Chapter 5 - THE EMPTY BED
Salvatore almost dropped the phone.
“What do you mean she isn’t there?”
“I turned around for thirty seconds.”
“Thirty seconds?”
“She was sleeping!”
He ran.
Marco followed.
Ruby’s bedroom was empty.
The blanket lay half on the floor.
The window was locked.
The hidden closet passage stood open.
Salvatore stared into the darkness.
“Lucinda.”
Marco raised his radio.
“Every unit, child missing. Search all service passages.”
Salvatore entered first.
“Boss, wait.”
“No.”
The passage was narrow.
Too narrow for two men side by side.
“Ruby!”
Nothing.
He moved faster.
“Ruby!”
A faint sound came from ahead.
Three taps.
Pause.
Three taps again.
Salvatore stopped.
“Sweetheart?”
A whimper.
He ran toward it.
Behind another wall panel, he found a storage room.
Ruby was sitting behind a stack of boxes.
Alone.
Her eyes were huge.
Salvatore dropped beside her.
“Oh, God.”
He pulled her into his arms.
“Did she hurt you?”
Ruby shook her head.
“Someone opened the wall.”
“Who?”
“I didn’t see.”
“Why did you come in here?”
“They said you were calling me.”
Salvatore closed his eyes for one second.
Someone had imitated his voice.
Or played a recording.
“Did they touch you?”
“No.”
“Did you see anything?”
“A black glove.”
He carried her out.
At the end of the passage, Marco found a portable speaker.
Salvatore pressed play.
His own recorded voice said:
“Ruby? Come here, sweetheart.”
He stared at it.
Someone had recorded him.
Someone had prepared this.
Marco cursed under his breath.
Then another guard radioed.
“We found Ms. Grant.”
“Where?”
“Kitchen exit.”
“Hold her.”
A pause.
“Sir…”
“What?”
“She’s unconscious.”
They found Lucinda on the floor beside the service door.
A cut on her forehead.
No weapon nearby.
No sign of how she had fallen.
When she woke fifteen minutes later, she immediately asked for a lawyer.
Salvatore stood across from her.
“Who attacked you?”
She looked at him.
“I don’t know.”
“Who took Ruby?”
“I didn’t.”
“Then tell me who did.”
Lucinda laughed weakly.
“You finally understand, don’t you?”
“Understand what?”
“I’m not the only person in this house who wants something from you.”
Marco entered.
“We traced the burner call.”
Salvatore turned.
“To who?”
“Not a person. Another prepaid device.”
“Location?”
Marco hesitated.
“Inside the estate.”
Lucinda smiled.
Salvatore’s expression hardened.
“Someone here called her?”
Marco nodded.
“And there’s more.”
“What?”
“We found the second phone.”
“Where?”
Marco looked toward the line of security personnel outside the door.
“In one of our bodyguards’ lockers.”
Lucinda leaned back.
“Now ask yourself the important question, Salvatore.”
He looked at her.
She whispered:
May you like
“Which one of your loyal men has been helping me?”
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