Chapter 12 - THE SECOND ATTEMPT
Emergency lights turned the hospital corridor red.
Clara moved immediately.
She locked Leo’s door.
Then she shoved a chair beneath the handle.
Leo sat upright.
“Is it them?”
“I don’t know.”
She called security.
No signal.
The hospital network had failed.
Footsteps approached.
Slow.
Deliberate.
Clara grabbed the metal IV pole.
Someone tested the door.
Once.
Twice.
Then a voice spoke from outside.
“Clara.”
Miles Crowe.
Leo’s eyes widened.
Clara tightened both hands around the pole.
“What do you want?”
“Open the door.”
“No.”
“You're making this worse.”
“You tried burning a child alive.”
Crowe laughed quietly.
“You think I started that fire?”
Clara said nothing.
“I helped hide things.”
“Yes.”
“I moved Leo.”
“Yes.”
“But Eleanor started the fire.”
Leo stared at the door.
Clara felt her stomach twist.
Crowe continued.
“She told me the room would fill with smoke.”
“She said it would look accidental.”
“I didn't know she had restraints.”
“You still left him.”
Silence.
“Yes.”
The admission came softly.
Cowardly.
Almost regretful.
Clara hated him more for sounding human.
“Why are you here?”
“I need Arthur’s memory card.”
“The police have it.”
“I know.”
“Then leave.”
“I need Leo.”
Clara’s blood froze.
“For what?”
“He knows something Arthur never told us.”
Leo whispered.
“The boat?”
Crowe heard him.
“Exactly.”
Clara turned.
“What does he know?”
Crowe answered through the door.
“Arthur hid access codes inside childhood memories.”
“He believed adults would dismiss anything Leo said.”
The cruelty of that logic stunned her.
Because Arthur had been right.
Everyone had dismissed Leo for years.
Crowe hit the door harder.
“Open it.”
Clara raised the IV pole.
Then another sound came.
A body struck the wall outside.
Men shouted.
The door handle stopped moving.
Police had arrived through the stairwell.
Thirty seconds later, Detective Reeves called from the hallway.
“Clara?”
She waited.
“It's Reeves.”
Only then did she move the chair.
Crowe lay handcuffed on the floor.
Richard stood beside him.
Crowe looked toward Leo.
“You have no idea what your father hid.”
Leo stared back.
“Neither do you.”
Police pulled Crowe away.
Richard entered the room.
Then Reeves closed the door.
“Crowe is talking.”
Clara looked at him.
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“What did he say?”
Reeves glanced toward Leo.
The boy nodded.
“Tell me.”
The detective exhaled.
“Arthur’s helicopter crash was not an accident.”
“And Crowe knows who ordered it.”
Leo’s fingers tightened around Clara’s hand.
May you like
Reeves looked toward Richard.
“He says Eleanor Sterling paid him to make sure her brother never reached Boston.”
