Chapter 3 - The Man Outside the Study
Lily had spent four months believing she knew fear.
She had been wrong.
Fear was not scrubbing marble floors at two in the morning while Paul's men watched from the hallway.
It was not turning over nearly every dollar she earned because someone told her Liam's life depended on it.
It was not hiding cracked hands inside long sleeves.
Real fear was seeing her brother tied to a chair and realizing the people who had controlled her for months had never cared about money at all.
"They have him."
Her voice sounded distant.
Victor handed the phone back.
"We don't know when that picture was taken."
"It was tonight."
"How do you know?"
"Liam's shirt."
Victor waited.
"I bought it for him last week."
Victor's expression tightened.
"You saw him last week?"
"No. I left it at his apartment."
"So whoever took him had access to the apartment."
Lily looked at the photograph again.
Liam's face was bruised but alert.
A silver pipe ran along the wall behind him.
Concrete floor.
One hanging industrial light.
No windows.
Victor studied the details.
"Send the image to me."
"My phone barely works."
"Mine too."
Mason spoke.
"Internal Wi-Fi should still be active."
Victor looked at him.
"Should?"
Mason's embarrassment answered the question.
Victor turned to Lily.
"AirDrop it."
She did.
Victor enlarged the image.
On the left edge, partly obscured by Liam's chair, was a painted number.
17.
Victor knew dozens of warehouses marked with numbers.
It meant little.
Then Lily whispered, "I know that wall."
Victor looked at her.
"What?"
"The green stripe."
A faded green band crossed the lower concrete.
"Where?"
She closed her eyes, searching her memory.
"Paul sent me somewhere three weeks ago."
Victor's expression darkened.
"He sent you outside the estate?"
"To clean an office."
"Where?"
"I don't know the address. One of the drivers took me."
"What did you see?"
"Warehouses."
"What else?"
"Railroad tracks."
Victor waited.
"And a river."
Mason swore quietly.
Victor knew the district.
South freight yards.
Thirty-two old warehouses.
Half abandoned.
Several owned indirectly by businesses Victor controlled.
"Which building?"
"I don't know."
Victor showed her the photograph again.
Lily pointed.
"The green stripe was everywhere inside."
"Why were you there?"
"Paul said some investors were coming."
"What did he make you clean?"
"An office upstairs."
"Anything unusual?"
Lily hesitated.
"A locked cabinet."
Victor stared at her.
"You opened it?"
"No."
"But?"
"The key was in the desk."
Mason looked at Victor.
Victor ignored him.
"What was inside?"
"I only saw it because the door swung open when I moved the desk."
"Lily."
"Files."
"What kind?"
"I didn't read them."
"Think."
She pressed her fingers to her temples.
"Names. Numbers. Photographs."
Victor's pulse slowed.
Photographs.
"Did you see Liam?"
"No."
"Me?"
Lily looked at him.
"Yes."
Mason straightened.
Victor remained perfectly still.
"What photograph?"
"You were getting into a car."
"When?"
"I don't know."
"Where?"
"It looked like downtown."
Victor thought of the ambush.
Someone had known his route.
Perhaps because they had been documenting his movements long before tonight.
"Anyone else?"
Lily suddenly looked uncomfortable.
"What?"
"There was a photograph of me."
Victor's eyes hardened.
"Where?"
"Outside Liam's apartment."
"When did you see the file?"
"Three weeks ago."
"So they were watching you before you visited that warehouse."
She nodded.
Victor turned to Mason.
"Pull every property record connected to the south freight district."
"Network is still down."
"Then use paper records."
"Those are in administration."
"Go."
Mason left.
Lily stood silently.
Victor saw her looking at the pistol.
"Are you frightened of me?"
She looked surprised.
"I don't know."
"That's honest."
She lowered her eyes.
Victor placed the pistol on the desk.
Away from her.
"You are not going to that warehouse alone."
"They said—"
"I read the message."
"If they see you—"
"They won't."
"You were shot tonight."
"Unfortunately for them, not very well."
Lily almost smiled.
Almost.
Victor noticed.
Then she looked down again.
"Why would Liam steal from you?"
Victor took a long breath.
"Your brother gambles."
"I know."
"He also notices things."
Lily frowned.
Victor continued.
"About two months ago he started asking questions about accounts that had nothing to do with his debt."
"What accounts?"
"Payments moving through businesses connected to me."
"Illegal money?"
Victor met her eyes.
"Some of it."
Lily appreciated that he did not pretend otherwise.
"But the numbers didn't match," Victor said.
"Meaning?"
"Money was disappearing."
"Paul?"
"I didn't know then."
"You know now?"
"No."
Victor moved toward the fireplace.
"Paul may be stealing from me. He may be stealing for someone else. Or he may be protecting whoever is."
"And Liam found out?"
"Possibly."
Lily shook her head.
"He wouldn't understand financial records."
"He understands gambling books."
That stopped her.
Victor continued.
"Odds. Columns. Totals. Patterns. Your brother has spent half his life staring at numbers."
Lily almost laughed bitterly.
"So the one useless skill he developed gambling might have saved him."
"Or put him in that chair."
The room fell silent.
Then Lily's phone rang.
Unknown number.
Victor gestured.
"Answer."
She did.
"Liam?"
No response.
Then breathing.
"Liam?"
A man's voice spoke.
Distorted electronically.
"Two hours."
Lily looked at Victor.
"Where?"
"You know where."
"I don't."
"You've been there."
Victor moved closer.
The caller continued.
"Warehouse Seventeen."
Lily's eyes widened.
Victor had been right.
"Bring the ledger."
"I don't have it."
"Victor does."
Lily looked at him.
Victor shook his head slowly.
The caller continued.
"Find it."
"I can't."
"You can."
A pause.
"You've been sleeping on the man's chest. I'm sure he'll give you anything."
Lily went rigid.
Victor's face changed.
That detail had happened behind a locked door.
Less than an hour ago.
Someone had watched them.
Victor looked around the study.
Camera.
There had to be one.
He scanned the bookshelves.
Fireplace.
Lamp.
Picture frames.
Then he saw it.
A tiny black point inside the antique clock.
Victor crossed the room, ripped the clock from the shelf and smashed it against the floor.
A miniature camera rolled across the carpet.
Lily stared.
Victor lifted the phone from her hand.
"Listen carefully."
The voice stopped.
Victor spoke softly.
"If Liam Carter is harmed, there will be no city far enough away to hide you."
The distorted voice laughed.
"Still giving orders, Victor?"
Victor recognized the rhythm.
Not the voice.
The confidence.
Someone who knew him.
"You've lost your house."
Victor's eyes narrowed.
"You've lost your men."
Silence.
"And by sunrise, you'll lose your name."
The call ended.
Victor stared at the screen.
Lily looked frightened.
"What does that mean?"
Victor slowly looked toward the broken camera.
"It means tonight isn't about stealing money."
"What is it about?"
"Replacing me."
A sound came from the wall behind them.
Victor turned.
A soft electronic beep.
The safe.
Someone was entering the code.
From the secondary keypad in the adjoining office.
Victor grabbed his pistol.
Lily backed away.
The inner safe lock clicked.
Victor's eyes widened.
Only three people knew the secondary code.
Victor.
His attorney.
And Paul.
The safe door began moving.
Victor aimed toward the hidden panel.
Then a hand reached through.
Not Paul's.
A younger man stepped into the study.
Lily gasped.
Victor did not shoot.
Because he recognized him.
"Liam."
Lily's brother stood there covered in dirt, wrists raw from restraints, eyes wild with panic.
"Lily."
She ran toward him.
Victor lowered the weapon.
But Liam did not hug his sister.
He grabbed her shoulders.
"We have to get out."
"Liam—"
"Now."
Victor approached.
"The photograph."
Liam looked at him.
"They made it an hour ago."
"How did you escape?"
"I didn't."
Victor stopped.
Liam's eyes filled with fear.
"They let me go."
Lily whispered, "Why?"
Liam turned toward the doorway.
"Because they wanted me to lead them here."
Somewhere in the corridor, glass shattered.
May you like
Then every light in Victor Hayes's estate went out.
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