Chapter 10 - THE HOUSE WITH TOO MANY KEYS
Nobody moved for two full seconds.
Then Marcus swore.
“The ledger was right here.”
Damian turned toward the doorway. “Who came in?”
“Rachel. You. Me. Two detectives.”
“And Vanessa?”
Marcus’s eyes narrowed. “Her attorney took her out ten minutes ago.”
They ran to the front hall.
Vanessa was gone.
So was one of the detectives.
The real detective standing near the entry frowned. “What do you mean, one of us?”
Marcus showed him the security still.
The man who had entered the library wearing a county investigator’s windbreaker was not law enforcement.
It was Owen.
He had shaved his beard.
Damian slammed his palm against the console table. “He walked back into my house.”
Marcus looked sick. “With a forged badge and a jacket. That’s on me.”
“No. It’s on them.”
Elena entered from the cottage with Mia asleep against her shoulder.
“What happened?”
“The ledger is gone.”
She closed her eyes.
“Of course it is.”
Damian looked at her. “You need to take Mia somewhere else tonight.”
“I was already going to.”
“You’re leaving?”
“I’m taking her to my sister’s. After that, I don’t know.”
Pain flickered across Damian’s face.
“This job has been good to us,” she said quietly. “You’ve been good to Mia. But my daughter was taken today because somebody thought hurting her would move you. That changes things.”
“I understand.”
“No, you don’t.” Her eyes filled. “When you’re rich, danger comes with security teams and attorneys. When you’re me, danger follows you to daycare.”
Damian had no answer.
Mia stirred, half asleep. “Mr. Cross?”
“I’m here.”
“Don’t be sad.”
He forced a smile. “I’ll work on it.”
As Elena carried her toward the door, something fell from Mia’s jacket pocket.
A folded piece of black paper.
Elena picked it up.
“What’s this?”
Mia yawned. “The mean man dropped it in the boat house. I picked it up ’cause littering is bad.”
Marcus unfolded it carefully.
It was the torn inside cover of Vanessa’s ledger.
Three words were written in silver ink:
THE FIRST PROMISE.
Underneath was a six-digit number.
Caleb, still on speakerphone, went silent.
Damian said, “You recognize it?”
“Yes.” Caleb’s voice had changed. “That phrase.”
“What does it mean?”
“It’s what Vanessa called an engagement.”
Elena looked at the six digits.
“Then the number is a date.”
Caleb whispered, “My engagement date.”
Marcus entered it into the encrypted cloud account linked to Northstar.
The screen unlocked.
Folders filled the display.
ROSS.
CROSS.
NEXT.
And inside the CROSS folder was a countdown timer.
Sixteen hours, forty-one minutes.
May you like
Whatever Vanessa had planned wasn’t over.
It was scheduled to happen tomorrow morning.
