecca agreed.
“He’s right.”
Grace looked between them.
“What do you suggest?”
Daniel thought of the city.
Routes.
Service corridors.
Freight entrances.
Places invisible to people who lived through executive elevators and private drivers.
“I can get us into Union Station without using the main entrance.”
Grace stared.
“How?”
“I spent eight months repairing the freight lifts beneath the building.”
Elliot looked at him.
“Why do I suddenly feel your employment history is becoming useful?”
Daniel smiled.
“Because billionaires forget who keeps their buildings working.”
They waited until Rebecca received confirmation that the police had left.
Harrington security had not.
So Rebecca created a distraction.
She exited through the front wearing Grace’s borrowed hooded sweatshirt beneath a long coat.
Three security men immediately followed.
Daniel, Grace, Emma, and Elliot left through a rear fire stairwell.
Rebecca had insisted Emma stay with her.
Daniel refused.
“No offense, but after those photos, I’m not letting her out of my sight.”
Grace looked guilty again.
Daniel caught it.
“Don’t.”
“I didn’t say anything.”
“You were about to apologize.”
“Yes.”
“Save them. You owe me about nine hundred.”
They reached Daniel’s truck two blocks away.
Elliot sat in front.
Grace and Emma hid beneath a blanket in the back.
Daniel drove toward the station.
Twenty minutes later, he parked beside a loading dock used by maintenance crews.
His old work badge was expired.
The security guard barely looked at it.
“Elevator issue?”
Daniel nodded.
“Freight four.”
The guard groaned.
“Again?”
“Again.”
They were waved through.
Grace looked impressed.
“You lied.”
“I improvise.”
“You lied.”
“Fine. I lied.”
They entered through a service corridor smelling of dust and machine oil.
Daniel led them down concrete stairs.
Eventually the polished public station appeared through a side door.
Crowds moved beneath the enormous vaulted ceiling.
Grace pulled a baseball cap low over her face.
Locker 418 sat near an old baggage storage area.
She inserted the brass key.
Nothing.
She tried again.
Still nothing.
Elliot frowned.
“Turn twice.”
Click.
The door opened.
Inside sat a small black case.
No money.
No files.
No dramatic stack of secrets.
Just the case.
Grace lifted it.
“What’s in there?”
A voice behind them answered.
“That belongs to me.”
Grace froze.
Daniel turned.
Malcolm Harrington stood ten feet away.
He looked nothing like a monster.
He was younger than Grace by three years, tall, dark-haired, perfectly dressed.
His face showed exhaustion.
Behind him stood two men.
Not security guards.
Attorneys, perhaps.
Grace stepped backward.
“How did you find us?”
Malcolm stared at Elliot.
“I didn’t.”
Elliot looked confused.
Malcolm pointed toward the ceiling.
“Victor did.”
Daniel scanned the station.
Men in black suits appeared near two exits.
Malcolm lowered his voice.
“Grace, listen to me.”
“You had me committed.”
“I thought you needed help.”
“You petitioned for control of my shares.”
“Because Victor told me the company would collapse if you interfered.”
Grace stared.
“You believed him?”
“I believed you were sick.”
Her face twisted.
“You always believe whatever gives you what you want.”
Malcolm flinched.
Fair hit.
One of Victor’s men began approaching.
Malcolm stepped closer.
“We don’t have time.”
Grace clutched the black case.
“Why are you here?”
“Because Elliot called me.”
Grace turned toward Elliot.
He lowered his eyes.
“I needed to know whether he was part of it.”
Malcolm stared at Grace.
“I’m selfish. I’m ambitious. I wanted control.”
He swallowed.
“But I didn’t poison Dad.”
Grace stopped breathing.
Daniel glanced toward the approaching men.
“We need to leave.”
Malcolm nodded.
“Victor locked me out of corporate security this morning.”
Grace’s eyes widened.
“He can’t.”
“He did.”
“Why?”
“Because I asked him about the missing money.”
For the first time, brother and sister truly looked at each other.
Not as rivals.
As people who had finally arrived at the same terrible conclusion.
Grace whispered, “Victor.”
A security guard shouted.
“Ms. Harrington!”
Daniel grabbed Grace’s arm.
“Move.”
They ran.
Malcolm and Elliot followed.
Through the service door.
Down concrete stairs.
Across a loading platform.
Men chased them.
Daniel knew the corridors.
That was their only advantage.
He turned left.
Then right.
Then through an elevator equipment room.
“Where are we going?” Malcolm demanded.
“Trust the mechanic.”
They entered an old freight elevator.
Daniel pulled the gate closed manually.
A security man reached them just as the lift began descending.
His hand shot through the bars.
Daniel slammed his boot against it.
The man cursed and pulled back.
The elevator dropped.
Emma hugged Grace.
“That was cool.”
Daniel glared.
“No, it wasn’t.”
“It was a little cool,” Malcolm said.
Daniel pointed at him.
“I already dislike you.”
The elevator opened into the underground loading level.
They ran to the truck.
Only when they were three blocks away did Grace open the black case.
Inside was a phone.
An old one.
And a handwritten note.
Grace recognized the handwriting immediately.
Her father’s.
She read aloud.
“If Grace is holding this, then I was right to be afraid.”
Nobody spoke.
She continued.
“The person destroying our family is not the one you think.”
Grace looked at Malcolm.
His face went pale.
Below those words was another line.
A password.
And beneath it:
WATCH VIDEO ONE BEFORE TRUSTING ANYONE.
Grace powered on the phone.
There was a single video file.
She pressed play.
Arthur Harrington appeared on screen.
Thin.
Sick.
Alive.
He looked directly into the camera.
“Grace, Malcolm, if either of you is seeing this, then Victor has already moved against you.”
Malcolm whispered a curse.
Arthur continued.
“But Victor is not the person I feared most.”
Grace’s hand trembled.
On the screen, her father took a breath.
“The person who ordered my poisoning was my own brother.”
Grace’s head snapped up.
Robert.
Arthur Harrington continued speaking.
May you like
“And if Robert knows this recording exists, he will kill anyone necessary to destroy it.”
At that exact moment, Daniel’s truck exploded behind them.
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