Chapter 16 - THE QUEENS BASEMENT
Emma left the mansion at eleven-thirty.
She told no one.
The address led to a row of dark warehouses near the old rail yards.
She parked three blocks away and walked.
The keycard opened a side door.
Stairs led down into a concrete basement lit by a single hanging bulb.
A metal table stood in the center.
On it rested a laptop and a stack of old medical files.
A voice spoke from the shadows.
“You came.”
Lena Vance stepped into the light.
Frank’s cousin.
The nurse who had helped take Ethan.
Emma raised the pistol.
“Give me one reason not to end this now.”
Lena held up both hands.
“Because I have the original recording of Eleanor’s last conversation with Isabella. The one that proves coercion. And because Frank is going to kill me the moment he finds out I contacted you.”
Emma did not lower the gun.
“Talk.”
Lena opened the laptop.
A video began to play.
Eleanor Sterling sat in a hospital bed.
Her voice was weak but clear.
Isabella leaned close.
“Sign it, Eleanor. Or the next dose will be the last.”
Eleanor’s hand trembled as she signed the holographic will.
Tears ran down her face.
The video ended.
Emma’s throat closed.
Lena spoke quietly.
“I kept a copy. Frank doesn’t know. Isabella doesn’t know. I want out. I want immunity. And I want my cousin to pay for what he did to my sister years ago.”
Emma stared at the screen.
“Why now?”
Lena’s eyes were tired.
“Because Ethan looks like my sister’s boy. And I can’t watch another child die.”
Emma lowered the pistol an inch.
“Miller will want to hear this.”
Lena nodded.
“Then call him. But do it fast. Frank is already looking for me.”
A soft scrape sounded from the top of the stairs.
Both women turned.
Frank Vance stood at the top of the steps.
A suppressed pistol in his hand.
May you like
He smiled.
“Too late.”
