Chapter 4 - THE ROOM SOMEONE HAD SEARCHED BEFORE EMMA ARRIVED
Emma returned to her old staff apartment with Mrs. Doyle and an independent security consultant hired by her own lawyer.
Caleb did not enter.
Emma appreciated that.
The room looked normal.
Bed.
Small desk.
Closet.
Bathroom.
Three months of her life condensed into one suitcase and two cardboard boxes.
Then the security consultant found damage behind the dresser.
Two screws on the back panel had been replaced.
Inside:
nothing.
But the wood around them showed recent tool marks.
Someone had opened the compartment.
“What compartment?” Emma asked.
Mrs. Doyle looked confused.
“It’s an old service desk. Some have hidden cable boxes.”
This one contained no cables.
Then Emma remembered.
When she moved in, one drawer had been slightly open.
Inside was an envelope addressed to:
E. WALKER
She assumed it came from the staffing agency.
It contained:
two hundred dollars in grocery vouchers,
a transit card,
and a printed note.
For your first week. No repayment expected.
She had asked Mrs. Doyle.
Mrs. Doyle assumed Marrow Domestic provided it.
Marrow denied doing so.
Someone knew exactly which room Emma would receive before she moved in.
The hallway camera outside staff quarters had also experienced three brief outages over her first month.
Ordinary maintenance?
Possibly.
But all three occurred on evenings Emma visited Raymond.
Someone may have been entering her room while she was gone.
“What were they looking for?” Emma asked Caleb later.
“I don’t know.”
“My father said something about what I kept.”
“Do you have anything from his work?”
“No.”
“Old papers?”
“My mother threw away most office boxes after his accident.”
“Storage?”
“Maybe.”
She became defensive.
“I’m not giving your organization access to my family’s things.”
“I’m not asking you to.”
“You will.”
“No.”
She looked at him.
He continued:
“If records exist, they should go to your attorney or law enforcement.”
That surprised her.
“You want police involved?”
“In this part, yes.”
“What about the rest of your life?”
Silence.
There was the line.
Caleb did not pretend.
“I’ve spent seven years trying to separate Whitmore businesses from what my father built.”
“That isn’t an answer.”
“No.”
He sat across from her.
“I inherited a criminal organization.”
“Did you run it?”
“Yes.”
Her eyes hardened.
“Do you still?”
“Parts of it exist.”
“So yes.”
“Yes.”
No euphemism.
Emma stood.
“I’m having a baby with a crime boss.”
Caleb remained seated.
“I know.”
“That is not funny.”
“I wasn’t smiling.”
She paced.
“How many people have you hurt?”
“Personally?”
She stopped.
“Do not answer that.”
He looked down.
Good choice.
She continued:
“I need to know whether my daughter is safe around you.”
“That answer is not mine to declare.”
Finally something intelligent.
“What are you doing about it?”
“Trying to dismantle what can be dismantled without causing a war that gets more people hurt.”
“That sounds convenient.”
“It is not.”
“Are police aware?”
“Some investigations exist.”
“That is not what I asked.”
“No. They do not know everything.”
Emma stared at him.
“Then why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn’t yet.”
That answer frightened her less than a promise would have.
Then Marcus Vale entered the office without knocking.
He saw Emma.
Stopped.
“What is she doing here?”
Caleb looked at him.
“Why did your account clear her for household employment?”
Marcus’s face did not change.
“I didn’t.”
“Your email did.”
“Then security used my credentials.”
“Why?”
“I’ll find out.”
“No.”
Caleb stood.
“You won’t touch the investigation.”
Marcus stared at him.
Twelve years of history filled the silence.
Then Marcus’s eyes moved toward Emma’s collar.
The ring was hidden.
He could not see it.
But his gaze remained there one second too long.
Emma noticed.
So did Caleb.
Marcus said:
“You found the hotel woman.”
“Yes.”
“Pregnant.”
Emma’s stomach tightened.
Nobody had told Marcus directly.
Caleb’s voice became quiet.
“How did you know?”
Marcus looked at her stomach.
“She’s showing.”
Emma was twenty-one weeks.
Barely.
Under a loose sweater.
Possible.
Then Marcus smiled.
“I have eyes.”
Caleb did not smile back.
After Marcus left, Emma said:
“He knew.”
“Maybe.”
“You saw his face.”
“Yes.”
“Why are you protecting him?”
Caleb turned toward her.
“Because if Marcus is involved, accusing him before I know how far this goes tells everyone behind him exactly what we know.”
Emma understood strategy.
She hated that she did.
Then Caleb’s investigator arrived with another piece.
Marrow Domestic’s recruiter had received a phone call after Emma applied.
No recording.
She remembered the caller because his instruction was unusual.
Place Emma Walker only at Whitmore House. No hotels. No other residence.
Who called?
A man identifying himself as:
Mr. Vincent’s office.
The recruiter assumed he meant a Whitmore executive whose first name was Vincent.
There was no such current employee.
Caleb sat completely still.
May you like
His father had been legally dead for seven years.
Yet his name kept appearing in places that had nothing to do with the dead.
