Chapter 2 - Seven Minutes, Fifty Seconds.
Vincent carried Lena down two flights of stairs while the building's old emergency lights painted the walls a dull amber.
She could have walked, but the strength had gone out of her legs the moment the apartment door disappeared behind them.
At the curb, a dark SUV waited with its rear door open.
A woman in a navy coat stood beside it holding a small medical kit.
"Mara," Vincent said, "check her arm first."
Lena looked back toward the building.
"What about Derek?"
"He stays upstairs until the police arrive."
Vincent's answer was calm enough to make it sound routine.
Mara helped Lena into the vehicle and examined the swelling near her elbow.
"This needs imaging," she said.
"It could be a sprain, but I'm not guessing."
Lena nodded even though her attention remained fixed on Vincent.
He had changed since she last saw him.
The old impatience was gone.
In its place was something slower and harder to read.
"Why did you time it?" she asked.
Vincent glanced at his watch.
"Because your message came at 9:12."
"That doesn't answer me."
"It does if you remember what I told you when you stopped speaking to me."
Lena remembered.
Two years earlier, after Derek accused Vincent of interfering in their relationship, Vincent had stood outside this same apartment and said one sentence before leaving.
If you ever call, I come.
No lecture.
No questions.
Lena had hated him for making it sound so simple.
Now she understood that simple promises were sometimes the only ones worth trusting.
Blue lights reflected across the windshield as two police cars turned onto the block.
Vincent did not move toward them.
Instead, he opened the front passenger door and removed a slim black folder.
Lena frowned.
"What's that?"
"Something Derek should have shown you six months ago."
Her stomach tightened.
Vincent handed her the folder.
Inside was a copy of the apartment lease, three bank statements, and a notarized form bearing Lena's name.
Her eyes moved to the signature at the bottom.
It looked like hers.
It was not hers.
"What is this?"
Vincent's jaw tightened.
"A transfer authorization."
"Transfer for what?"
"Your share of the emergency fund."
Lena stared at the amount.
Forty-eight thousand dollars.
The number looked unreal on the page.
She had believed the account held less than nine thousand.
Derek had told her the rest disappeared during a failed investment.
"Where did you get this?"
"Your old accountant called me."
"Why would Naomi call you?"
Vincent looked toward the apartment windows.
"Because she found a second signature."
Lena's fingers went cold.
"On what?"
Vincent took another page from the folder, but before he could hand it over, his phone rang.
He answered without greeting.
His expression changed almost immediately.
"Say that again."
Lena watched him step away from the SUV.
"Who is it?"
Vincent ended the call and looked at her.
"The officers went upstairs."
"And?"
"Derek isn't there."
Lena stared at the building.
The third-floor hallway window stood open.
A curtain moved in the cold air.
Mara shut the SUV door beside Lena.
Vincent reached into his coat and pulled out the second document.
"We leave now."
Lena looked down at the page.
At the top, in bold letters, was the name of a storage company she had never heard of.
May you like
Underneath was a unit number.
And beside the unit number was her signature again.
