Chapter 10 - The Empty Hospital Room
I reached St. Catherine's in thirty-four minutes.
Dad's bed was empty.
One IV line lay on the floor.
The nurse assigned to him was unconscious in a supply room.
Hospital security had footage.
A man wearing medical scrubs entered Dad's room at 12:18.
At 12:24, he pushed a wheelchair toward the service elevator.
Dad was in it.
"License plate?" I asked.
"Vehicle had temporary tags."
"Face?"
"Covered."
Mom sat beside Emily.
Derek had been detained for questioning after the fire.
Vane had vanished.
I watched the footage again.
Then again.
Something bothered me.
The man pushing Dad wore white sneakers.
On the left heel was a black triangular logo.
Emily noticed my expression.
"What?"
"I've seen those shoes."
"Where?"
I remembered Charles Vane leaving the boardroom.
Gray suit.
Silver hair.
White sneakers.
Black triangle.
"Vane took Dad."
Mom covered her mouth.
Emily stood.
"Why?"
I looked at her.
"Because Dad knows where the money went."
My phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
This time there was a photograph.
Dad sitting in a chair.
Alive.
Beside him was today's newspaper.
Then a message.
BRING THE ORIGINAL TRUST.
COME ALONE.
Emily read it.
"No."
I looked at the photo.
"Daniel, you can't go."
"They have Dad."
"That's exactly why you can't go alone."
I zoomed in.
Behind Dad was a window.
Beyond it—
A red-and-white water tower.
I recognized it.
So did Emily.
"That's the old Harrington warehouse."
I nodded.
The property had been abandoned for eight years.
They thought they had chosen the perfect place.
They were wrong.
Because I'd worked there every summer when I was sixteen.
May you like
And I knew something Charles Vane didn't.
That warehouse had a second entrance.
