Chapter 11 - The Headline
By dinner, my sons had faces on television.
WHITAKER HEIR'S SECRET QUADRUPLETS.
MISSING FIFTH CHILD ALLEGED.
Brielle called me screaming.
“My father thinks I leaked it.”
“Did you?”
“No!”
I believed her.
That surprised both of us.
Mara turned off the television.
Milo turned it back on.
She turned it off again.
“Hey.”
“No.”
“But I'm famous.”
“No.”
“Do famous people still have bedtime?”
“Yes.”
“That's bad branding.”
I laughed.
Mara didn't.
Then someone threw a brick through the apartment window.
Glass exploded across the living room.
I hit the floor.
Mara screamed for the boys.
A note was wrapped around the brick.
STOP LOOKING FOR MAYA.
I called security.
Then police.
Then Gerald.
He answered on the first ring.
“Finally.”
“You knew this would happen.”
“I warned you.”
“Where are you?”
“Penn Station.”
“Stay there.”
“I won't.”
“Gerald—”
“Your father trusted the wrong people. So did I.”
His voice shook.
“I gave Charles the location of one of Mara's apartments six years ago.”
Mara heard.
She went white.
“That break-in,” she whispered.
Gerald continued.
“I thought Charles only wanted the records.”
“You nearly got my family killed.”
“Yes.”
No excuse.
That made it worse.
“Why help us now?”
“Because your father died cleaning up my mistake.”
The line crackled.
Then I heard shouting.
Gerald said, “Adrian, listen carefully. Locker 814. The key is—”
A crash.
The call ended.
I drove to Penn Station with Mara despite police telling us not to.
Locker 814 was empty.
No Gerald.
No key.
Only a paper cup.
Mara stared at it.
“What now?”
I looked down.
On the lid, someone had written four numbers.
0418.
The exact time I had called my assistant to cancel my engagement.
“That can't be coincidence.”
Mara lifted the cup.
Something rattled inside.
A small brass key.
Under it, another note.
ASK BRIELLE WHAT HER MOTHER DID AT ST. VINCENT'S HOSPITAL SIX YEARS AGO.
Mara looked at me.
“Do you trust her?”
“No.”
“Good.”
My phone buzzed.
A message from Brielle.
My mother is dead.
May you like
And police think your father killed her.
