Chapter 7 - The Empty Bed
Nicole forgot how to breathe.
For one suspended moment, every sound in the stairwell disappeared beneath the rush of blood in Nicole's ears.
She saw the empty bed and remembered leaving Paxton less than an hour earlier.
His hand had been warm in hers.
His voice had been weak but steady.
He had told her not to give anyone the chance to separate them.
Then she had done exactly that because the only way to protect him seemed to require leaving him behind.
Guilt arrived before reason.
Nicole hated it immediately.
Guilt was useful to people who wanted someone easier to control.
She forced herself to look at the photograph as evidence.
The bedside lamp was still on.
The blanket had been pulled toward the right side.
The IV line had been disconnected cleanly rather than torn free.
No chair was overturned.
No blood.
No obvious struggle.
Whoever moved Paxton had either known what they were doing or had cooperation from someone who did.
Dana crouched beside her on the landing.
"Look at the monitor cable."
Nicole zoomed in.
The cable had been coiled on the bed.
"That wasn't an emergency removal."
Dana nodded.
"Exactly."
Nicole's panic did not disappear.
It became focused.
"They transferred him."
"Probably."
Nicole gave Dana a warning look.
"Sorry."
Dana pointed at the timestamp.
"Whoever took the photo wanted you to believe it happened immediately."
"But the clock on the wall is visible."
Nicole zoomed again.
The wall clock showed a time seven minutes earlier than the message timestamp.
"They waited before sending it."
"Yes."
"Why?"
Dana looked up the stairwell toward the executive floor.
"To make sure you were already trapped here."
Nicole felt the trap close around the logic of the night.
Arthur arrived at Paxton's office after she entered the building.
Security locked down immediately afterward.
Then the photograph arrived.
Different people might be coordinating.
Or one person might be watching all sides.
Nicole looked at the photograph again.
"They don't only know where Paxton is."
Dana understood.
"They know where you are."
Nicole stood.
"Then we stop moving where they expect."
The photograph on Dana's phone showed the hospital bed in the mansion living room.
The sheets were pulled back.
The IV line hung loose beside the mattress.
Paxton was gone.
The timestamp was three minutes earlier.
Dana grabbed Nicole's arm.
"We need to think."
Nicole pulled free.
"They took him."
"Maybe."
"Stop saying maybe."
Dana looked at her sharply.
"Paxton has been pretending to be unconscious for hours."
"He can barely stand."
"You don't know what he can do under pressure."
Nicole stared at the empty bed on the screen.
"I know he wouldn't leave without telling me."
Another message appeared.
BRING THE LETTER.
Nicole's hand moved instinctively to the document beneath her blouse.
Dana saw it.
"They know you found Charles's letter."
"How?"
"Reeves saw us in the study."
"He didn't see the safe."
"Someone did."
Nicole looked back toward the executive floor above them.
Arthur had known she would come to Paxton's office.
He had known the contact book mattered.
He had ordered someone sent to the estate the moment he realized Nicole was away.
But the text did not sound like Arthur.
It was too direct.
Too reckless.
"Call the number."
Dana shook her head.
"Unknown sender."
"Call anyway."
Dana pressed the call button.
The line connected.
No one spoke.
Nicole took the phone.
"Where is he?"
Silence.
"If you want the letter, tell me where Paxton is."
A distorted voice answered.
"You have fifty-six minutes."
The call ended.
Nicole stared at the phone.
Dana's face had gone pale.
"That wasn't Evelyn."
"No."
"Arthur?"
"I don't know."
Nicole started down the stairs again.
"We're going back to the mansion."
Dana followed.
"They said come alone."
"Then they can be disappointed."
"Nicole."
"I'm not delivering the only protection we have to an anonymous voice."
"Good."
Dana kept pace.
"But we still need to know where Paxton is."
They reached the eighteenth floor.
A security alarm sounded.
Red lights began flashing near the elevators.
Dana cursed softly.
Graham had locked down the building.
The stairwell doors below eighteenth would not open without credentials during a security event.
Maria's maintenance card no longer worked.
They were trapped.
Nicole looked through the narrow glass panel into the office floor.
Two security officers entered from the far elevator.
"This way."
Dana pulled Nicole toward a utility corridor.
They moved between storage rooms until they reached a mechanical stairwell used by building engineers.
A keypad blocked the door.
Nicole tried Maria's card.
Red.
Dana tried her old badge.
Red.
Footsteps grew louder behind them.
Nicole looked around.
A red emergency phone was mounted on the wall.
She stopped.
Red phone.
Charles's note in the contact book flashed through her mind.
CALL ONLY FROM CHARLES'S RED PHONE.
This could not be the same phone.
Could it?
The handset was labeled FIRE COMMAND.
Nicole picked it up.
A dial tone sounded.
Dana stared at her.
"What are you doing?"
Nicole opened the leather contact book.
She dialed Samuel Price's number.
The line rang once.
Twice.
Three times.
A man answered.
"Price."
Nicole lowered her voice.
"My name is Nicole Mercer."
Silence.
Then the man's tone changed.
"Where are you calling from?"
"Mercer headquarters."
"What line?"
"An emergency phone on eighteen."
Another pause.
"What color is it?"
Nicole looked at Dana.
"Red."
The man exhaled.
"Give me the phrase."
"What phrase?"
"If Charles sent you, he gave you a phrase."
Nicole opened the letter.
She scanned it desperately.
No phrase.
Then she remembered the first line.
Your mother has decided the company matters more than you do.
"The company matters more than you do."
Silence.
Samuel Price answered quietly.
"Not anymore."
Nicole's knees nearly weakened.
"You knew Charles."
"Yes."
"Paxton is missing."
"Then we're late."
"Late for what?"
Footsteps entered the utility corridor.
Dana grabbed Nicole's sleeve.
They had seconds.
Samuel spoke quickly.
"Do you have Charles's letter?"
"Yes."
"Do you have the Mercer archive drive?"
Nicole glanced at Dana.
The flash drive had been left with Paxton.
"Paxton had it."
"Then they may have it now."
"Who is they?"
"Not over this line."
"I need help."
"Go to the garage level B4."
"We're locked in."
"The mechanical stairwell code is 0419."
Nicole stared at the keypad.
"How do you know?"
"Because Charles paid for the building."
The footsteps were almost at the corner.
Nicole entered 0419.
Green light.
The door opened.
"B4,"
Samuel repeated.
"A gray sedan will be waiting."
"Who is driving?"
"Someone Evelyn thinks is loyal to her."
The call ended.
Nicole and Dana entered the stairwell and locked the door behind them.
Security officers reached the other side seconds later.
The handle rattled.
Nicole and Dana ran down eleven flights.
At B4, the garage was nearly empty.
A gray sedan sat near a concrete column with its engine running.
The driver's door opened.
Graham Cole stepped out.
Nicole stopped.
Dana grabbed her arm.
"No."
Graham raised both hands.
"Samuel sent me."
Nicole laughed once in disbelief.
"You locked us in upstairs."
"I locked the building down because Arthur ordered it."
"Same difference."
"No."
Graham walked closer.
"If I didn't follow his orders, he would know I was helping you."
Nicole stared at him.
"Helping us since when?"
"Since Charles died."
Dana's expression changed.
"You worked for Charles."
"I still do."
"He's dead."
Graham looked at Nicole.
"He planned for that."
Nicole felt suddenly exhausted by dead men who had built secret systems instead of telling the truth while alive.
"Where is Paxton?"
Graham's face tightened.
"I don't know."
Nicole stepped toward him.
"Then you're useless to me."
"I know who took him from the estate."
She stopped.
"Who?"
"Not Evelyn."
"Who?"
Graham looked around the garage.
"Dr. Reeves."
Dana swore under her breath.
Nicole's hands went cold.
"Why would Reeves take him?"
"Because Evelyn told him to move Paxton to a private facility before morning."
"Where?"
"Evelyn's order said St. Catherine's Recovery Center."
"Then that's where he is."
Graham shook his head.
"Reeves's vehicle never went there."
Nicole stared.
"How do you know?"
"The company tracks every executive vehicle."
"Where did he go?"
Graham opened the sedan's rear door.
"North."
"North where?"
"The old Mercer airfield."
Nicole remembered the airplane passing over the mansion.
The private aviation division.
The family sale.
Everything seemed connected to aircraft.
"Why the airfield?"
"Because a Mercer jet is scheduled to depart at midnight."
Dana looked at the clock.
9:41 p.m.
"For where?"
Graham answered.
"Canada."
Nicole's heart dropped.
"They're moving him out of the country?"
"Maybe."
Nicole glared.
Graham held up a hand.
"Or someone wants it to look that way."
"Who sent the text?"
"What text?"
Nicole showed him the messages.
Graham read them.
His face changed.
"This wasn't Reeves."
"How do you know?"
"Because Reeves doesn't have your number."
Dana looked at him.
"Arthur does."
Graham shook his head.
"Arthur doesn't use disposable numbers."
Nicole stared at the photograph of the empty bed.
"Then who?"
Graham zoomed in on the image.
"Look at the left edge."
Nicole saw a reflection in the polished metal IV pole.
Only part of a person was visible.
A sleeve.
Cream-colored fabric.
And a pearl bracelet.
Nicole had seen that bracelet earlier.
On Evelyn's wrist.
Dana whispered.
"It was her."
Graham shook his head.
"Evelyn doesn't wear pearls on her wrist."
Nicole looked closer.
He was right.
Evelyn wore pearl earrings and necklaces.
The bracelet belonged to someone else.
Someone Nicole had seen at the mansion that morning but had barely noticed.
Paxton's younger sister.
Claire.
Nicole looked at Graham.
"Where is Claire Mercer?"
Graham's expression turned grim.
"According to the family flight manifest, she left the country six hours ago."
Nicole held up the phone.
"Then somebody is lying."
A third message appeared.
May you like
FORTY MINUTES.
BRING THE LETTER TO HANGAR THREE.
