Chapter 7 - Level Four.
By afternoon, the hospital room had become the center of an investigation Warren Hale could no longer control.
Detective Ortiz secured Mara's phone, the elevator video, and Sophie's written statement through formal evidence procedures.
Nina contacted an attorney for Sophie before the suspension could be used to silence her.
Cal remained beside Mara.
He had learned long ago that loud anger was useful only to people who wanted you to make mistakes.
What he needed now was patience.
Ortiz returned with a photograph from Garage C.
"We found the attendant who was working last night."
Her name was Celia Ward.
She was sixty-two and had been managing parking decks long enough to notice anyone who behaved like the rules did not apply to them.
Celia remembered Dylan immediately.
"He argued about paying twelve dollars," Ortiz said.
Mara almost laughed from disbelief.
"He was worried about twelve dollars?"
"Apparently wealthy people can be very committed to free parking."
Ortiz placed another image on the table.
A black SUV appeared at the edge of the frame.
The garage camera had not captured the license plate clearly.
Celia's personal dashboard camera had.
She had parked facing the exit during her dinner break.
Her camera recorded the SUV leaving at 10:14 p.m.
Nina read the plate number.
"Registered to Northline Executive Transport."
Cal knew the company name.
Northline supplied vehicles and security drivers for Rourke Holdings.
Mara stared at the photograph.
"That proves Dylan was there."
Ortiz nodded.
"It proves a Rourke contractor's vehicle was there."
"Celia's statement puts Dylan in the garage."
"We still need the full sequence."
Cal asked, "What about Trent and Mason?"
Ortiz slid two more still images across the table.
One showed Trent entering Level Four at 9:21.
The other showed Mason carrying a dark backpack at 9:27.
Mara whispered, "That's the bag."
Cal looked at her.
"What bag?"
"The one they kept asking me about."
"They thought the drive was inside it."
Nina leaned forward.
"Was it?"
Mara shook her head.
"I stopped carrying the drive after Paul told me to delete the scans."
"I knew someone might search my things."
Cal asked the question everyone had been circling.
"Where did you put it?"
Mara looked at him for a long moment.
"In a place nobody connects to me."
Nina said, "We need it before they find it."
Mara nodded.
"There's a neighborhood library on Grant Avenue."
"I volunteer there twice a month repairing old books."
"The drive is taped beneath the bottom drawer of the restoration desk."
Ortiz stood.
"I'll send an officer."
Mara shook her head.
"No uniforms."
Ortiz raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"Because someone knew I was in this room before the nurses finished my intake."
"I don't know who is safe yet."
Cal hated how reasonable that sounded.
Nina volunteered to go with Ortiz personally.
Forty-five minutes later, they reached the library.
Cal stayed connected by video call from Mara's room.
The restoration area was empty.
Nina knelt beside the wooden desk and pulled out the bottom drawer.
Her hand moved underneath.
Then stopped.
"Nothing."
Mara sat upright despite the discomfort.
"Check the back left corner."
Nina reached deeper.
A strip of gray tape hung loose from the wood.
The drive was gone.
Mara's face collapsed.
Cal felt his stomach tighten.
Ortiz scanned the room.
"Does the library have cameras?"
The librarian pulled footage from the previous evening.
At 8:03 p.m., nearly ninety minutes before Mara's meeting, a man entered the restoration area.
He wore a baseball cap and kept his face angled down.
He opened the correct drawer without searching.
He reached under the exact corner.
Then he removed the drive.
Mara whispered, "Only one person knew I volunteered there."
Cal already knew the answer.
"Paul Denning."
The figure on the screen lifted his head for half a second.
May you like
It was not Paul.
It was Mason Pike.
