The Fire Alarm
Chapter 07 - The Fire Alarm
Victoria did not come alone.
Two men in dark coats entered the motel lobby while her sedan remained near the road. Mara turned off the lamp, and the room fell into darkness.
“Are they security?” Evelyn whispered.
“They work for the company,” Mara said. “That means no one will ask what they were told to do.”
Evelyn called Mr. Lewis at the Connecticut house. He answered with a single word.
“Ready.”
Seconds later, the motel fire alarm began to scream.
Guests poured into the hallway wearing coats over pajamas. Doors opened. Children cried. A clerk shouted for everyone to move toward the stairs.
Mara and Evelyn joined the crowd.
At the end of the corridor, one of Victoria’s men saw them. He pushed against the flow of people, but Mr. Lewis stepped from an adjoining room and blocked his path with a luggage cart.
“I believe the exit is the other way,” he said.
Outside, Evelyn spotted Daniel standing near a black car.
She almost turned away.
“Get in,” he said. “Victoria knows about the drive.”
Mara stopped beside Evelyn. “Do you trust him?”
“No.”
Daniel’s expression tightened, but he accepted the answer.
“Good,” he said. “Then don’t trust me. Trust the fact that my mother will be here in less than a minute.”
They entered the car.
Daniel drove through the motel lot as Victoria’s sedan pulled in. For several miles, no one spoke.
Finally, Evelyn held up the flash drive. “What is the password?”
Daniel kept his eyes on the road.
“The date Mara and I planned to leave the country.”
Mara stared at him. “You remembered.”
“I remember every day I failed to show up.”
Evelyn looked between them. The intimacy of shared regret made her feel like an intruder inside her own marriage.
Daniel gave her the date.
She entered it into her laptop.
The drive opened.
There were hundreds of files: contracts, inspection reports, photographs, bank transfers, and emails signed by Malcolm Mercer.
Then Evelyn found a folder bearing Daniel’s name.
Inside were twelve documents authorizing payments after Malcolm’s death.
All signed by Daniel.
Evelyn turned the screen toward him.
“You told me this was your father’s crime.”
Daniel’s hands tightened on the steering wheel.
“It was.”
“Then why did you keep paying?”
He did not answer.
May you like
Mara looked at him with new fear.
“Daniel,” she said, “what did you do?”
