Chapter 1 - The Stars on the Table.
.The room went quiet before Rory reached the table.
Crystal light trembled across the dark wood walls, catching on whiskey glasses, silver cuff links, and the polished shoes of men who had frightened grown adults without raising their voices.
Rory was six years old, small enough that the table came almost to her chest.
She still walked straight toward it.
A red bow held her light brown hair away from a pale face that looked too serious for a child.
Her red hoodie was faded at the cuffs.
Her white sneakers were clean only because she had scrubbed them herself in a motel sink that morning.
At the head of the table sat Gabriel Voss, the man everyone in the room called Boss.
He watched her approach without smiling.
Two guards shifted slightly behind him.
Rory did not stop.
Gabriel leaned back in his chair and studied her brave expression.
"Are you sure you want to talk to me?"
Rory nodded.
Then she reached into her hoodie and pulled out a small white notepad.
Purple stars covered the first page.
Some were neat.
Some were crooked.
A few were smeared where a child's hand had dragged through wet ink.
She placed it beside Gabriel's whiskey glass.
Sterling Mercer stood near the wall in a light grey suit.
The blood drained from his face.
Gabriel noticed.
Rory pointed to the stars.
Gabriel leaned forward.
"What do the stars mean, Rory?"
Her finger rested on the largest one.
"They're the nights we didn't eat dinner."
No one moved.
The ticking clock over the fireplace suddenly sounded loud enough to hurt.
Gabriel looked from the stars to Rory's thin wrist.
Then he looked at Sterling.
His expression changed so quickly that one of the guards lowered his eyes.
Gabriel placed both palms on the table.
He stood.
"Sterling!"
Sterling flinched.
"Boss, I can explain."
Rory turned toward the nervous man.
"He always says that."
Gabriel's jaw tightened.
"Always?"
Rory nodded again.
"When the lights go off."
Sterling stepped forward too quickly.
"She's confused."
Gabriel lifted one hand.
Sterling stopped instantly.
Rory opened the notepad to the next page.
There were more stars there.
Below them, in uneven block letters, she had written numbers.
18.
23.
41.
52.
Gabriel stared at them.
"What are those?"
Rory swallowed.
"The envelopes Mr. Sterling took from Mommy."
The room seemed to shrink around him.
Sterling's voice cracked.
"This is ridiculous."
Rory looked at Gabriel.
"Mommy said if anything happened to her, I should give you this."
Gabriel's anger vanished for one terrible second.
"What happened to your mother?"
Rory's eyes filled, but she refused to cry.
"She disappeared last night."
Gabriel slowly turned toward Sterling.
Sterling was no longer looking nervous.
He was looking at the nearest door.
May you like
And Gabriel finally understood that the child had not come to ask for help.
She had come to deliver evidence before someone could silence her too.
