Chapter 5 - Behind the Bleachers
Avery pressed herself against the concrete wall.
Her heartbeat sounded impossibly loud.
Vale and Mercer were less than fifteen feet away.
Mercer opened cabinet B-17.
Avery heard papers shifting.
Vale cursed.
“One file is missing.”
“Which one?”
“The donor list.”
Mercer inhaled sharply.
“Lila.”
Vale slammed the cabinet shut.
“She was supposed to give me everything.”
“And if she kept it?”
“Then she becomes a bigger problem than Avery.”
Avery pulled out her phone.
She started recording.
Mercer lowered her voice.
“You promised no one would get seriously hurt.”
Vale laughed once.
Coldly.
“Lila knew how to fall.”
“That harness could've killed her.”
“But it didn't.”
Avery's hands began shaking.
This was it.
Proof.
Then her phone vibrated.
A text notification flashed across the screen.
The sound was barely audible.
Vale stopped talking.
“Did you hear that?”
Avery froze.
Footsteps moved toward her.
She slipped beneath the old bleachers as Vale turned on his flashlight.
The beam swept across the floor.
“Someone's here.”
Mercer moved toward the exit.
“I'll check outside.”
Avery crawled between metal supports, trying not to breathe.
Vale's shoes appeared inches from her hand.
His flashlight moved slowly.
Then a door slammed at the far end of the gym.
Vale spun.
A figure ran through the hallway.
Vale chased after it.
Avery crawled out.
Hannah appeared from behind the scorer's table.
Avery stared at her.
“You?”
Hannah grinned nervously.
“Figured you might need a distraction.”
They ran.
Outside, they reached Hannah's car before Vale returned.
Avery locked the doors.
Her hands shook so badly she nearly dropped the phone.
“Tell me you got it.”
Avery opened the recording.
The first thirty seconds were clear.
Then static.
Then silence.
The file had stopped the instant her phone vibrated.
They had captured Vale saying one file was missing.
They had captured Mercer saying the suspension was supposed to scare Avery.
But the most damaging statements had not recorded.
Hannah hit the steering wheel.
“Still useful.”
“Not enough.”
Avery looked back toward the dark gym.
A shadow moved behind the glass doors.
Vale.
Watching them.
Her phone rang.
Unknown number.
Avery answered.
For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Then Lila whispered.
“You need to stop looking.”
Avery sat upright.
“Lila?”
“He knows you're getting close.”
“Who?”
“You know who.”
Avery looked at Hannah.
“Why did you accuse me?”
Silence.
Then Lila began crying.
May you like
“I didn't have a choice.”
The call ended.
