Chapter 3 - FAMILY BLOOD
“No.”
Maya stepped back from the screen.
“That’s impossible.”
Detective Mercer paused the video.
The face remained frozen.
Dark hair.
Sharp cheekbones.
A small scar beneath the right eye.
Luis Reyes.
Maya’s older brother.
Charles folded his arms.
“You still want to tell me you’re not involved?”
“I haven’t seen Luis in eight months.”
“Convenient.”
“Charles,” Mercer warned.
“No, Detective. My wife appears to have tried to kill me, and the waitress who stopped her just happens to have a brother touching the same decanter?”
Maya’s eyes burned.
“I saved your life.”
“Or staged an interruption.”
The accusation hit harder than she expected.
Maya walked toward the table.
Daniel blocked her.
“I said don’t touch anything.”
“I’m showing him something.”
She pulled up her messages and shoved the screen toward Mercer.
Her last message from Luis had been eight months earlier.
LUIS: I’m sorry.
MAYA: Sorry doesn’t fix this.
LUIS: I know.
MAYA: Don’t come to my apartment again.
LUIS: I won’t.
Nothing since.
Mercer read silently.
“What happened between you?”
“He stole money from our mother.”
“How much?”
“Everything she had saved.”
“Why?”
“Gambling. Drugs. Bad friends. Pick one.”
Maya’s voice cracked despite herself.
“Our mother died last year thinking her son hated her.”
Mercer softened slightly.
“And you haven’t spoken since?”
“No.”
Daniel enlarged the security footage.
“There’s another issue.”
Maya looked over.
The uniform Luis was wearing belonged to Bellamy House.
But Luis didn’t work there.
The manager checked payroll.
No Luis Reyes.
No temporary worker matching his description.
“He came in through the loading dock,” Daniel said. “Used a staff access badge.”
“Whose?” Mercer asked.
Daniel looked uncomfortable.
“Mine.”
Everyone turned toward him.
Daniel raised both hands.
“I didn’t give it to him.”
Mercer took the badge from Daniel’s belt.
“Anybody have access to your office?”
“Senior restaurant management.”
“And Sterling family security?”
“Yes.”
Charles looked toward the dining room.
“Eleanor.”
“Possibly,” Daniel said.
Maya’s phone buzzed.
Unknown number.
A text message.
DON’T TRUST CHARLES.
Her breath stopped.
Another message appeared.
I DIDN’T POISON HIM.
Maya’s fingers trembled.
Mercer saw.
“Give me the phone.”
A third message arrived before she handed it over.
ELEANOR ISN’T RUNNING FROM THE POLICE.
SHE’S RUNNING FROM HIM.
Charles stepped closer.
“Who sent that?”
Maya stared at him.
Mercer turned the phone so everyone could see.
Then the final message appeared.
MAYA, IF I DISAPPEAR AGAIN, ASK CHARLES WHAT REALLY HAPPENED TO ADRIAN.
Charles moved so quickly he nearly knocked the phone from Mercer’s hand.
“That’s enough.”
Mercer looked sharply at him.
“Why?”
“Because whoever is sending those messages is manipulating her.”
Maya stared at Charles.
For the first time, she noticed something beneath his anger.
Panic.
“What happened to Adrian?”
“My son died in a car accident.”
“Luis thinks you’re lying.”
“Your brother is a criminal.”
“That doesn’t answer me.”
Charles stepped closer until they were face-to-face.
“You want advice, Maya? Stop digging into graves that don’t belong to you.”
Mercer’s phone rang.
He answered.
Listened.
His expression changed.
“What?”
Everyone went silent.
Mercer lowered the phone.
“They found Eleanor’s car.”
“Where?” Charles demanded.
“Under the Franklin Bridge.”
Maya’s chest tightened.
Mercer continued.
“Driver’s door open. Blood on the seat.”
Charles closed his eyes.
“Is she dead?”
“They haven’t found a body.”
Then Daniel looked through the kitchen’s back window.
His face went pale.
“Maya.”
She turned.
Across the alley, under a flickering streetlight, a man stood watching them.
Luis.
Maya ran toward the door.
Her brother raised one hand.
Then a black SUV came screaming around the corner.
May you like
The passenger window dropped.
And gunshots cracked through the alley.
