Chapter 12 - THE CAR ON THE PLAZA
Matthew hit Emily from the side.
They went down together.
The sedan missed them by less than three feet and smashed into a concrete planter.
People screamed.
Firefighters scattered.
The driver’s airbag burst white behind the windshield.
Matthew rolled off Emily immediately.
“Are you hurt?”
“My elbow.”
“Anything else?”
“I don’t know.”
He looked over her quickly without touching.
Then he saw the driver move.
“Stay down.”
Emily ignored him and pushed herself up.
The driver kicked open the door.
He was the maintenance man from the seventeenth floor.
The federal agent drew his weapon.
“Stop!”
The man ran toward the riverwalk.
Two officers chased him.
Diane stood beside the crushed planter, shaking.
Graham Ambrose was gone.
Emily looked around.
“Where is he?”
Diane whispered, “He left.”
“Convenient.”
“Emily.”
“What?”
Diane’s eyes filled with tears.
Emily felt nothing.
That scared her.
Diane said, “I didn’t know he would go this far.”
Emily stared.
“You locked me in a room with him.”
“I needed time.”
“To do what?”
“To keep the company alive.”
“By giving him me?”
Diane flinched.
“I thought he wanted leverage.”
“What did you think that meant?”
Diane opened her mouth.
Nothing came out.
Emily stepped closer.
“No, say it.”
“I thought if he believed you were willing to marry him—”
Emily laughed in disbelief.
“Marry him?”
“He said he would refinance the debt.”
“He’s sixty-eight.”
“I know.”
“You told me my body was the only valuable thing I had left.”
Diane looked at the ground.
“I was angry.”
“That wasn’t anger.”
Emily’s voice went quiet.
“That was what you believed.”
Diane started crying.
Not beautifully.
Her mascara ran.
Her mouth trembled.
For years, that sight would have softened Emily.
This time it did not.
Matthew moved farther away, giving them space.
Emily saw it and hated being grateful.
She asked Diane, “Why did you come to the hospital?”
“To bring you home.”
“Lie.”
Diane looked up.
“You knew about the book.”
Silence.
“Who told you?”
Diane wiped her cheek with the heel of her hand.
“I found your father’s notes after he died.”
“What notes?”
“He had written page numbers on a legal pad.”
“Where is it?”
“I threw it away.”
Emily stared.
Diane looked away.
Another lie.
Before Emily could press, Rachel appeared with two uniformed officers.
“Diane Hale?”
Diane stiffened.
Rachel held out a document.
“You have been named in a temporary protective order. You are to have no direct contact with Emily for seventy-two hours.”
Diane looked at Emily.
“You did this?”
“Yes.”
The answer came easily.
Diane’s face crumpled.
Emily almost stepped forward.
Almost.
Then she remembered the locked door.
She stayed where she was.
The officers escorted Diane toward a patrol car.
At the door, Diane turned.
“Emily.”
Rachel said, “Do not engage.”
Diane ignored her.
“Your father didn’t die because of the crash.”
Everything stopped.
Emily stared.
“What?”
One officer tried to guide Diane into the car.
She resisted.
“Diane.”
“What did you say?”
Diane’s eyes were wild now.
“He was sick before the car hit the barrier.”
Emily took one step forward.
“What does that mean?”
The officer pushed Diane into the back seat.
The door slammed.
Emily hit the window with her palm.
“Diane!”
Her stepmother looked through the glass.
She mouthed two words.
ASK PETER.
The car pulled away.
Emily turned.
“Where is Peter Lang?”
The federal agent who had carried him downstairs looked around.
“He was taken to County General.”
Matthew pulled out his phone.
Marcus answered immediately.
“Find Peter Lang.”
A pause.
Matthew’s expression darkened.
“What?” Emily asked.
He lowered the phone.
“Peter never arrived at the hospital.”
Emily’s stomach dropped.
“The ambulance?”
“Found empty four blocks away.”
“And Peter?”
“Gone.”
A firefighter approached carrying the black backpack recovered on seventeen.
“Agent said this goes with you.”
Rachel corrected him.
“It goes into evidence.”
The firefighter set it down anyway.
One blue folder had slipped halfway out.
Emily saw a name typed on the tab.
ARTHUR HALE — TOXICOLOGY.
She pulled it free.
Inside was a laboratory report dated two days after her father’s death.
The result line had been circled in red.
DIGOXIN: TOXIC RANGE.
Emily had no idea what it meant.
Dr. Ortiz, who had arrived with Marcus, read over her shoulder.
Her face changed.
“What?” Emily asked.
Lena looked at her.
“Digoxin is a heart medication.”
“My father didn’t take heart medication.”
Lena looked back at the report.
“At this level, it can cause a fatal arrhythmia.”
Emily heard Diane again.
He was sick before the car hit the barrier.
Her fingers began shaking.
At the bottom of the report was a handwritten instruction.
DO NOT RELEASE TO FAMILY.
May you like
And beneath it was a signature.
PETER LANG.
