Chapter 8 - The Apartment Door.
Ethan called his chief financial officer from the car.
He did not mention Aurelia.
He did not mention Mara.
He simply asked whether any emergency payment request had been submitted under his credentials.
The answer came back in less than a minute.
No authorized request existed.
The payment was real anyway.
Ethan ordered the account frozen.
Then he called Daniel.
The line went directly to voicemail.
“That changed fast,” Mara said.
“His phone was on fifteen minutes ago.”
“Maybe he turned it off.”
“Daniel doesn’t turn off his phone.”
“Everyone has habits.”
“He built his career around never being unreachable.”
Ethan started the car.
“That means he wants to be unreachable now.”
Mara gave him directions to her apartment.
They spoke little during the drive.
She watched the city pass in bright storefronts and dark intersections.
Her thoughts kept returning to Claire’s photograph.
Three weeks ago.
Alive.
Maybe safe.
Maybe watched.
Maybe neither.
Ethan parked across the street from Mara’s building.
She reached for the door handle.
“Wait.”
“What?”
He was looking at the entrance.
A man in a baseball cap stood near the lobby door pretending to scroll through his phone.
Mara recognized the posture before she recognized the face.
“He lives upstairs.”
“You sure?”
“Apartment 4C.”
The man looked up and waved when he saw her.
Mara waved back.
Ethan relaxed slightly.
“Occupational paranoia.”
“What occupation is that?”
“Being worth enough money that people lie to you professionally.”
Mara almost smiled.
They crossed the street.
Her neighbor held the lobby door open.
“Late night, Mara.”
“Long story, Kevin.”
Kevin glanced at Ethan’s suit and luxury watch.
“I can see that.”
Mara rolled her eyes and headed upstairs.
Her apartment was on the third floor.
She stopped two steps before the landing.
Her door was open.
Not wide.
Less than an inch.
Ethan saw it immediately.
“Did you leave it like that?”
“No.”
He moved in front of her.
Mara caught his sleeve.
“Don’t be stupid.”
“I’m not planning to be.”
“You were about to walk into an apartment somebody opened.”
“That would qualify.”
They backed down the stairs.
Ethan called building security and then the police.
Mara hated the waiting more than the fear.
When officers finally cleared the apartment, nothing obvious was missing.
The television remained mounted on the wall.
Her laptop sat on the coffee table.
Cash inside a kitchen drawer had not been touched.
The bedroom looked normal.
Then Mara opened the closet.
A shoe box from the top shelf sat on the floor.
The lid was beside it.
The box was empty.
Ethan stood in the doorway.
“The flash drive?”
Mara nodded.
“It was inside an old jewelry case.”
“Anything else in the box?”
“Letters.”
“From Claire?”
“Birthday cards, postcards, nothing important.”
“They took those too?”
“Yes.”
Ethan looked around the room.
“They knew exactly what they wanted.”
Mara walked to the kitchen counter and gripped the edge.
For two years she had guarded the one thing Claire left behind.
Now it was gone on the same night she finally found proof her sister was alive.
Ethan’s phone rang.
Victor.
He answered on speaker.
“What did you find?”
Victor’s breathing sounded heavy.
“Where are you?”
“Mara’s apartment.”
“Get out.”
Mara turned toward the phone.
“Why?”
“I found the plates.”
“How many?” Ethan asked.
“Seventeen.”
“Blue marks?”
“Every one.”
Mara closed her eyes briefly.
“Where were they?”
“Behind a false panel in dry storage.”
Ethan looked at Mara.
“Photograph everything.”
“I did.”
“Then why do we need to leave?”
Victor went silent for one second.
“Because Serena came back.”
“She was there already.”
“No.”
Victor’s voice dropped.
“She left after you did.”
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know.”
Mara looked at the open apartment door.
Victor continued.
“She came back ten minutes ago carrying a black case.”
“What kind of case?” Ethan asked.
“Laptop case.”
“And?”
“She went straight to the security office.”
Mara’s stomach tightened.
“Carl?”
“Gone.”
“Gone where?”
“I don’t know.”
Ethan’s voice became sharper.
“Victor, what aren’t you saying?”
Victor exhaled.
“She asked me one question.”
“What?”
May you like
Victor’s answer made Mara look at the empty shoe box.
“She asked whether Mara kept Claire’s files at home.”
